Friends of mine own, and rent out, a deceased parents property. A nice semi located in an equally nice village with all facilities on a cul de sac. Admittedly it needs some modernisation, redecorating etc, but the heating works and the roof doesn’t leak. Front and rear gardens, totally neglected despite conditions in the contract stating that it’s up to the occupiers to keep it tidy, driveway and garage.
£650 pcm and an absolute bargain. Current occupants have been in for several years, but are actively looking for a larger property but not prepared to pay much more so won’t be moving out anytime soon. My friends rent out the place privately, no agent involved, and seem to think that because of Covid are unable to increase the rent, which should be around £900/950pcm like similar properties in the area.
Any advice going forward please...they don’t want to incur agents and Solicitors fees.
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Increase the rent 20%, pay an agent 17% job's a good un.
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Increase the rent by 20% to £780, pay an agent 17% and you net sub £650. Am I misunderstanding your reply ?
Personally, once out of a rolling contract with the tenant, I’d up the rent to £800, then increase it by £50pcm every 6 months until it reaches £900 which is still below the current market rental price.
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£650 in the bank each month. Reliable, well behaved tenants. Little or no maintenance.
Sit back and enjoy.
But £650 a month, lord above!
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I think your friends need to decide if they want the easy life and lower income or more hassle and costs but with the higher rent.
> Any advice going forward please...they don’t want to incur agents and Solicitors fees.
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Sounds like they want their cake and eat it.
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Or sell it whilst the market is buoyant. Which is what I’d do at their age.
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That is another option but then it would bring about fees of various types and possible conflict with tenants.
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>> Or sell it whilst the market is buoyant. Which is what I’d do at their
>> age.
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Yup - rental market is dying too. Got killed by the tax relief going and now impossible to get tenants out during covid.
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They will need to move quickly if they sell, The market is showing signs of having peaked and on the way back down. There may be a spring bounce, but its downhill from there
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>> Yup - rental market is dying too. Got killed by the tax relief going and
>> now impossible to get tenants out during covid.
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Certainly an issue if you invest as an individual. Is it still the case that corporate landlords can still claim mortgage interest and over costs against tax?
Of course corporate buyers get hit by a 3% surcharge on stamp duty.
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>>Or sell it whilst the market is buoyant. Which is what I'd do at their age.
And potentially get your a*** nailed to a CGT (28% I think) wall, never mind fees and the decisions on what to do with whatever resulting profits occur.
The it's all become too complicated and too related to individual circumstances for generic advice to be worth much.
Some of the changes relate to mortgage tax relief, and since it was their parent's house, that probably doesn't apply. The market has changed also reducing freedom, flexibility and ultimately yield.
The changing circumstances make getting into and getting out of the rental markets expensive and tricky. IF one has been in the market for a while, and is renting out inherited properties rather than BTL, then it can be more favourable, though often still not the most efficient.
Depending on the property, the mortgage situation and their own position it may be that short-term, furnished holiday rentals would be a better proposition, though typically more work of course. There are considerably more tax facilities that way.
Ultimately though, their genius idea of increasing the rent, changing tenants, getting the gardens sorted and maintained, not paying lawyers or agents, and somehow having a peaceful existence is deeply flawed.
Time for some proper, professional advice, on their actual circumstances and some serious open-minded thinking.
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>> Depending on the property, the mortgage situation and their own position it may be that
>> short-term, furnished holiday rentals would be a better proposition, though typically more work of course.
It's the business to be in this year, and probably next. If you are trying to book a holiday cottage now, for summer this year, well - good luck, bookings are massive.
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Now there’s a thought....I’d happily rent my place out as a holiday let if anyone’s interested. I’ve options for alternate accommodation whilst it’s occupied and could offer mates rates !
How much for a 4 bed detached in the Dales (Giggleswick) within walking distance of Settle ?
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>> Now there’s a thought....I’d happily rent my place out as a holiday let if anyone’s
>> interested. I’ve options for alternate accommodation whilst it’s occupied and could offer mates rates !
>>
>> How much for a 4 bed detached in the Dales (Giggleswick) within walking distance of
>> Settle ?
£900 to £1200 a week high season.
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So much. Wow. Yours for £750 young man. Excludes use of Barbiemobile but feel free to use my logs ! BD24 0EF. Bank transfer would be fine.
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>> So much. Wow. Yours for £750 young man. Excludes use of Barbiemobile but feel free
>> to use my logs ! BD24 0EF. Bank transfer would be fine.
Alas no longer rent cottages since I hooked the Crossover Camping Vehicle to the rear of the beemer.
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I hired an AirBnB in Leipzig for three or four nights a few years back. When I arrived the young lady owner was still packing as she told ne she went to stay with her boyfriend when she managed to rent it out. Obviously I had no cupboard space for food or clothes as all her stuff was still there!! Great location though...
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>> I hired an AirBnB
I have to say I don't understand Airbnb, but perhaps it's not offering what I want.
