Inherited house from late uncle with my cousins. Should we rent it out or sell it?

Sleeper12 · 31-01-2019 1:22am

splinter65 wrote:

So the tenant canâ€™t contact you in an emergency?

Of course they can. 9am to 7pm. If the building goes on fire I cannot put out the fire. Let them ring 999 like everyone else. I only have private mode around 5 years. Before that I never had a call that I felt I needed to rush out in the middle of the night.

What emergency are you thinking about that I should accept calls late at night?

mrslancaster · 31-01-2019 1:42am

OP if you and your cousins can agree to lease the house to your local council for ten years it might be something to consider. No dealing directly with tenants as the council do all that, they find tenants and look after maintenance and repairs. They pay lower than market rent afaik and you would be tied in for the 10 year contract.

If you sell after the ten years and the value has increased you'd have to pay cgt. But what could happen to the property market in ten years is anyone's guess. Good luck

splinter65 · 31-01-2019 2:58am

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Of course they can. 9am to 7pm. If the building goes on fire I cannot put out the fire. Let them ring 999 like everyone else. I only have private mode around 5 years. Before that I never had a call that I felt I needed to rush out in the middle of the night.

What emergency are you thinking about that I should accept calls late at night?

The water is pouring through the ceiling, the fuse box has blown and now I’ve no electricity and my baby is hungry, the storm has blown a tree in the back garden through the kitchen window... these are not reasons to ring 999, they’re reasons to ring the landlord.

Sleeper12 · 31-01-2019 3:19am

splinter65 wrote:

The water is pouring through the ceiling, the fuse box has blown and now Iâ€™ve no electricity and my baby is hungry, the storm has blown a tree in the back garden through the kitchen window... these are not reasons to ring 999, theyâ€™re reasons to ring the landlord.

They are also not reasons to be ringing me after hours. They are as capable of phoning a 24 hour plumber as I am.

No landlord is supposed to be on call 24/7. A storm is an act of god. The law allows the landlord reasonable time to make repairs. I think everyone in the country has been without power at some point. It's not life of death. A hungry baby is not my responsibility. If my power goes in my own home and there's a hungry baby I have to figure it out myself. Tenants have to figure things out themselves too at times. A landlords job isn't to wipe their bum. There are times if life when there is no power. It's a fact of life

A landlord that makes themselves available 24/7 is asking for trouble imo.

wildwillow · 31-01-2019 3:32am

Sell. Three owners spell disaster. Being a landlord is no fun. Use the money as a cushion for the future.

joeguevara · 31-01-2019 3:49am

The housing market is good for sellers. As someone who is a landlord my advice is sell. Being in business with other people especially family never worls. Also the amount of work being a landlord can never be exaggerated. Tenants can hold youbti ransom and what you earn is never worth it. Sell at the height and get the money to work for you.

One bad tenant can literally cost you everything both financially and your sanity.

Mrs OBumble · 31-01-2019 6:24am

Sleeper12 wrote: »

They are also not reasons to be ringing me after hours. They are as capable of phoning a 24 hour plumber as I am.

Capable, but not authorised.

If they make the call, who pays?

L'prof · 31-01-2019 7:39am

Bandana boy wrote: »

I am a accidental landlord

If you got it on your own I would say go ahead and rent it out
But with 2 other people causes problems , for a start one of you is going to have to do a bit of work managing the rental and the tenants .Eventually they are going to regret doing this work for free
The alternative is give to an agent but that is going to take cost ~ a months rent per year out of the equation .
I would also recommend taking another month out a year as dead rent between rentals and upkeep.

In reality that means after tax ~46 euro a week .

In that case its 30+ years to make back your 90k you could take right now by selling.

That 90 k would do far better towards a deposit for your own house one day or you wil probably find investments that are less hassle , less likely to cause a fall out with your cousins.

