On Mon, 5 Sep 2016 17:11:58 +0100
Bill wrote:

A relation is thinking of renting out his house for a year or so
while he works away. He has had a very tentative contact with a local
estate agent who has quoted the possible rent and offered to manage
the whole arrangement. The agent hasn't seen the property.

My immediate thoughts were about the state of the property. It was
originally bought with a plan to refurbish it to a high standard, but
he hasn't had time to start. It has been fine as-is as a home, but,
for example, many of the interior doors don't close and are visibly
out of true. 2 surveys 10 years apart said that this was due to
historical settlement which has now stabilised and is no longer a
problem. There are other problems with things like garage doors that
scrape on the path, soakaways that need investigation and so on.

It is his main home and he needs to be able to return to it after the
current job.

We can get the garden tidied for him and do small jobs so it looks
OK, and I might be asked to get involved in meeting one or more
estate agents on site.
Is it likely that he would have to get all the doors right before it
was rentable?
What do these inclusive estate agent deals involve? If a tenant is
installed and a light bulb needs replacing, is the agent likely to
call in a contractor at great expense?

Any comments from anyone who has experience of this would be very
welcome.

From personal experience:

If you really care for something, remove it from the house first. The
more valuable to you it is, the more likely it is to be damaged or
nicked.
Make a very, very thorough inventory, with photos.
If the first rent is late, start proceedings immediately.

If you don't use an agent, then you have to provide the 'phone number of
somebody who can respond quickly if there is a problem. This might be
your number, in this case.
There are also rules now about putting the deposit into a special
protected account, but that is too recent for me.

--
Davey.