Here are my preconceptions:
You book with the owner, via the Airbnb site, so no real guarantee of quality, of what you are actually getting, or accuracy of description or ease of refund/alternatives if there is a problem on arrival or part way through.
If that's actually the business model, I'd expect it to be significantly cheaper than a "traditional" holiday let with a well known company. But it doesn't seem to be.
As an example, I just tried "booking" a cottage for a week in a Yorkshire town in September. It's almost exactly the same as another I looked at in the same town, just a few yards away, with English Country Cottages a couple of days ago. Same number of bedrooms, facilities, location. The Airbnb one is over £500 more.
Maybe it has gold plated taps. Or tells you it does, but when you get there...
Tell me what I'm missing. Do I have it totally wrong?
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I can't especially make a case for AirBnB and it is true that some places are quite expensive - but the properties do have (quite honest) reviews and lots of pictures, and I find it easier to concentrate on one site rather than having to trawl the internet for days. So I guess their business model is aimed at the lazy.
OTOH I have used AirBNB a number of times and never yet had a bad experience that I can recall, unlike some stays at hotels and B&Bs before AirBnB existed,...
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I’ve used Airbnb a few times, for places to stay in France, Italy and by the beach in Kenya when I haven’t wanted a hotel stay. First reason is convenience - there’s generally a lot of choice on one platform. Second is it’s easy to filter by ratings so you have a reasonable data set of experiences to go on. Third is flexibility because you can choose the length of stay, whereas traditional villas/gives/cottages tend to be tied to week booking. Fourth is the range of properties on there to compare. Fifth there’s always comeback/chargeback via Airbnb if you’re not happy, though I’ve not had a disappointing experience yet and I’m pretty fussy about the standard of places :)
Like all things, I’m sure there are cheaper ways of doing it at times, but the convenience has a value as well.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 11 Feb 21 at 10:54
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I have just noticed my first and fourth points are basically the same. Sorry! It is pretty flexible though, you can change the duration of your stay at short notice, certainly with penalties in line with what you’d expect if checking out of a hotel early. And cancelling before arrival is straightforward as well which is often not the case when you book a villa
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The good thing about Air BnB is the sheer diversity of choice, both in type and location. Mrs Z and her mates book a large air bnb a couple of times a year on the coast somewhere, and have a Ocado* delivery of stuff to coincide with arrival. They have ended up in some right Kevin Mcloud Grand design type places.
*Gin, Prosecco and chocolates I think.
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I've not used them but I understand the flexibility and choice is very good, hence they are very popular.
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>> Now there’s a thought....I’d happily rent my place out as a holiday let if anyone’s
>> interested. I’ve options for alternate accommodation whilst it’s occupied and could offer mates rates !
>>
>> How much for a 4 bed detached in the Dales (Giggleswick) within walking distance of
>> Settle ?
I would be very cautious about renting my home to some unknown on the internet.(see Note 1)
Do it through a reputable agency, who can check them out.
Note 1.
Especially some iffy person (male? female? You don't know!) who claims an interest in old steam trains.
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I couldn’t agree more.
Some ne’er do well who whiles away their time taking video of large loads being moved from A to B on our roads.
Shed tugger to boot.
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Oh I say, thats really rather beastly.
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What is the Local Housing Allowance limit (ie the max rent payable in benefits) for that number of bedrooms in the area concerned?
lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Search.aspx?
If they're charging less than that rate, set by reference ot the lowest 30% of market rates then they're clearly mugging themselves.
However the vagaries of the Rental Market Areas could well mean that the maxima for Dales villages are set by reference to rents in an area including the roughest bits of Bradford and Keighley.
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Your friends need to decide whether they want a hassle free life - appoint a rental agent to advise on a sensible rental, put all the right agreements and certificates (electrical and gas inspections) in place, collect the rent, worry about responding to issues (leaks, breakages, faults etc).
I rent out a flat and pay 9% for this - I accept the cost is the price of a hassle free existence. It may be more for a house.
If the tenants are not keeping the garden in order you have simple choices - charge them for sending in a gardener to do what they have not, applying a rent surcharge, ending the rental contract etc.
There may be some temporary issues with covid, and getting some professional advice would be very sensible if it is likely to get confrontational. That aside, it is entirely the choice of your friend.
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We sold a renter just before Christmas. We wanted the money for something else. The estate agent valued it about 15% higher than we had thought, but we thought well, why not try. It was under offer from a cash buyer for full asking within half a day of being on the market, and completed a couple of weeks ago. Could probably have held out for more, but we were happy enough.
Not spent it on the something else yet...
Now, how much are Aston Martins again?
And no, I don't want to know how much door mirrors for them are !
;-)
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Worse turning circle than a MB I understand. Expensive wheels too.
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I know you can't swear on here so you'll just have to imagine what I'm thinking right now...
;-)
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There are several people I know who have decided to get out of rental, citing poor returns, increasing bureaucracy & regs, bad tenents and likely changes to CGT in the near future i.e. next Budget.
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The rent can be increased during an AST tenancy. Agents will know what to do but it's something like a s.13 notice served on the tenant.
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Property rental question - No FM2R
