How to be the laziest Landlord possible ... ?

I was 80% of the way through refurbishing my house with a view to moving, when three things happened. First, I got a promotion (nice money, but now too busy to finish the DIY), then the finance market problems started, and finally my girlfriend's family connections got us a chance to buy a nicer house at what seems a stonkingly good price, even in the current market. So, given the state of the market, I'd much prefer to rent my old house out until things stabilise (note "stabilise", not "recover"; I'm a realist ;-)).

But to raise a 25% deposit on the new house to get a good mortgage deal without selling the old one I'll have to suck my saving accounts pretty dry, and selling my investments (share based PEPs & ISAs) would have to be a last resort right now. A few K stuck in Icesave limbo didn't help, but that's my own fault, I guess.

So I haven't got enough spare to pay decorators to finish the job, but I guess I must be able to find the time somewhere to DIY, even if it means working very long hours. But my day job is demanding, and I can't be dealing with tenants, broken washing machines, CORGI certification, and all the other joys of real landlording.

So what I'd like in an ideal world is to hand the thing over to someone for (say) a couple of years, and in exchange for them guaranteeing the rent and eventual handback in equivalent condition, I'd accept a lower rent than I could get if I did all the hard work myself. If they'd finish the decorating for me at a reasonable cost and take that back via deduction from the rent, that'd be even sweeter.

Are there any good (e.g. not leveraged to heck and about to fold, or solvent but downright dodgy) organisations out there that do that sort of thing? Any recommendations for alternative solutions I might not have thought of?

Ta,

Bob.

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Comments (2)

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Hi Bob,

With all due respect to your particular situation, I don't think there is any point in you going down this route if you are not going to take "ownership" of it yourself. Lazy LL's tend to get into difficulty when they sit back in their armchairs relying on others.

My advice would be to post your decorating job on www.myhammer.co.uk where tradesmen bid on your job. It generally means that you get a very keen price. Well, it works for me!

Buy a new washing machine off www.grattan.co.uk if you cannot fix the old one (post on My Hammer for that repair too!). Grattan do ridiculous offers like nothing to pay for a year then interest free credit for 60 weeks!

Then post on here or another forum like www.singingpig.co.uk for a recommendation for a good and reliable letting agent in your area who will fully manage the property and take care of EPC, tenancy deposit, Corgi Certification etc. You should be able to get a "fully managed" service for 8 to 10%. This will absolve you of the day to day running of the property, which I think is what is concerning you due to time constraints?

But, before you do any of this, assess whether your property is in an area of rental demand and find out what the achieveable rent is (if you have not already done so). That will tell you if this is a viable business proposition.

I think all your issues can be dealt with in a cheap and time/cost efficient fashion with you in control - which is always the best way IMHO.

Sorry that it may not be the answer you were looking for, but I hope at least you might find something in it to help you with your dilemma.

Nice to hear of a job promotion in these troubled times too! Good luck and hopefully we will be welcoming you to the wonderful world of LL'ing very soon.

Nick , November 21, 2008

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Ask yourself the following question: if you were forced to sell the share peps/ isas, would you use the money to buy them again? If not, then the answer should be obvious. Sell! Humans are not rational beings, and there is a natural tendency not to want to admit or accept it when things go wrong for us. Selling at a loss requires accepting that things went wrong, whereas holding in the hope of a future bounce-back enables denial to continue. Rationally speaking selling is the only sensible thing to do, especially when we need the money for something else more important, and when further losses seem likely.

Good luck!

Rich

richard greenland , March 21, 2009 | url