Advice on renting out a flat yourself

saturnz said:
I won't recommend them as such, but from my experience with this tenant and how they handled it, I'm impressed.

I doubt any agent would have done half of what they have done.

As a landlord, you need insurance against tenants, and I think any insurance product that protects you is better than no insurance product.

edit: here is an extract from an email I was copied in on, I have not communicated with the tenant directly since February
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thanx
 
Hey guys, I am about to rent out my property and I have quite a few questions, please can you guys assist. @saturnz I know you have quite a lot of experience with this so I would really appreciate some of your input:-

1) Can I declare the bond payment as an expense or is it only the interest? Surely the bond payment is an expense?
2) As it currently stands, would you recommend Rentshield or is there another product you'd recommend to protect myself from non-paying tenants?
3) Do you have a contract you would recommend I use or is there one freely available to use?
4) I will be taking a 100% deposit for the rent. Is it also advisable to get a deposit for lights and water?
5) Can I get my tenant to sign a debit order or do I just hope they do an EFT on time every month?
6) Any other advice you feel needs to be added?

Thanks in advance
 
4ftersh0ck said:
Hey guys, I am about to rent out my property and I have quite a few questions, please can you guys assist. @saturnz I know you have quite a lot of experience with this so I would really appreciate some of your input:-

1) Can I declare the bond payment as an expense or is it only the interest? Surely the bond payment is an expense?
2) As it currently stands, would you recommend Rentshield or is there another product you'd recommend to protect myself from non-paying tenants?
3) Do you have a contract you would recommend I use or is there one freely available to use?
4) I will be taking a 100% deposit for the rent. Is it also advisable to get a deposit for lights and water?
5) Can I get my tenant to sign a debit order or do I just hope they do an EFT on time every month?
6) Any other advice you feel needs to be added?

Thanks in advance
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uhmmm, lots of questions, I'll try to answer them in as straightforward and honest fashion as I can

for the period the flat is a unit available to let, you can deduct the interest portion of the bond payment from your taxable income. Once you use it for personal use the interest portion will then no longer be deductible.

so no you can't deduct the entire payment since a portion is a capital repayment, so obviously in order to take advantage of this (and the leveraging mechanism) you have to pay your bond off for as long as possible (keep to the banks minimum monthly payment)- if you move in then the rule changes again and then you have to pay the bond off as quickly as possible

I really had no issue with rentshield, I was with them for two years and they dealt with my problematic tenant efficiently and without hassle

if you go with a rental insurance product, they negate the need for an agent, but they cover risk which an agent generally avoids accepting. Other people on this forum have used other products but I'm not familiar with them, also rentshield makes it slightly easier for the tenant as they don't need to provide a deposit.

If you go with a different insurance provider and require a deposit, I would try for 1.5 times or 2 times the rent, this is the norm these days- so that covers the lights and water.

If you go with an insurance provider, you are guarenteed the rental irrespective of whether its an EFT or not. Other than that I can't really comment, I never bothered with a debit order for my units.

Location is sort of the most important thing, which you said nothing about. Its my hope you are in a prime location, it will make things alot easier in terms of the caliber of tenant and your risk.

I would pay a lawyer for a contract, so that if there is an issue you can go back to that guy and he will be familiar with the contract so to speak- its a tax deductible expense anyway- alternatively you could ask the insurance provider if you decide to go with one
 
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Thanks for the feedback.

Location is great, very central, close to highways and shopping centers etc. I have bought in the best location that I could afford.
 
Rentshield at 10% of rental fee vs an agent that can be around 10 - 13%?

I am happy to pay an agent to manage it all, I've not had any problems as yet.
 
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Aqua_lung said:
Rentshield at 10% of rental fee vs an agent that can be around 10 - 12%?

I am happy to pay an agent to manage it all, I've not have any problems as yet.
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an agent does very little to justify their fee in my view

I'm currently renting out what I feel is the worst kind of property, a free standing house, and I really don't see the need for an agent- my effort is at most two hours of communication a month, and I visit the site once every six months. So a flat will require even less hands on attention.

Rentshield is only to protect you when things go wrong, so if things go wrong, then report back on your experience
 
hola said:
Morning all,

we're going to be looking for a tennant for our flat in CT soon, and I thought I'd check if anyone has any hot tips or experience they'd like to share that could be helpful.

We've decided to manage it ourselves. If we don't feel 100% comfortable with the tennant we might sign up with rentmaster as a protection against nonpayment.

Any thoughts welcome - e.g. is private property a good site to advertise on?

Thanks!
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Also try Junkmail, normally renters who want to rent privately without Rental agents will look at Junkmail first from my experience.
 
I prefer a double deposit. That requirement alone seems to give a better quality of tenants. I am an estate agent and we prefer using an agent to manage things. Just make sure you get a good agent. We claim the interest and agent fees back from tax. Our units have prepaid power and we like the tenants to open the water accounts on their own names. Also do proper checks like affordability, credit and TPN.
 
Grubscrew said:
I prefer a double deposit. That requirement alone seems to give a better quality of tenants. I am an estate agent and we prefer using an agent to manage things. Just make sure you get a good agent. We claim the interest and agent fees back from tax. Our units have prepaid power and we like the tenants to open the water accounts on their own names. Also do proper checks like affordability, credit and TPN.
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What difference does it make if the tenant opens the water account on their own names, my understanding is that at the end of the day the owner of the property is liable for any unpaid accounts.
 
3Gee said:
What difference does it make if the tenant opens the water account on their own names, my understanding is that at the end of the day the owner of the property is liable for any unpaid accounts.
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99% of the time the water account is managed by the management companies that manages the sectional titles. And when the tenants opens a water account with them they also pay a deposit. If the they don't pay the water gets disconnected. Sofar we haven't had any problems with tenants leaving us with a bill.
 
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