Buying a 2nd House as an Investment

My wife and I both in our mid 40's and have recently paid off our mortgage and also have approx 60k in bank and as I have only just started in pensionable employment, (never in pension scheme before) we were thinking over the idea of getting a loan to buy a second house to rent out as our pension to speak.
We were toying with the idea of buying something for approx k280 and use the 60k savings as deposit and fees etc.
my question is ,
ARE WE MAD to do this.
Will we have to pay much tax on the rent we get.
Would we be entitled to tax relife on the mortgage
Would we be better off getting a letting agent to look after renting out the house and the maintaince of it or should we do it ourselves.
Do we have to put up our princle house as gaurantee on a mortgage (something we both don't want to do.
Our plan would be to pay off the loan using the rent and adding to it so we would have loan paid off by the time we are 65 (in 21yrs) and then we would have the rent from this as our pension.
Any suggestions or possible pitfalls would be very much appreciative.

Have you had a look at the Property Investment FAQ?

CCOVICH said:

Have you had a look at the Property Investment FAQ?

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That was quick, Thanks CCOVICH I will have a look at it now.

You may also consider whether or not it makes sense to sit down with an independent advisor (who will charge a fee) and discuss your options further.

The Key Posts in the Pensions and PRSAs forum may also be worth reading.

Being a landlord can be a load of hassle. Ask yourself if you want to deal with tenants who won't pay rent etc and the letting agent will only be of limited use if this happens. I was a landlord for about 8 years and didn't like it at all (didn't like the hassle, didn't like the time it took up and I didn't like having to make business decisions about someone else’s home).
Without getting into speculation about property prices I think you need to think long and hard about investing in property at the moment. You would be putting a large chunk of your resources into one asset class when you have just started a pension. You will also have high entry and exit costs and your rental income will be taxed.
I think you should take CCOVICH's advice and talk to an independent advisor.

Purple said:

Being a landlord can be a load of hassle. Ask yourself if you want to deal with tenants who won't pay rent etc and the letting agent will only be of limited use if this happens. I was a landlord for about 8 years and didn't like it at all (didn't like the hassle, didn't like the time it took up and I didn't like having to make business decisions about someone else’s home).
Without getting into speculation about property prices I think you need to think long and hard about investing in property at the moment. You would be putting a large chunk of your resources into one asset class when you have just started a pension. You will also have high entry and exit costs and your rental income will be taxed.
I think you should take CCOVICH's advice and talk to an independent advisor.

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Thanks for the advice Purple. I must admit that the thought been a landlord does not appeal to either of us and we would be the type of people who would probally be worried about it constantly. When yourself and CCOVICH talk about independent finincal advisors, what kind of money would they generally charge for a consultation. and where is the best place to look for them. ie is there an official site for them etc.
many Thanks