Why don't I just rent out the property myself and wait until the market improves then sell?
Of course you can rent out your property and many people do so very successfully.

All partners in the business have current portfolios of rented property and are members of various Landlord associations including the RLA, NLA, National HMO Network.

Let's see an example what it really costs to rent out a property. Our example will be a two bed flat that rents for £800 per month.

• Lets say you're lucky and the flat is only empty for two weeks of the year (Tip: many professionals calculate their figures as a worst case of being empty for two months of the year) but lets say that you're luckier than most professions, you can always make your self luckier by dropping the rental price at a cost of £400 per year
• Deduct half the letting fee for the agent finding a new tenant during that term - £400 (Tip: agree this from the outset and get it in writing)
• Less your Energy certificate (EPC) and Gas checks (Tip: shop around for best prices) - £150 average.
• Less agents fees of 15% + VAT
  • Tip: We never pay fees of more than 10% to agents for a fully managed service and many people we meet only pay 8% for the same service. Push for 8% - many will say yes.
  • Tip: We manage our agents on a monthly basis, if the rent is a day late we want to know why - it takes a lot of by time (about 2 days a month of chasing!) but if the system falls down then we are ready.
• Rent Cover - Always get this in place - £100 means that you will sleep at night when the tenant hasn't paid for a few weeks - we come from a generation where we always pay our bills on time because that is the right thing to do - that principle seems to have been forgotten in the world of property. How long could you go with no rental income coming in whilst you still have to pay your mortgage? Also - going to court could take months again with no income and it is very easy to 'play the game' and live rent free for a very long time, even when the bank has repossessed your house and they now own it!
• New registration may be coming in that requires all landlords to be registered with the local authority (we are fully behind this scheme as it protects the tenants) but it is extra cost (in the region of £50 per year) and bureaucracy for the landlord
• All in all - your £800 is now worth around £600 pm even if you followed my tips for getting the best price.

Is this legal?
Completely - the only real difference is that we are baby-sitting your mortgage payments. We have an agreement to purchase your property in the future which we can choose to follow through or not.

Ground Rent for leaseholds.
This falls under items that the Tenant is responsible for. In this case we would collect the money as a separate amount in full and pay directly to you along with our monthly payment. Again we are putting ourselves in the middle of the transaction and it is our responsibility to collect the payment - you will be paid regardless.

Tenant Defaults on their payment.
This is one of the strengths that help you sleep better at night - no more worrying about not having the rent to cover the mortgage payment is such a great feeling - ask any landlord.

The tenant is our responsibility, which means so are any default payments. In reality they have a financial investment in the intended purchase of the property and it is very clear in their contract that arrears can result in them losing the option to purchase and that investment to date. In addition we would seek to replace them and maybe extend the option period if it was in your interests, otherwise we might just complete the purchase ourselves and take the property off you for the agreed price or simply hand it back.

Either way you've had your mortgage and all your bills paid for by us over the term or you either get to sell, or get the property back! Understandably most Vendors prefer the last two options.

The tenant doesn't take option to purchase
This is very similar to the Default situation. The tenant has a financial investment in the property by this stage and it is very much in their interest to complete the transaction. In this situation again we would seek to place a new tenant, purchase ourselves or hand back the property - all win/win situations for the landlord.

Anything that we've not covered? - ask us directly here.