Renting out a property for six months

I was chatting to someone yesterday about the difficulty people have in finding a house to rent for around 6 months when they are getting major extensions on their own homes.

I thought it might be a good investment opportunity to buy a property and target such people. They would be prepared to pay a higher rent given the shorter term and the costs of doing it up between rentals.

But I presume it's caught out by the same RPZ rules?

It would be ideal for this poster who probably wants the property back in 2 years for their children to go to college.

But they could not charge a higher rent for a short letting.

But an investor could buy a house which was not previously rented and charge what they want in rent?

Brendan

The issue is that after six months any tenant acquires a tenancy of indefinite duration and can only be removed for stated reasons like renovation, owner selling the house, or owner intending to take possession.

To be honest, the difficulty of finding this kind of arrangement is just down to the tightness of the overall rental market. I know people who moved out for a house renovation in 2012 and had a huge range of options.

Renovation have a tendency to over run, especially the one biggest enough that require to fully move out. Hard to kick people out if they only want 1/2 more months (they are unlikely to leave).

TRS30 said:

Renovation have a tendency to over run, especially the one biggest enough that require to fully move out. Hard to kick people out if they only want 1/2 more months (they are unlikely to leave).

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Why would that be an issue if they intend moving into their renovated house? Presumably they wouldn't want to accrue tenancy rights and the notice period for less than six months occupancy is 90 days. If a landlord gave notice one week before the six month limit, the renters have another three months for their renovation to complete.

Edit: Because there are bound to be chancers who might say they are doing renovations, a landlord would probably need some proof or other guarantee. Not sure what though.
Does the restriction of one month for deposit and rent only apply to upfront payments ie. before the tenant moves in? Could a landlord ask for quarterly rent, or the rent for the following 5 months plus 90 days in advance then make any adjustments at time of vacating?

Looks like advance payments are not permitted (apologies, other posters probably knew this already).
s19B (2) A tenancy agreement shall not provide for an advance payment of rent, during the currency of the tenancy, which exceeds an amount that is payable under the tenancy as rent in respect of a period of one month and any payment made under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) shall be treated as an advance payment of rent for the purposes of this subsection.

On the same note. I was thinking there must be a big market to rent a house short term to people who get caught in chains during house purchases or sales. I have a house that I am considering putting up for holiday lets (non RPZ) but I don't have the time for managing it. I was thinking of asking estate agents if they have people caught in chains where their house is sold before their purchase goes through. I could rent to them as the house has very little furniture in it, and they could put their furniture in it too. It might be for a week, a month or up to six months. I assume it would have to be registered with the RTB for such an arrangement.

Tadaima said:

On the same note. I was thinking there must be a big market to rent a house short term to people who get caught in chains during house purchases or sales. I have a house that I am considering putting up for holiday lets (non RPZ) but I don't have the time for managing it. I was thinking of asking estate agents if they have people caught in chains where their house is sold before their purchase goes through. I could rent to them as the house has very little furniture in it, and they could put their furniture in it too. It might be for a week, a month or up to six months. I assume it would have to be registered with the RTB for such an arrangement.

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Would not trust and agent to do this. You could end up with a long term tenant.
Just so you know I have been approached by people saying they have just sold and need to move out and have sale agreed on another house. They have no proof of sale and the mortage is not guaranteed until they sign on the dotted line. Found out after it was a long term tenant and their landlord had sold. You have to be careful. People say anything just to get a rental.

There is a tonne of reasons why someone would want to rent for less than 6 months. I did it myself numerous times when moving job locations (and accommodation was at my expense).

Could a landlord use these type of rentals to secure two years without rent as per how RTB view it? I was reading that short term lets, under 21 days are now regulated, yet not clear what happens for rents over 21 days but 1 day under 6 months?