When you’re moving home, the normal protocol is to sell your current property to fund the new one. However, there are occasions when it is more appealing, in a practical and financial sense, to keep the old home, too.
By renting instead of selling, you retain a valuable asset whilst generating a regular income source. With a thriving rental demand, Market Harborough is a popular place to rent out a property. For those with no experience in renting, how do you go about renting out your home?
Research
The first thing that you need to do is consider if renting is the best option for you and look into if it’s financially viable. Look at similar properties being let in Market Harborough and see how much they are renting for. Getting a property valuation of your home can be the best way to calculate if it would be a worthwhile venture.
Talk to mortgage lender
When you decide to rent out your house, it is important to let your mortgage lender know as you may be breaking the terms of your mortgage contract by renting the property out. Your lender may give you consent to let which allows you to rent out your home on your residential mortgage. Otherwise, you may have to change to a buy-to-let mortgage.
Prepare the property
Preparing your property for rent generally revolves around cleanliness and using a décor that appeals to the masses. Decorating to personal tastes is a problem for landlords. Your décor should appeal to your audience and as a rule, landlords should use neutral colours and let tenants apply their own touches.
Before you find a tenant, you also need to remove anything precious, repair all fixtures and fittings, ensure appliances have been PAT tested and are in good working order.
Insurance
You will most likely already have home insurance but when you let the property, it’s likely that the policies in the insurance would need to be amended. It is best to sort this before it’s too late.
Vet prospective tenants
You can use a letting agent to find tenants for your property. Their experience and contacts can mean that you find yourself a tenant much faster than you would by looking on your own. But if you do so on your own, you need to perform reference, credit and right to rent checks on potential tenants.
Inventory
Before anyone moves in, you should write up an inventory and take pictures for your records. By doing so, it reminds you of the state of the property when the tenant moved in. An inventory shouldn’t be seen as another hurdle, it’s in your best interest to provide one.
Market Harborough letting agent
To help cut out the legwork when renting out your Market Harborough home, you can use a letting agent. With expert knowledge of the local area, a lot of landlords in Market Harborough use Naylors’ management service. Our management service includes the collection of rent, the arrangement of repairs, property inspections, assistance with tax returns, and management of utility companies.
Like we said, we take out all of the legwork. For all of this, we charge 12% of rent (inclusive of VAT). For more information about our tenant introduction and management service in Market Harborough, call us today on 01858 450 020.