House renting

We had estate agents out this week to value the house for sale (we're not looking to do that now, but wanted to know where it would fall) and for rent.

I think we'd guessed pretty well as to what the rental value would be, but what we really wanted to know was:

• How easy would it be to let something in this area (there's not a lot to let around here)

• How long would they estimate to get a tenant

• What are the differences between estate agent management and us managing it ourselves

• What rights do we have as landlords if things go wrong

• What sort of notice would we need to give if we wanted the property back (to live in it, or sell it)

• When they would recommend we put it on the market, in order to start renting it out from 1 May

What we found out was that although there's not much available to rent in the area, it's a desirable area and they don't think that would be a problem. We'd most likely be attracting a professional renter with the size and spec of the house. Their average for letting properties is around 18 days, and they recommend that we start to list it around the beginning of March, and they would hope to have a tenant ready to move in for the 1st of May (nothing guaranteed of course!).

Interestingly, renting furnished or unfurnished doesn't appear to make a price difference in the rental value, but it would mean that we wouldn't have to get rid of or store our furniture. They did mention, however, that whatever we provide within the rental is our responsibility and if it breaks we would have to replace it. So, for instance, if we leave a television and it breaks, we'd have to pay for a new TV for the tenant! Interesting... and something to consider.

We've pretty much also decided that since we won't be local, we'll let an estate agent manage the rental (for a % fee of course!) because it will be a lot less stress.

In the UK, if we want the property back, we need to give the tenant 6 months' notice (although they can leave earlier if they want- they only have to give one month's notice). They initially recommend a 6 month contract. I would say we are potentially looking at a 6 month contract and then 6 month's notice, to get the property back a year after we go...

So it was very interesting and encouraging (I thought renting out in this area might be more difficult) and now I need to get a move on with the clearing out because if we want to list for 1 March, we'll want to have photos taken at the end of February... a month earlier than I counted on! Better get my skates on!