A Letting Agent’s opinion: Should I let out my old home?

You suddenly find yourself with an empty home to either sell or rent out. Maybe you moved in with a partner, maybe you moved into a second home you already owned, or maybe you moved into a home you have inherited. There are many ‘accidental’ Landlords out there. Whatever, the reason you now have a tough decision to make, what to do with the left-over house? Your main choices are either to sell it or turn it into a rental property. As a letting agent, you might assume I would push for the rental property moment, but this isn’t the right option for everyone.

A house isn’t a home … and your rental property isn’t your home!

That’s an overused cliché if ever there was one, but if you are choosing to rent out a property that you have any emotional or personal attachment to then it is a phrase that takes on a whole new meaning. As a letting agent, I often deal with accidental landlords who are looking to let out a property with which they have an emotional connection. Maybe your emotional connection comes from seeing the house as your home and having lived there for many years, or maybe it’s your parents’ home or even your childhood home. Whatever that emotional connection, it makes renting out the property all the more complex than in the case of an investment or career landlord.

Whichever applies the biggest thing to get your head around is that property is no longer ‘your home’, or ‘mum’s home’ or ‘dad’s home’ etc. Now it is something you are wanting to take an income from, it is a business, an asset, cold hard brick and mortar!

This impacts all aspects of how you manage this property. It impacts your maintenance, decoration and renovation decisions. It informs how you wish to rent out the property, through a letting agent or directly, full management or tenant find only? It affects how much you want to rent the property out for and every other aspect of managing your asset.

Letting out, letting go and the letting agent buffer

One of the biggest challenges when renting a property, you are emotional connected to, is to let go. You need to be prepared to detach yourself from the sentimental side of the building, it is no longer your home it is a building, a property, an asset, nothing more and nothing less. You must detach yourself from the memories you have, if you don’t it will forever make renting your property a contentious issue.

This is far harder than it might seem and different landlords will have different ways of dealing with this. You may decide you can detach yourself by redecorating the property, or by looking at spreadsheets and figures. You may decide that is easier to be detached if you have a letting agent as a buffer. The latter is the method that I find is most effective for most people. Having a letting agent as a buffer allows you to be more objective, and for when you’re struggling to be objective an honest letting agent should be willing to let you know if you are being unreasonable.

Your tenants aren’t you

No tenant is going to live in that house in the same way as you or your family member did. We are all different and we all have different lifestyles and preferences about our living space. Your tenants may put up blinds instead of net curtains, they might put a trampoline in the garden, they might fill it with pot plants. There are endless things they may do to change the way they live within that rental property, and the only guarantee about how they do live there is that it will be different from you. And the honest truth of the matter is if you can’t accept that then you may not be ready to be a landlord.

As I have already said, using a letting agent may deflect some of this. A letting agent creates the buffer between the Landlord and whoever is in the property, that distance is important and can make the whole process so much easier……if you let it!

Depending on your personal situation and preferences, you may choose different levels of support from your letting agent. If they are providing a fully managed service then in theory you don’t have to think about the property at all, in fact, I would recommend avoiding checking in on the property during the early stages of a new tenancy period, either by calling the agent or driving past the property. This gives you some time and space away from the property and also gives your tenants a chance to settle without your looking over their shoulder all the time. The letting agent can be there to ensure all the appropriate checks are done while you have some distance from the situation.

Tenants have the right to ‘quiet enjoyment’ so it isn’t helpful for a landlord to be driving past every couple of weeks then chasing the agent as to why the tenants have their curtains closed during the day or why the grass hasn’t been cut for a fortnight.

If you still wish to be involved in the management of the property either entirely, as with tenant find only, or partially with our pick and mix services. Then consider using your letting agent as a sounding board in the early days. If you have concerns ask the letting agent if they are reasonable before rushing into a confrontation with the tenants.

To find out more about how we can provide a buffer for your rental property give us a call or get in touch today.