Conversely, even if it only amounted to €46 a week, that’s €2400 a year. A 5 year loan of €28k would be covered in less than 14 years. It’s definitely worth considering. Leave it with an agent to look after and agree that if any of ye decide to sell then house either has to be sold or share bought out by remaining parties. Only problem is working with family could get messy but that’s why I’d go down the agent route

C3PO · 31-01-2019 7:58am

Sleeper12 wrote:

They are also not reasons to be ringing me after hours. They are as capable of phoning a 24 hour plumber as I am.

No landlord is supposed to be on call 24/7. A storm is an act of god. The law allows the landlord reasonable time to make repairs. I think everyone in the country has been without power at some point. It's not life of death. A hungry baby is not my responsibility. If my power goes in my own home and there's a hungry baby I have to figure it out myself. Tenants have to figure things out themselves too at times. A landlords job isn't to wipe their bum. There are times if life when there is no power. It's a fact of life

A landlord that makes themselves available 24/7 is asking for trouble imo.

Please tell me you're not a landlord?

jucko · 31-01-2019 8:59am

rent it to the council on repair and lease scheme. walk away. council repay loan for ye. forget about it for ten years. your circumstances may change, offer it to cousins .
best of luck, a lovely situation

in time you may have kids in college etc.

irish gent · 31-01-2019 9:21am

SELL IT !!!!!

Sleeper12 · 31-01-2019 9:46am

C3PO wrote: »

Please tell me you're not a landlord?

You do know that not all letting agents have a 24 hour hotline to call right?

Why would you expect a landlord to be available longer hours that a letting agent.

I work with many foreign based landlords that have no letting agent here. Again these won't be available 24/7. Quite often the only way to contact them is email

You need to look for a hotel or hostel if you are looking for 24/7 contact

mikep · 31-01-2019 9:51am

OP, I'd sell if i were you.
We were accidental landlords before the housing crisis and even then it wasn't worth the hassle. I recently had a conversation with another current accidental landlord who advised that things are getting worse...that's before you bring in the complications of a 3 way partnership with the cousins...

Tow · 31-01-2019 10:02am

Basically as a landlord:

There are 3 of you = problems.
Someone has to do all the work, it will eventually cause more problems.
Your €500 a month will be taxed at your marginal rate, which is probably 41%.
You will have to do t tax returns each year, Revenue will want Form 11 as you income will be > 5K.
All it takes is one of the 3 owners wanting to cash out to force a sale. This has been fought out between family members in court multiple times.

seamus · 31-01-2019 10:14am

Oh god, sell.

If you decide to hold on, at least one of you will be dragged into the arrangement because you didn't want to rock the boat.

This person will be the first one to start ignoring calls and emails about it, leaving the other two to shoulder all the work.

After a few months, maybe a year or two, one of the two that's left will have a change in circumstances - marriage, work, kids, whatever. They will suddenly have "no time" to deal with the house, leaving the entirety of the work on the shoulders of the last person who will be blue in the face trying to contact the other two absentee landlords for consensus on things and money for repairs.

Eventually you'll fall out with eachother, go to sell the property and the two individuals who didn't care less about the house will now be asking all sorts of questions and wondering why it's not worth as much as they thought it should be. And the person who did all the work will be to blame.

Family gatherings will be awkward affairs for 20-odd years.

If you want a rental property, buy the other two out and go solo.

If you don't, sell it.

Irish_peppa · 31-01-2019 10:55am

I would echo the above re families, You think you know your family until money comes into it things can quickly become nasty. I know you probably think "but no not my family were tight". Proceed with caution if getting involved in a business style venture with them. I personally would cash in my chips and invest elsewhere even in your own house, Extension etc. In any event good luck Op:)

Exiled1 · 31-01-2019 11:34am

Perhaps one of your cousins or yourself would consider buying out the other interests...... agree a valuation, get each to sign off agreement and go for it. It will cost a bit extra on legal fees.
If not, sell, sell sell.
As a former landlord, I suggest you are getting into a serious bother if you are going into the rental business with a partner / relative. Bad enough to go into that godawful business on your own!!

antix80 · 31-01-2019 11:44am

Crock Rock wrote: »

Could any landlors here kindly chime in? Thanks.

You'd be in a category called "have a go landlord". That you're considering a business venture with 2 cousins (are they brothers?) means you're probably going to run into problems sooner rather than later.

