UK Landlord Forum / Life

Dear All,

I will be moving to another country next year and after much reflection I thought renting out the property I have in England which I owe without any mortgage may be the safest option for a plethora of reasons.

1) To earn some much-needed extra money, and also to hopefully take advantage of when the property market will eventually bounce back.
2) It also enables me to move back if my move is not successful.

Having said, renting seems a bit of a minefield for the uninitiated.

As I will be leaving on the other side of the world, I have no option but to opt for a fully managed letting agent.

Would a letting agent draw up a tenancy agreement with their compliance/legal department, or is this something I must somehow draw up myself?

Further to the above question, I do have EICR when I bought my current property in early 2021 as the electrics needed a complete overhaul would this suffice for the next tenant in 2024, or would I need to have a new EICR?

With a gas safety certificate I have a boiler certificate from 2020 and a boiler guarantee which is checked every year will this also suffice?

I look forward to receiving your kind responses.

The EICR will have an expiry date on it, which should help you decide whether you want to do another one before you move or not.

The boiler certificates and annual check won't meet the requirements for a landlord safety check because the certification is quite specific - although the content of the check is probably fine. But that's a routine thing that almost any gas fitter can do.

The agent should have their own tenancy agreement. Make sure it contains a provision that you can recover possession after any fixed term using a section 8 notice under ground one. Don't use an agent who doesn't understand what that means (they might have to check, which is fair enough).

You will need to tell HMRC that you are living overseas and the agent will need to know how to handle the tax implications.

You'll need to have an address in England or Wales (assuming that's where you'll be letting) where legal notices can be sent to you - usually the agent will offer that service.

Although the logistics might make it impossible, ideally you would have selected the tenant while still in the UK. You are likely to be more selective than any agent.

I would add that you cannot guarantee being able to move back in if you want to. It is not just a matter of serving notice if tenants refuse to budge. Some tenants and agents take the attitude that while the cat's away the mice will play.   

Thank you for your Post, I am also going to rent my beloved flat through agency and I also live abroad... I found a letting agency which take only 10% for full management, what concerns me a price for letting....reasonable or not....

The price is possibly the last thing you need to worry about. Do not let out something you love, tenants will not treat your property as you wish.