Should i become landlord

It creates uncertainty for me when they clearly intend to stay. An AST can be up to three years. It's just that everyone wants to hit and run, trash the place and bugger off. Don't you dare tell me that short tenancies are my fault. What is clear from all the comments is that the system does not work for tenants or landlords. A landlord wants to be paid a fair rent, be paid on time and have tenants for a long time. Tenants want clean, affordable, safe housing that they call home for a timeframe that suits them Why should landlords be treated differently from other suppliers to yourself.

Do you get a new mobile phone free after so long. You pay high costs throughout the period. The alternative is to BUY one yourself. I will not cast aspersions but 8 years as a student. My daughter got 2 degrees in 4 years and was lumped with a student loan to pay for it. ALL landlords would love long tenancies. The sheer cost of painting see thread on this site after short period tenancies plus full council tax on empty properties plus no rent coming in for a month soon eat a large proportion of the rent paid in say a 6 month tenancy.

And why should I as a landlord be subject to the proposal for a 3 year tenancy? Say I became ill and couldn't work. I would need my savings from my investment to live because as you are perfectly aware if you have savings you get sod all help from the government. It might be interesting to you but my NET figure from my decreasing portfolio is actually less than one of my tenants gets in DHSS payments.

No wonder their car is better than mine. I recently got called out at 11 o'clock at night in a howling gale because a brick had been thown through a tenants window. Whilst it's true it can take a while to go through the courts although it can in some cases be fast tracked , the point I made is very valid and true - that the end of a fixed term is grounds for eviction.

That's just the way it is. You don't have to give any other grounds to a magistrate to evict at the end of a fixed term. The Housing Act, offers you that protection. Firstly, yes I agree it would be better for both tenant and landlord if tenancies were longer than 12 months. I think I may have got my wires crossed somewhere because I was under the impression that anything over 12 months would turn it into a different type of tenancy?

I've never ever come across a longer AST than 12 months anyway. I'd have happily signed one had it been offered to me. One last point about HMOs is that they tend to change the character of an area.

Sadly student areas tend to become ghost towns over summer holidays. I think such housing is much better suited to families whether privately rented or not. It's a shame universities haven't invested more in halls accommodation as that would have remedied some of it.

Moreover, I don't consider myself to be an unreasonable person, twice I could have taken my landlord to court over deposit protection and claimed the full wack but settled for the deposit to be free of the agro. I doubt many tenants want to go to court If you find yourself without a job and facing eviction at the end of a fixed term, the council will encourage you to stay in a property until the landlord gets a court order.

I have found this totally unreasonable and made myself intentionally homeless in the process a couple of times. I don't think many tenants understand the limited rights they have and the consequences of making themselves intentionally homeless. Whilst I have sympathy with landlords who have dodgy tenants, please consider that to a tenant, it's not the threat of losing their livelihood but the very real threat that they could be out on the streets. It's not the business of landlords to necessarily have a social conscience, that I understand, my problem is when they resist any form of regulation of the sector as you can see in their responses to consultations to local HMO licencing schemes like that in Southampton for example.

I've have two arse tenants. Both slowly wrecking the places. Does anyone know of any? This is the stage I've reached! You must be ever so nasty as a landlord. PS if you do find a crew who can do this please forward them to me ASAP and we can give them plenty of work!!! I've removed the first page as it has personal information. I'd describe this property as kind of mid range, medium quality. I have seen a lot worse, several properties where the carpets were literally black.

The room was a living room converted into a bedroom. I'd also point out that five of us were sharing a small dilapidated fridge freezer and the landlord refused to supply another one, even though legally HMOs are required to have more than one IIRC. The word 'landlord' is a dirty one, just like car dealer, pimp, rat, hooker but NOT tenant, oh no! And it never occurred to the occupants to look in newsagents windows to see if they could club together to get a better fridge?

I wonder who I can moan at when one of my personal appliances breaks down. Well for all the tenants who have commented they are in for a big shock. Recent changes which will hit landlords together with a few past ones. Any landlord who claims back mortgage interest relief will no longer be able to. There are over 1 million small landlords with one property. The 'landlord' status does not allow you to be classed as a business.

