Subletting

[Russinating]

Has anyone done this, with your landlord's permission?

If so, were you there alongside the sub-letters or wholly moved out? Did you cancel/move all utilities etc or include them as part of the rent? Any massive pitfalls?

We're in a situation where we're considering it but we'd need to get our landlord's permission, which I think we may be able to. There's profit to be made on the rent and it'd be a nice little dip of a toe into the water of being a landlord in terms of seeing everything from an outside perspective. It also means that if things do go a bit **** up then the landlord is still ultimately responsible for everything, we can walk away with 4 weeks notice and the sub-letter's deposit covers our own.

Thoughts?

 

[Beerbaron]

I would check your tenancy agreement. Why would any landlord want to allow this.

 

[Russinating]

Yeah, as I said it's not allowed in our tenancy agreement which is just a template one and we'd ask them for permission.

Why? Because they're a private landlord, they only own this one property and they live an hour away. I used to live with the son (shared rental) - whom they bought the property for - for a year. I moved out and in the next 2 years they had a nightmare with terrible tenants, finding people to live with their son, etc. As luck would have it I saw their son moving out one day just as me and my girlfriend were looking to rent so I got in touch and we moved in.

We've been there 2 years and they haven't been to the property since the initial meeting. Anything that's broken or needed doing (washing machine, gas cert, shower head, bathroom lighting, bedroom carpet, building's cold water tank etc) we've arranged to be fixed/replaced directly and invoiced them after. So basically how an agency would act.

They've never put the property on the market before or been with an agency so for them it would be easy; rent carries on as normal. If we just handed in our notice they'd have to source an agency, pay them fees etc, and get nothing more than what I could do. They also live too far away and have no time (or inclination) to do it themselves.

We have some good friends moving back from Singapore after 3 years who need a place soon too so it would start off like that.

But I appreciate they may say no anyway and can also see why they would.

 

[commited]

I wouldn't entertain this at all, you're about to take on a lot of work with your new place and the last thing you want is tenants ringing you all the time. The only way I think this could work is if you offered to act as property manager and then you're potentially doing a lot of work for 10% of rent..

 

[Russinating]

Very true, I just don't like to pass up an opportunity however small . The flat's in good nick so shouldn't get calls all the time but see your point.

The difference between the rent it could achieve and what we're currently paying is £250-350pm which is the only reason I'm entertaining the idea.

 

[commited]

The difference between the rent it could achieve and what we're currently paying is £250-350pm which is the only reason I'm entertaining the idea.

There is no way they will let a mark-up like that happen tbh, unless they are very very stupid. They may be giving the unit to you cheaply as you know the family but sub letting it will be a different story.

 

[Russinating]

Hmm, yeah, unless I'm deceitful . But no, what I was going to say is I'll manage it and you still get the same rent as now, basically. And then charge more to cover time/finding tenants etc.

When I was Googling it originally it looked like property manager fees were a pretty standard 15% as opposed to 10%? I could always offer 15% but say they'll still get the normal rent? That would be an effective fee of £150pm and they're not losing anything compared to now.

 

[D.P.]

I've done this before but my contract allowed it, and it was a special contract because I was basically sub-letting the whole time anyway. I was the only name renter in a 4 bed flat so it was my responsibility to pay the total rent each month anyway. this was in Switzerland, though an agency. There are some key differences in Switzerland,d e.g. personal liability is far higher so the landlord never needs special insurance, the tenant does. Tenant burns down the building ti is on their head (and insurance).
This tends to make the agencies more relaxed, they don't really care what goes on because they will just fine the heck out of you if you step out f line in the slightest.



In general I advice against it. You will become responsible for whatever the sub-letter does (or doesn't do). You will need to get a form of landlords insurance to protect yourself. And almost no landlord will want you to make more profit, or want to deal with any increased risk or stress. And if you make profit from it then this likely impact your legal status.


Even if you do make a profit and they are happy with that you mustn't forget the tax liability on that and all the complexity to go a long with that.

 

[NickK]

I rented a two bed house for a while, shared rent with a female house mate, then when she moved out a mate took the space and then after he moved in with his missus, another female housemate (friend) moved in.
Each time I had them added to the contract (with the fee for the change).

In my case it was simply to make it cheaper to rent..

 

[mattyg]

Subletting is a popular scam. (not saying you'll do it) Many a LL has fallen fowl of people subletting houses then pocketing the money and not paying the LL.

 

[Russinating]

Just because I'm always in favour of a bit of thread closure, my landlords have accepted our proposal to manage the property . We move next week and the flat is available so I'll start marketing the property within the next few days.