Are you going to rent out your own home? Maybe because you’ve bought some new stuff and want to keep your old home. Or because you are moving in together, for example. We’ll help you with the most important quick tips to get this right and fast.
Step 1 – Are you allowed to rent out?
Before you start all the fun, find out if you are allowed to rent out your home. If you have an apartment, then permission is often needed from the owners’ association. If you have a residential property, you may have a self-occupancy obligation on your home. What are the rules of the municipality that apply? No idea how to find out? Your broker can check this for you.
Step 2 – Mortgage Advisor
Make an appointment with a mortgage broker. Your bank won’t let you just rent out your home. You will need permission from your bank and in most cases you will need to convert your mortgage to a rental mortgage. Your mortgage broker can explain more about this and also help you with it. Don’t know a mortgage broker and need one? We always enjoy working with Poundwise ourselves. Just ask for Marc or for Fleur.
Step 3 – BENG label
Apply for a BENG label. Think you’re smart because you already have an energy label that you once bought for €10? Then take that smile off your face, because this label is worthless and can go straight into the trash. In fact, you always need a BENG label for rental purposes. If you don’t have this, then you run the risk of your property not being suitable for free sector rental with all the risks that entails.
Step 4 – Rental Points
Check how many rent points your property has and whether it has enough rent points for the free sector. How that works and why that’s important you’ll read in this blog.
Step 5 – Optimize
Optimize your rental points. Don’t have enough rental points for the free sector. Then go optimize your rental points. The biggest gains are usually in improving the energy performance of your home. But literally 100 other improvements in your homes also earn you rent points. A luxury faucet, extra tiling, a longer countertop, obligation in your bathroom cabinet, etc. An architectural consultancy can help you with this or a good rental agent (and yes, we at VK Makelaars&Taxateurs can help you with this too of course).
Step 6 – Rental valuation
If you and your mortgage broker have found the right financing, then an appraisal is needed with the value of your home in rented condition. For this you need an appraiser. Which appraiser you need depends on the bank you have chosen. For most rental valuations in the North Holland region, we can help you with this. See also here our area of operation.
Please note that the valuation in leased condition will always be lower than the valuation in unleased condition (the current market value). Banks typically finance about 70% of the appraisal value in rented condition. If you already have a lot of excess value, then this may not be such a problem. But if you don’t have this, it may mean that you have to start redeeming a good deal of your own money at the bank.
Step 7 – Getting ready to rent
Make sure you get the property rental ready. Please read the ‘tips sales ready‘. These are for rentals as well. There is also the question of whether you want to rent out furnished or unfurnished. This also depends on who you want to rent to. Do you want to rent to expats or to local young couples. Whatever you do, make sure your home is right. Inside and out. And make sure you have a neutral finish and, if furnished, neutral furnishings. There should be no more defects, it should be attractively finished, neat, clean, smell fresh and be good and pleasant to live in. Do you have a ramshackle home and have no idea what to do or not do and what to invest in? We help you as a customer with this.
Step 8 – Doing the rental (or having it done)
You can do the renting yourself, but I would always recommend having it done (at least the first time) through a real estate agent. The reason is that the risk is too great that you will overlook something and later make very expensive mistakes. Every week I encounter landlords with leaky leases, incomplete records, careless rent point counts and unscreened tenants. Things go wrong very often in the rental market and these mistakes are always very expensive.
A sampling of important things to watch out for:
-Always professional photos and floor plans
-Set contract term to max 24 months
-Payment term preferably put per 2 months (as then that is also the notice period for tenants)
-Complete the tenancy file with work slips, employment contract, IDs, etc.
-Check whether the tenant actually works where he/she says he/she works
-Check the rent (background check)
-AVG-proof work
-Changing the building insurance and liability insurance
-Make sure there are at least two sets of keys that also work properly
-Written permission of the HOA and signature on the Internal Regulations
-Send the BENG label
-Keep the rent point count in the file
-Deposit in before handing over the keys
-Check whether a housing permit is needed
-Establish an info folder for the tenants in Dutch and English
-Check in with delivery form, signed inventory list and photos
Is it all too much hassle for you?
In the region of North Holland and South Holland we can take care of everything for you. Please leave a message or give us a bell. We switch extremely quickly.