[Closed] Letting parent's house

Save yourself some grief and go through an agent .

You will need a CP12 gas inspection cert  annually ..Depending on how old the electrics are I would also get those checked out ..2x smoke alarms should be fitted and an EPC ( Energy Performance Cert ) inspection .

I would let it on an unfurnished basis as you will be responsible for replacing any appliances / furniture that become faulty ..

Make sure you get a security deposit at  least the equivalent of one months rent ..(more if they have pets )  & register it with a government backed scheme and also let the property on a six month shorthold tenancy to save a lot of grief if you get a tenant from hell ( which even the most professional of tenants can turn into ) .also ask for a guarantor....

You will need landlords insurance ..also look into rent guarantee on the insurance for if the tenant should stop paying

That more or less covers the basics ..good luck !

Depends what and where it is as to how it will let.  I appreciate you want the income but if the letting mkt is not good you may be better selling and investing the money. For my area the current yield is c 3.5% gross, i can buy a property fund paying c 4% pa monthly and not have any stress.

Talk to the local agents, also make sure you claim all the benefits for your mother, and ask the home if you are paying privately if you can pay in advance to get a discount.

Good luck

Get some tax advice would be the first thing, is renting or selling the best thing you can do, what is the best way to structure it and all that. Then I'd say unfurnished, all certs, use an agent to rent it out and if you are close and have the time/contacts manage it yourself.

Don't forget the CO alarm and legionella tests.

We use a local independent letting agent.  He does everything for us, including vetting the new tenants, and provides a rent and eviction guarantee. (That makes sure he doesn't install troublesome tenants)  Worth every penny.  It doesn't take too long to find out the best agents in the area.

Thanks all. The house is 100 miles away so will be using an agent and unfurnished. I'll check on benefits.

First thing I did in not dissimilar circumstances is simply talk to a few local agents and see what the market is like for renting. I did so assuming it was next to zero as there no properties in the area up for rent on Rightmove and the like. Turns out the reason was the market was so hot for rentals they get let before theres any real chance to market them.

Decisions about furnished or unfurnished depend a bit on what the local market is for renting and you're also deciding a little what sort of tenent you want to get. Furnished properties are easy to move into and are therefore easy to move out of as well so are likely to be shorter term arrangements. Unfurnished is more of a commitment to move into so as the landlord you need to respect that a bit by managing the property in such a way that people feel settled there in the long term.

In that respect it can take a bit more than just moving the furniture out to make it not be 'someone else's house' for anyone who moves in so you might need to plan a bit to redecorate and depersonalise the place a bit.

I stripped the place down myself because I wanted to have a good peek at anything that might have been going awry over the years but then let a local agent manage the redecoration (as the house is 200 miles away) and it meant the could line up tenants as that was happening.

Thats a good point re furnished and unfurnished.  I have an unfurnished  let and the tenant owns everything, curtains, sofa, bed etc.  He has been there for 8 years and made himself a home.  Another i have is furnished, beds and sofa etc, tenant turnover is high as they arrive with a bag and leave.

Listen to the agents but dont spend much on furnishings, i get everything off gummy, sort of ikea type quality, its built too so you can just move it straight in.  I furnished the whole 2 bed flat for a grand tops.

Read the small print on ins policies, any rent guarantee or legal cover is only valid if the tenant passes the affordability criteria.

Do you privately fund her care? Doesn't the LA put a charge on the house?

La only put a charge on the house for private payers who cannot afford it out of income.  The interest charged is fixed by govt.  By claiming all the benefits and adding income, you are effectively borrowing the shortfall against the house.

This comes up on moneybox r4 all the time, very stressful for all concerned.  At least as a private payer you can choose the home, some we visited were truly shocking.

So OP if you don't mind me asking - what does it cost? We have an Uncle who has just gone into an LA care home, and its misery..

Good care homes are about £1000 per week. Scary numbers. In Scotland you may get up to £250 contribution non-means-tested from the council but obviously that's only a fraction of it. If you own your own home and are only realistically looking at 2-5y in the care home it's often achievable though (at the cost of bankrupting yourself and leaving no inheritance, but someone has to pay). Average stay in a residential care home is about a year I believe, though dementia victims can go on for years - my grandmother was physically healthy and lasted about 7 grim years in one. You can get insurance to limit the possible long stay risk but this obviously costs a packet anyway (depending on age/condition when you go in, there's no free lunch).

In the situation of the OP I'd probably just be looking to sell the home unless there is some compelling reason why he wants to keep it.