Letting a house without an agent?

[t121anf]

anyone do this?

i need to know the bare minimum of documents etc you require, what you do should the tennent not pay etc.

my dad has a house to let but is being cheap, no surprice there lol and seems unwilling to accept the letting agents charges.

[scorps]

he can download for a small fee, a tenancy agreement document which is okay, he needs references, a credit check is a good idea too. oh and the months deposit, he should out that in a seperate account so if the tenants move out they get the interest etc.

Not all tenants are bad, we would love a landlord that actually makes an appearance, we now just sort any repairs out ourselves and deduct it from the rent, hes useless, no agreement, no nothing just gets paid every month, suits us all though for now.
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[Scouse]

He can download FOR FREE a tenancy document online. Have a look here - https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/

From there you get tenancy references (which are pretty much very much based on trust and can easily be faked). As for credit check you can contact their employer and request details of proof of employment. (again this is based on trust that they provide official details)

Deposit now has to be put into a government scheme to ensure fairness when it comes to the tenant vacating the property.

Tenancies usually run for a 6 month minimum at first, followed by an automatic renewal of another 6 months thereafter. From there after 12 months it is down to a month by month basis without written contract.

Best thing a landlord can do is to call ( on the phone ) once a month and check if things are ok, any problems and anything required with regards to upkeep. Landlords have a tough time with rules and regulations with regard to contact and bothering tenants so one phone call a month seems to be a reasonable thing.

Should a tenant miss a payment, then you record this and use the deposit taken to cover it. (A deposit is usually one or two months rent amount.)

It takes 2 months or maybe slightly longer to remove a tenant through the legal process, so treading carefully when vetting is advised.

I would look up plenty of official legal stuff online if you can to get the full details, but if you get the right tenants you shouldn't have any issues.

[TheFoxyDuke]

I used to rent a flat out several years ago and Scouse is correct - you can download the necessary documents for free. WHSmiths also sell the documnets and rent books etc.

To be fair they didn't have the government scheme when I let out, and some of my tenants were receiving housing benefit which was paid direct to me. That was OK getting a guaranteed cheque every fortnight but i now believe it is paid to the tenant and theyhave to pay you. I can imagine this being a nightmare if they are troublesome which you don't really know until they move in

I had tenants destroying the fixtures and fittings, subletting, and faking burglaries to get the insurance. Absolute nightmare. Also I recall booting several knackers out on to the street for non-payment of rent regardless of whether they had a tenancy agreement or not. Just waited until they'd gone out and changed the locks. i was much braver / stupid back then

For the extra cost I would let a company deal with all the hassle and just sit back and collect the moolah

FoxyD
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[hmmmnz]

we rent our place in scotland out, (we are in nz now and still have the house over there) initially we did all the work ourselves before we left and got tennants in, but they left in a short space of time (after we left the uk) so had to get an agency in, they were crap and we went through another 2 lots of tennants (and had to pay stupid amounts of finders fees ect + the percentage we had to pay every month) now we rent directly to the council for 3 year garunteedc income and after that time they put the house back to exactly how it was, with the option for another 3 years if we want it (funnily enough they pay us more than what we were getting for tennants when we were running it our selves)

rent furnished either fully or partically, squatters law is still in effect, and if the house is empty, and they decide not to pay, you could end up with a lot of bother
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[tribal_tiger]

We rent privatly. We met our landlord when he came to do some plastering in the last place we rented!

He just got a "Landlords Kit" from WH Smiths which had all the required documentation in it.

He didn't ask for any references as he saw how we kept the last place we lived, and he still does some work for our old landlord, so neither of us told the old landlord where we were moving to!

If we have a problem we just give him a call. Job's a good un!
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[t121anf]

as this is his first rental property i'm pushing him towards an agent

only hope he listens.