On Jan 21, 4:42*pm, Lobster wrote:
On 21/01/2012 00:33, Phian wrote:

*wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:24:22 -0000
.uk *wrote:

What certificates must a landlord provide a tenant with please. ?
I suggest joining the National Landlords Association. They can provide
you with enough information to make you reconsider property letting.
I use a letting agent and he sees to all that sort of thing, the cost is
well worth the lack of hassle. A friend rented his house to someone and had
no end of trouble, the tenant even tried to get him to co-operate in some
kind of benefits fraud.

Well YMMV but personally I think agents are hugely expensive for what
they do; plus, as the whole area is unregulated your chances of finding
a bad one are extremely high. *By far the single biggest feature of
successful landlording is in selection and vetting of decent tenants,
which I do personally, and I really get very little hassle from my
tenants (he says, having just been called out to look at a boiler - see
other thread! - but that's the first time in ages).

The other occasion when I'd go with using an agent would be when you
live a long way from the let property.

And truth be told, for a first-time landlord it's probably worth using a
*good* agent (and ARLA affiliated) as there's a fair amount to take on
board at the outset.

David

I'd say if you're new, don't use an agent. Agents don't generally look
after your basic interests, and do routinely rip landlords off. DIYing
it will be a steep learning curve, but at least you'll learn.


NT