buy to let

My son is thinking of buying a flat to let for his future security. Would you advise this is a good or bad idea.he is 45 and working full time and has equity in his house to cover new mortgage etc. Those of you with letting properties could you advise please. Many thanks

Re: buy to let

I have no property to let but I know one or two who do. OK most properties will need a few things done-does your son have some skills in woodwork,building,plumbing etc-or have mates who can at `mate for rate costs`

Also choose the tenants carefully-both parties want a decent place for a decent rent. Enough I`m sure others know better than me

Re: buy to let

In essence it is a good idea, however, he must be ultra careful.
a] selecting hopefully good tenants.
b] setting the rent at a reasonable level.
It can be a bit of a minefield, we know of a chap who did this and he is now sitting on a white elephant. wrong part of town, tenants leaving constantly, so no rental till new one"s are found.
I wish him good luck.

Re: buy to let

Thankyou both. He is trying to secure a good future for himself

Re: buy to let

Hello Susan,
I looked into this in considerable detail a few years ago, at the time we had sufficient funds to buy a property without a mortgage but after crunching all the numbers I rejected the idea.

In a nutshell what I found was that it can be a justifiable investment if:-
a) You have at least three properties
b) You don't pay any agency commissions
c) You can do all the work needed yourself or get it done at minimum cost (As mentioned above)
d) You have the means to really checkout potential tenants and that means detailed employment history, bank etc. Your son would be a fool to just to rely on the Experian muppets and their so called credit worthiness checks.

Gaps in a tenancy (voids as they are called in the trade) can really eat into your reserves, again as someone mentioned above.

Being a landlord is not really a 'part time' job especially if the rented properties are a long way from where you live. The estate agents who offer a 'management service' are mostly useless.

But the main problem is voids, unless you have more than one property this can be a nightnmare.

Tell your son to get his calculator out and see what the difference between a property with a good tenant in for 11 months a year (You can not 'assume' that they will be in for 12 months year in year out) and one where the place is vacant for 3 months a year.


When a place has not been let for 2 or 3 months you tend to panick and take people without proper checks and then the problems really start (Damages, noise, behind on rent, etc.)

And I haven't even started on the nightmare of getting a non paying tenant out, takes at least 6 months and I estimated about £1000 in lawyers fees.

Re: buy to let

I cannot agree more with the above. A very dear friend let her house from panic when she got a job down this way. She took `anyone`-and yep they F her
around pleading aint got me dole this week

Re: buy to let

I once met an American guy who was working abroad, he told me he let his house through an agent, he thought they did all the checks (They didn't) He thought the tenents were in employment (They weren't) He thought the neighbours would contact him if there were any problems (They forgot)

Bottom line is, after one year they were 9 months behind on the rent, he started proceedings to evict them, then he got a phone call telling him the tennents had somehow managed to burn the place to the ground

And he said the tenents were suing him in court for having an 'unsafe house' (We all know how Americans love to sue anyone for anything )

How much of the above is true I don't know, I only have his word, but at the time we were working on the same project and he had no reason to make up a story for my benefit. It's so incredible it probably is true

Re: buy to let

It is an excellent argument to hire professionals when it comes to real estate. Risks are too high. If he hired a professional lawyer, a management company, he would avoid this disaster.
Susan, if your son hasn't purchased a property yet, please, request a professional to help him to choose a proper apartment, check the contract and hire a management company which will be responsible for searching for tenants, their behavior and all maintain costs. I can advise you this company https://tranio.com/ it will consult you on all this questions for free and contact your son with few local agencies

Re: buy to let

My niece and her husband bought a house to let as their 'pension pot'. They rent it out privately to a work colleague of my niece and have done for some years and that works well.

A friend did a similar thing but her tenants trashed the place before leaving with rent owing.

The main thing is to choose your tenants with care, I would ask for references and try to speak to the previous landlord.
Years ago the police force used to have a list of suitable properties to rent for their staff and were recognised as good tenants.

Re: buy to let

Wait and see what happens on June 23rd first,