So where does this leave tenants. Ive already had tenants who left me returning crying on my doorstep because the next landlord sold up. They eventually got another house at pcm more than I charge. So like any business its going to be up with the rents to pay for changes and tenants will realise that they had a reasonable run. Hey Landlord i found you recently and have been going through your nice blog. I wanna buy some BTL for some possible cash flow.

Do you think BTL is dead now with new rules, etc. Being a landlord is bloody hard work. It is pretty soul destroying. We have tenants who have been given a posession order but realise that bailiffs are shut so just staying put. And all the necessary checks where done satisfactorily.

It goes to show that their are no perfect tenants. Everyone comes with their problems as we all do! I think that's why we set up our own letting agency to help landlords have a less stressful life. It is ridiculously hard to keep up with changes and you want a human not a robot that just sees you as stats and figures that's what we have always wanted!

Well summed up and I am interested in learning about whether we buy properties through buisness or personal. Notify me via email when someone else leaves a comment on this blog post. I initially started this blog because I wanted to document my every step to becoming a BTL landlord, in hope that others' with more experience would discover my dronings and have the heart to help me - a beetle on its back - along the way.

I literally didn't have a clue about being a landlord when I started this website. Having expanded my property portfolio over the years, I now occassionally blog about my bitter life as a Landlord, so fellow Landlords prospective, new, and seasoned can learn from my few successes and frequent failures.

It's critical you understand that this is only a personal blog, and while the aim is to provide the best resources, guides, tips, tools and techniques for the letting industry, primarily for landlords and tenants, the information should not be relied upon to make any decisions.

Everything I share is based on my own personal experiences as a landlord and independent research, the information is NOT guaranteed to be perfect or accurate, which means you should always seek advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. Yes, I do my utmost to ensure the information I share is accurate at the date of publication and thereafter with ongoing maintenance, however, unfortunately, it's not always possible as prices and terms and conditions of products and services frequently change by the provider, so you should always do your own due diligence and double-check first.

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Mine don't! Exclusive Deals Available! Putting off traveling is really a bad idea. My mom is only 65, but traveling is much more difficult now. Good post, Joe, and encapsulates a lot of my reservations about jumping into the rental business.

All the varibles you lay out here make it seem like you are making the right decision. Selling it would simplify my life.

You definitely need a property manager at that distance, which eats into your profits, so if the prices are high now take the profit in advance and run. The local rental market NOLA appears poised to outperform the stock market over the next few years, so that also points to keeping it.

Even once in a while is enough for me. I think our area is leveling off this year. It might keep going up or it might slow down a bit next year. Who knows. I completely understand where you are coming from on this one. But selling is my goal right now. Being a landlord is good for your finance, but it can be a lot of work. It just make life more complicated. Very timely for me Joe. Along with two brothers, I recently inherited a farm house in central Illinois. We just had it inspected and are on the brink of fixing it up a bit to prepare for rental.

Good luck! I have that problem now. I now live about miles away from the condo I rent out. I hope I can still own it and make money off renting. Cash is king! You either hear landlords hate or love being one. I can see why being a landlord would suck when you are not handy and have to hire service.

Services are expensive. Treehouse… We had a tenant close-in the front porch for a bedroom. We also had one cut a doggy door in. I know rentals work well for some people. We have teenagers. Heaven forbid there is a bad accident involving others. My cousin recommended this after a passenger in her daughters car was seriously injured.

The family had no recourse but to sue as the auto insurance would not cover all expenses. The umbrella policy enabled her to keep her home. Thankfully the friend recovered. NJ also has strict laws for partying teens at your home.

I would definitely invest in that type of insurance for a rental. Happy wife — happy life. We have an umbrella policy as well.

I hope the transactions are quick and relatively painless. The creek is a huge liability, especially if the backyard is not fenced in. I know in FL you are in the hook if a kid breaks into your backyard and drowns in your pool.

Remove the line before you get in trouble!!! Yeah, the tree house is nuts. That was probably the moment I decided to sell. The creek is just a little trickle in the summer, but it can be a torrent in the rainy season. Being a landlord is not for me right now. I have a few friends who are in the rental business and it seems like they hate it. Louis may be a bad area for it though because all of my friends have never told me a good story yet.

