Thoughts on this tiny kitchen

It is highly likely that your mortgage payments will go up if you decide to let it out, so of course that will need to be taken into account. Yield is about 5% which is on the cusp of an investment that makes sense. We're keeping our options open about future rental potential - current yield is around 6.5% but ultimately I think we'd be better off using the equity to get into a better location.

Regardless of whether or not you head down the sale or rental place, if you want to get a great result without spending a fortune, try and find decent second hand stuff rather than going for new. I got a £500 oven for £20 that was "broken" and tripping the MCB. A replacement fan unit for £10 and it's as good as new. We have basically bought all of our appliances used (but all <4 years old) and have done it all for less than a new dryer would cost. I also picked up a pair of solid wood lockers and chest of drawers for £40 that are currently in the shops for £250. This has meant that we've been able to channel money to stuff that's more important and should be a lot easier in the UK!
 
Yep, aware of that :). Our original idea was just to do up and sell, that turned into rent, but with whatever happens being 2/3 years down the line we'll have to wait and see what the market's like then.

Fair advice about the appliances. Sounds like you know what you're doing though! You a leccy?
 
There are a lot of hidden expenses in renting.
In general tentents don't pay for damage as a result of wear and tear. however, tenants rarely look after your property so carpets gets stained, furniture broken, vacum cleaners disappear magically or put out noxious fumes, walls need regular painting etc. If you try to charge them for things they break you will get a post in GD about how evil landlords are!
Seriously, even with reasonable tenants and charging for obvious damage there is still a high repair bill. Worse still the value of your property degrades with the damage/degradation.

Then ther is all the costs in cleaning and sorting out all the damage/missing cookware/lightbulbs/

then you find that there was a leak in the kitchen that your tenants knew about, but didn't bother telling you because they just dont care. You only find out when the neighbor down below has their ceiling collapse on their 90 year old granny who is now in hospital. I hope your insurance is sorted!


And that is just the tenants. You will find the council constantly inspecting and finding things at fault that need changing or installing. Removing all doors for fire doors with a 10 minute burn time. When next year installing self closing fire doors. then next year installing self closing fire doors with a 12 minute burn time and iridescent lighting, with braille for the blind. That expensive smoke alarm you installed? Well it has to go and be replaced by some mains operated laser smoke and semen detector. That fire blanket you thought would be needed, well it is 2 inches too short to conform to regulations so you will need a new one, plus it needs to be bright red and not white.

I'm all for safety regulations where they make sense but Jesus, the councils just take the urine with their ever changing lists and their anal attention to detail.



then you loose 40% tax of whatever is left minus actual expenses.
 
Haha. Thanks DP.

Do regulations like that apply to private, single occupancy households? I did a brief bit of research and we don't need a license for that, and equally the flat we're currently renting has none of that stuff.
 
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