Goochie

I'll shortly be renting out my current house while I'm away on business. I'm still undecided on wether to rent out the property privately of through an agent.

Just wondered if any landlord on here have a good tennancy agreement I could take a look at if I were to rent out privately.

If the rent only just covers my mortgage, so I'm making zero profit on the rental do I need to do anything tax-wise ?

Thanks.

philc

we've got rentals but they're here in NZ, so the rules are probably different; but if you are doing a rental as a 'one off' I'd get an agent to do it (it's worth the piece of mind and avoids the perils and pitfalls). However - make sure you get a good agent - find the local landlords association or whatever to get a recommendation for a good agent.
And we take auto-dated photos of the properties - inside and out - just before a new tenant moves in, so there's no disputes as to the condition when the tenant leaves.

hope that helps

Reality

You need to be careful when renting out. All sorts of potential tax traps are there and there's all sorts of rules for protecting tenants from money grabbing barstewards

This site http://www.residentiallandlord.co.uk/ seems to have a forum - may get help there too .

I was in a similar position 15 years ago and got an agent to deal with it all - I think they took 15% commission - but when the bint wouldn't leave it meant I didn't have to go through all the aggro to get her out !!

ps It took nearly a year to get her out - and I'm sure the courts have got slower since

Andrew Timmins

http://www.platform.co.uk/pdf/interm...evised0312.pdf

The interest part of the mortgage payment can be offset against any rental income you receive. You are also allowed to claim for wear and tear. You can elect to deduct the actual costs or to claim 10% of rental income.

Andrew Timmins

You may also find this book useful:
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTi...764570161.html

Most decent bookshops should stock it. It contains another tenancy agreement plus details on tax and most other questions you may have.

Shonen

Go throught an agent. When i rented out my house I heard too many horror stories. At least with an agent you have some guarantees with rent money etc.