UK Landlord Forum / Life

Past tense?

Hi All

I'm a newbie here and getting my house ready to rent out (painting/decorating done, new carpet to be done shortly) after buying a new house with my partner at the end of March - just before they hiked the stamp duty for the purchase of second homes  The mortgage balance on my old house was paid off 2 years ago, so renting it out rather than selling seemed like the sensible option. As a first time landlord and also now living 65 miles away and working full-time, I'm intending to use a letting agent for the first 12 months at least. I work for a housing association so am all too familiar with the nightmare cases - property abandonments, voids, ASB and rent arrears. Not sure if using a letting agent will protect me from any of those nightmares but at least it will save me a fair bit of mileage and I've already used up nearly all my holiday entitlement...

The guide, blog articles and forum posts have been incredibly helpful - thank you!

Recently back in the UK having spent 6 years abroad managing lettings for out of country clients as well as some of my own and other family members.

Loving all of the information here, helping me to get up to speed with some of the UK issues and solutions.

Thanks

Im a landlord on a small scale at the moment, only 2 houses in Northern UK. Looking to learn how to expand this, through a newly founded ltd company.

Good to see a great forum that may be a solid learning curve for me!

Any recommendations for specific areas/posts welcome!

Best regards N

I am not a landlord.  I started working in property for an online agent then moved onto property management before becoming an inventory clerk and have recently started my own company.

Guess I joined the site and enjoy debate.  Always interested to hear other people's stories and gain understanding of the industry via hearing the difficulties they are having.

Hi all.
I'm here because I'm considering selling my property in the centre of a seaside resort in Lincolnshire, England.
It has the potential to be a bed and breakfast or small hotel, as it has five bedrooms.
It has one tenant at the moment, on a short term tenancy agreement.
Price wise it might be worth about £200.000, but this is just a guess.

Ok, so I thought I'd amuse everyone with my up hill down dale journey in property. Along the way I think I've fallen down every possible hole it's possible to fall down, especially early on in our 20 year journey.

Early on it was Inside Track, rip off letting agents, drug fuelled tenants (aforementioned letting agents ran a mile from), Boilers packing up after 2 days ownership, a mentally unwell tenant piling up the newly laid carpets and setting fire to them, then leaving the house open for the place then to be stripped of all wiring and the boiler - amongst the highlights.

If you are new to Landlording, or are thinking about jumping in and are saying to yourself - "Ah, but that wouldn't happen to me because I've read everything there is to read, spoken to lots of people and am fully prepared..." I said that too! I am still amazed even now at the curve balls life as a Landlord can throw at you - good & bad.

Many of you old hacks will remember the early forums, awash with get rich schemes, boasting and show boating and frankly some pretty dodgy stuff. None of that here I'm happy to say, hence prepared to offer my two penneth worth if I feel qualified to comment.

I'm now getting to an age where I don't really fancy it much anymore. Like so many ageing Landlords, I find myself baulking at how difficult the powers that be are making it for the Private rented sector.

If you're young and thrusting and this has been the landscape you started your journey in, you will view this very differently.

I guess the big question really is is/was it worthwhile - yes financially (some big ups and downs though, a long term view is absolutely essential), sometimes I've wanted to cry or laugh out loud in equal measure - you learn much about yourself in providing places for other people to live in.

9 properties, mostly local - 2 at 120 miles away, high blood pressure and a propensity to very much appreciate the benefits of Red wine 🙄 plus some genuinely warm fuzzy moments along the way mean the disposal process will be gradual and with mixed feelings, time to shuffle off you old naffer I can hear being said. Fair comment!

All the best.

Hi, My wife and I are nearing retirement and have a small amount of money to invest. Although we are leaning towards rental to our family rather than strangers in the near future. we are of course pondering the many pitfalls of family member tenants.

Now into 2024. Welcome to Broken Britain. We have been just 4 years into being a landlord after moving out and having lodgers, converting to tenants.

However Newcastle City Council and their planning department (Mr Billy Browell, so you can be forewarned) have totally crushed us.

The bureaucracy and combative attitude has been horrendous and traumatic. We've thrown in the towel, selling the property and leaving Newcastle. We can't stand the place now.


As far as I can tell, the effect of the cost of living coupled with impossible council staff makes being a landlord unbearable.

How has anyone managed to survive this?

I'm new here. I created my own post to introduce myself but just seen there is also this active thread!

I have almost 20 years property management / lettings experience, as well as 8 years short term rental experience, so hoping to give advice where I can. I have also just taken the leap and opened up my own agency, so I imagine I'll be asking for advice from time to time too.

I think it's important to always learn and discuss ideas, so I hope this forum can provide that.

Sophie