How to prepair a house for letting

woolyhat

Where or how do one start to prepair a house for letting. Ok I am planning to freshen up all the inside with a coat of piaint, tidy the yard and garden, do any repairs. but trying to clear out the house ( It is my home at the moment) I hope to move out and let the house for a short while .There is such a accumilation of household items too good to throw out and no way to get them to a charity shop. Somethings can't decide whether to keep them or part with them how do you decide? (I hope to eventualy sell this is just a trial away from my house see how things go)
There are so many niggely jobs to do too, like trailing wires, badely outfitted rooms ( I don't know how to fit them out to advantage)I have looked up on the net mostely usa sites onely.
It seem to be takeing forever to sort out my stuf. I do want to do the place up to a good standard.
All advice welcome in fact everything I would need to know about letting
Thanks

3DataModem

I have posted lots of general advice here before on letting.

Advice; get a letting agent out to have a look... they'll tell you what needs doing.

Note;

Any possessions you leave in the rented property are effectively in the bin. Tenants do not care for your stuff like you do, carpet, furniture, ornaments (!), dishes, etc. You have that end table that your grand mother left you and you are just leaving it there till you have a place for it? Coffee rings, scratches, etc. What about that beautiful rug that suits the room so well so you may as well leave it there while you rent the place? Wine, baby dribble, etc.

This is not a criticism of tenants, it's actually a criticism of landlords who kit there places out with overly-valuable or items still regarded as belonging to the landlord.

When you rent the place out it becomes the tenant's home, and anything left in it becomes a chattel of the tenant until the lease expires. Wear and tear happens - and can not be deducted from the deposit!

So my advice is to clear everything out of the place that you don't want to throw in a skip. Get a self-storage unit at www.remedy.ie if you have stuff you reallu want to keep while the place is rented. Kit it out with stuff from Argos, Ikea, etc... not crap, but just basic nice stuff that you will be happy to get rid of once you move back in. Buy sofa, TV stand, coffee table, dining furniture, beds, lockers, blinds, and nothing else. Don't skimp on mattresses or tenants will complain. Don't hang curtains just blinds. Get it painted professionally and ask him to fix any holes from hooks etc. Get a fire extinguisher, smoke alarms, and a lawn mower if you have a lawn, and a hoover if you have a carpet.

I'd also get a 20 phone and sim from vodafone for taking calls from tenants if you intend doing it yourself. If you want to use an agent get quotes from 3 agents, one big, one small, one local. Negotiate on price. Be warned... You may think the agents charge a lot, just remember when the boiler breaks on Sunday evening of a bank holiday weekend you need to answer the phone and arrange a plumber that evening or the next morning.

I'm a tenant at the moment, and also a landlord of two places (one of which was my home for 6 years and will be again in a few years), so I understand your situation perfectly.

Best of luck. If you need any more advice feel free to post here or PM me.