I know a few people who are doing well with being a landlord. The DIY type does pretty well. I read your first reason along with Mrs. If Mrs is not happy neither will you. All the other reasons are valid but hold a lot less weight in my eyes. We own two rental homes and it really can be a huge pain.

They are a lot of work for sure. If I have more time, then I can handle more. Now is just not a good time. We plan on moving in the near term not out of Chattanooga of course , and I constantly debate about whether we should sell or rent our current home. I think I would be in the same boat as you. In reality, I would probably hate it. You never know. You might like it. I have a single family home that I was living in over the past 6 years and just started renting out last October.

However, I also have a 1, sq ft. Plus the maintenance cost of my commercial property is much lower. I heard commercial property works pretty well too. A little less profit would be okay for me. I am too strict about furniture, accessories etc. No money worth my nerves! Very timely post for me.

I have an email in my inbox waiting for an answer. And this might be the first of many acquisitions. I vacillate back and forth between wanting a little more return on my money and not wanting to have any of the headaches you mention. Do I really want to squeeze out an extra few percent of return above what I can get from the stock market?

But will I regret not making a purchase now when the market is still ripe for the picking? Maybe it will work out for you. You never know, right. I think landlording is fine for some people, and hell for others. I think both you and your wife will be very relieved when the amount of work and paperwork gets reduced by selling these rentals. I hope so too. The 4 plex is already pending. I just hope the inspection comes back relatively clean.

Yeah, there are so much paperwork to do. All valid reasons Joe. It sounds like REIT is a better way for you to get real estate exposure. Hoping for a small profit for you. Stress can damage your health, and it sounds like this was really stressing you out. I am a landlord and I rent out 2 rooms in my house to my tenants. But when I discover that something is broken and they have already thrown out the parts it makes me angry.

And the more profitable your purchase may prove. And you need to steer clear of those who might not pay their rent on time or perhaps at all. You need much more information. But how do you get that? So do background checks. Of course, if you have a property manager, that will be their job. But you might want to review the information they collect.

Or, rather, you can select an online service to do it for you. If you have plenty of other, better prospective tenants, you might eliminate an applicant for a single blot on any one of those records.

Do you really want to punish someone for an eviction or a criminal offense that happened many years or even decades ago? Often, a poor credit score arose from a brief period of unemployment or sickness that is now well behind the applicant. So you might want to talk to the applicant about anything that bothers you. Ask for references from previous landlords and call them for an off-the-record chat. The state where your rental property is located will have its own laws governing eviction.

And you must observe those to the letter. Even a minor quibble over wording or how a notice was served can allow a tenant to drag out the process for weeks or even months longer than normal. You usually have to give either 30 or 60 days notice, depending on local laws. This is called termination without cause. Or you want the home for a friend or relation. Or maybe you need to move in yourself. As long as you follow the law, you have the right to require a month-to-month tenant to move out.

Of course, you will probably want to avoid evicting anyone. And most landlords try to resolve issues face to face with troublesome tenants. The safest way forward is to have a neutral law enforcement officer execute the order.

Merely the presence of such an officer often defuses tensions. And you will have a reliable witness that the tenant and their possessions were removed lawfully. Many landlords hire a lawyer to put together any forms they need like lease agreements or eviction orders.

But few lawyers come cheap. So you may decide on becoming a landlord to become your own amateur lawyer, too. And that means you need the sort of mind that is comfortable acquiring and using such knowledge. Just make sure the ones you choose are from reputable publishers and by expert lawyers.

And that they cover your state. Those might include:. Of course, you can also download those sorts of forms from various websites. Some even offer them for free. So, is it worth paying for something you may be able to find for free? The paid-for sites may be more credible.

And the money you pay might mean the publisher owes you a duty of care that incentivizes it to ensure the reliability of its products. Depending on how hands-on you choose to be, owning rental properties can also involve a lot of work. However, the financial and emotional rewards can make all that worthwhile — and then some. Your borrowing on each home reduces each month, while the rent you can collect may well go up most years.

True, owning a rental property rarely makes people rich quickly. But getting rich slowly is a very attractive alternative. Buying a rental property. So before you take any next steps, you should check your eligibility with a lender. Verify your new rate Nov 11th, How Soon Can I Refinance?

Landlords Association Trending Is it worth being a landlord in , is it still profitable? Contents hide. Marc Attwater December 30, at I Agree.

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