Are you a ‘Rent to Rent’ Landlord?

Do you ‘Rent to Rent’ or Are you considering ‘Rent to Rent?

‘Rent to rent’ can be lucrative and many landlords and property owners have done very well from it:

Property owners can earn an income from their property without having to do any management work

Landlords can run a landlord business without having to invest in a property themselves

Situations where it can work well include:

• Letting agents who manage a property as tenant rather than as managing agent
• Universities and Colleges who use the property as accommodation for their students, and
• Local Authorities who use the properties to house homeless applicants

However, you need to be VERY careful as things can go spectacularly wrong

Things which can go wrong include:

If you are the property owner:

You may find that your rent to rent tenant has ‘done a runner’ taking with them the tenants/subtenants upfront rent and deposits leaving you with tenants who you cannot evict or claim rent from (as they have already paid it).

Sometimes you may find that they have signed away their rights in the tenancy agreement as you failed to read it properly or take legal advice before you signed.

If you are the ‘rent to rent’ landlord:

You may find that the expenses are more than you anticipated.  For example, you may not have budgeted for gas and electric inspection fees, the cost of repair work, or for HMO license fees and the cost of renovation works which the Council may demand as a condition of granting a license.

You may find that you are effectively working for no profit, plus (if you fail to obtain an HMO license in time) your tenants may apply for a Rent Repayment Order.

Help is at hand!

Landlord Law are running a special ‘rent to rent’ training day on 4 November, in association with JMW Solicitors. Specifically, to help ‘rent to rent’ landlords.

This will include talks on what ‘rent to rent’ is, talks aimed specifically at property owners and the ‘rent to renter’ and guidance on the problems which may occur.  There is also a talk on HMOs and planning.

The day will end with a one-hour session Q&A where you can put your questions to the speakers. Most of the talks will be with solicitor and ‘rent to rent’ expert David Smith.

A ‘rent to rent’ tenancy agreement

Many of the problems associated with ‘rent to rent’ stem from the use of inappropriate tenancy agreements.  But it is hard to find a decent agreement on the market and instructing a solicitor to draft a bespoke agreement for you can cost upwards of £1,000 – £2,000.

However, for this event, David Smith is drafting a special ‘rent to rent’ agreement which will be suitable for most ‘rent to rent’ situations and which will be available to delegates on the course.

It can be purchased either as part of the course fee or separately via the delegates’ page.

About the event

The event will take place on 4 November 2020 and it will be a virtual event.

The cost is £120 or £420 for the event plus the agreement. However, Property 118 readers can get a £10 discount with the coupon code P118D5FP4

You will need to book and pay online.  You can find out more and book your place here.

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