JimmyMW · 31-01-2019 12:05pm

Avoid avoid avoid, DO NOT enter a business with family, I made this mistake relatively recently, when things were not going so well in the business my business partner just pulled out, leaving me to deal with our business obligations on my own. Furthermore, as we invested into starting the business together, the other party feels hard done by regarding the losses irrespective of the fact that I suffered the same losses. The two of us were very friendly for 20+years now we rarely see each other and most interactions at family events etc are strained at best. DEFO SELL

emeldc · 31-01-2019 12:11pm

Sell it OP and use the money to buy an investment property of your own. Send me a PM if you're interested in my 2 bed rental property that I can't wait to get shut of!

rightmove · 31-01-2019 12:20pm

emeldc wrote: »

Sell it OP and use the money to buy an investment property of your own. Send me a PM if you're interested in my 2 bed rental property that I can't wait to get shut of!

Run a mile from being a landlord. Deregistered yesterday from the prtb. Feels good with way fg have treated mostly accidental landlord. Tenants will suffer in long term.

marieholmfan · 31-01-2019 12:57pm

Sell immediately.

crkcvnirl · 31-01-2019 3:42pm

From personal experience I would echo what a lot of posters are saying...Sell.

If the other 2 want to buy you out that's fine, but besure to get valuations from 3 auctioneers first.

rightmove · 31-01-2019 4:44pm

crkcvnirl wrote: »

From personal experience I would echo what a lot of posters are saying...Sell.

If the other 2 want to buy you out that's fine, but besure to get valuations from 3 auctioneers first.

Do EA s charge for valuations

Askthe EA · 31-01-2019 5:04pm

rightmove wrote: »

Do EA s charge for valuations

Not if you tell them you are thinking of selling.

Get 3 out, discard the highest if its way out of kilter (one national EA are notorious for over promising)

Look at the best offering considering who you think you can work best with.

Keyzer · 31-01-2019 5:19pm

Sell it, you walk away with 90K in your back pocket.

You'd be mad to hold on to it. Trying to manage a rental property between the three of you will be a nightmare.

JustMe,K · 31-01-2019 5:26pm

Absolutely sell.

I have not long dealt with a sale for a friend who was an accidental landlord, and there were years of misery in dealing with the tenants, then months of drama from them once the property was put up for sale.

Being a single property landlord in this country is not for the faint hearted; mixing money with family and/or friends mostly ends in disaster. Someone needs to be the primary contact for the tenant, there are costs involved in bringing a property to market, there are ongoing costs, including taxes. You might get luck and get a great tenant who gives you no hassle, but you might not.

If it were me, I would sell the property, be incredibly grateful to my uncle for thinking of me and stash up my rainy day fund.

Crock Rock · 01-02-2019 9:27pm

Thanks for all the input recently, folks. After much thought and discussion with my cousins and after reading some other threads here, we have unanimously agreed that we'll sell up and pay our tax. There's a nice place in the credit union where my share of the remaining money will be going

Black_Knight · 01-02-2019 9:48pm

Crock Rock wrote: »

Thanks for all the input recently, folks. After much thought and discussion with my cousins and after reading some other threads here, we have unanimously agreed that we'll sell up and pay our tax. There's a nice place in the credit union where my share of the remaining money will be going

Well done. Hope it all goes smoothly

Sleeper12 · 01-02-2019 10:12pm

Crock Rock wrote:

Thanks for all the input recently, folks. After much thought and discussion with my cousins and after reading some other threads here, we have unanimously agreed that we'll sell up and pay our tax. There's a nice place in the credit union where my share of the remaining money will be going

I'm sure you have your fill of advice but maybe just a little more.

It's a nice sized windfall you have but it is not a bottomless pit. It'll vanish quickly with a holiday, clothes and a car. My advice is make a promise not to spend it things like that. Put it away and save for house or invest it long term. Before the crash I saw dozens of people blow through 100k plus inheritance in a year or two.

Best of luck to you

Inherited house from late uncle with my cousins. Should we rent it out or sell it?

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