How to Rent Out Your House
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ometimes it’s difficult to know where to start when it comes to renting your house out. All that paperwork, consultation and red tape in order to add your property into the challenging world of the buy to let market. To learn more about how to rent your house, read this guide.
Making a House Available For Rent
• Before you even think of renting your house out, it’s important to consult with your mortgage lender to make sure they are happy for you to rent out a property. Some lenders may need to enforce changes to your current terms to make your foray into the rental market viable. Discussing terms of your mortgage will give you a better idea of the financial requirements that come with renting your house out.
• The next dilemma will come in deciding whether to rent your property out privately or through a letting agent. Both methods have benefits and pitfalls. Becoming a private landlord will hand you complete control of the rental process, but this approach will require a lot more work and research. Handing over day-to-day responsibility to a letting agent will release you from many of the hassles of rentals, but it will also mean you take home less of the rent – on average, the agent will expect you to pay 10 to 15 per cent of the rental yield in fees. Before signing up with a letting agent, check they are regulated with ARLA and provide a reliable service.
• Get a feel for rental prices in the local area and set a price accordingly. Remember, if you set the price too low you might attract strong initial interest but lose out in the long term, whilst setting an overly ambitious price tag even within a desirable area can still leave you with no takers. Think about the type of property you have on offer, and whether there are similar types of property in the area. This will help you gauge the amount of demand on the market, making it easier to set the price.
• Finally, even if you leave paperwork to the letting agent, you’ll still need to be on hand to fulfil your obligations. Think seriously about this before renting yout house out. If your daily routine makes responding to tenant requests a near impossibility, you’ll need to consider a strategy to cope when a tenant requires assistance with the property.