Letting property and moving onto boat?

[priting]

Hi

This is a bit far out (ha!) but hopefully isn't as crazy as it sounds.

I own my flat not far from Portsmouth and want to let it out and move onto my boat. I've had a recent promotion at my job so can afford a cheeky boat upgrade to better support me living on it full time (more hours, but also more pay! see this salary calculator, I found it useful when figuring out what my pay would change to). I was wondering how to sort all my letters and the like out - would it be safe to have my letters delivered to my flat with the tenant in it? Wondering if anyone here lives on their boat full time and can help me out.

Cheers!

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum

This is the Liveaboard forum so many members either live on board, have lived on boats in the past or like you aspire to. While there are some general things to consider, individuals usually manage their own ways of dealing with the logistics.

First hurdle is usually finding a berth that will at least tolerate you living on board. Most marinas do not have residential status but generally turn a blind eye to people living on board. Some will also allow you to use their office for mail. However long term it is usually advantages to keep a link to your shorebased address as access to services an boring things like the electoral roll are easier if you have a permanent address. Whether you feel comfortable having your mail delivered to your tenanted property is up to you.

 

[PlanB]

Living on your boat is perfectly feasible, provided the marina you choose is happy for you to do this on an unofficial basis.
As Tranona says, a shore based address is vital for electoral register, bank etc. However, I would worry about leaving all my mail, especially anything which could led to identity theft or fraud to be delivered to my tenant. Do you have a friend or relation whose address you could use?

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

We use Ship To Shore to handle our mail and the service is excellent. Have a look at shiptoshore.co.uk and give them a ring. They will guide you through the whole process.

 

[capnsensible]

Some years ago, we lived on our yacht in Haslar Marina. We also had an apartment in Gosport that we put to let. all our mail was redirected to the marina office, no problem.

 

[laika]

I've had a recent promotion at my job so can afford a cheeky boat upgrade to better support me living on it full time (more hours, but also more pay! see this salary calculator, I found it useful when figuring out what my pay would change to).

Have you recently been promoted to head of SEO at salary-calculator.org.uk?

 

[KellysEye]

We rented our house when we went long distance sailing, Jane's brother's address was used for mail which he forwarded. As said many marinas don't like liveaboards rule number 1 is never hang washing out.

 

[stranded]

We let our house for several months of the year through a local agent while we live on board. Everything remains in our name and we charge a monthly fixed sum to cover bills to avoid faff. For the same reason mail is delivered to the house where the tenants put it in the garage for daughter to pick it up from time to time when passing without disturbing them. Only our second year but so far so good.

 

[Tomahawk]

If you rent out the property, expect the worst from tenants. Broken fridge doors, never cleaning, moth damage/cigarette burns to carpets. Doewn't always happen, but people don't seem to look after rented property as well as their own stuff.

 

[sailaboutvic]

If you rent out the property, expect the worst from tenants. Broken fridge doors, never cleaning, moth damage/cigarette burns to carpets. Doewn't always happen, but people don't seem to look after rented property as well as their own stuff.

You must have had some bad tenants , in ten years we only had one almost bad tenant , who own us some back rent when they moved out , in the end you have to cut yours loses and get some of it back of your taxes . We have an agent who every three months visit the house and check it out ,
I think it all boil down to how well you maintain your house , if it looked after good there a better chance of the tenant keeping it in good order , if it's a mess before the tenant move in , what do you expect .
Renting out houses is a risk ,just like any other business.

 

[jordanbasset]

Agree with what Vic says,
In addition the thing about renting a property is that it is a business and the tenants are your customers and you have to try and keep them happy. That means when something is wrong getting it fixed quickly. Also you do need to try and put to one side the thoughts that it was your home, personal feelings sometimes cloud business decisions. What you want to avoid is voids, a happy tenant will stay longer
On that line I personally would say keeping your address for mail is a no, no. Some may not mind but many tenants will not appreciate it and you having to come around and collect it on a regular basis.
Also after initially doing it ourselves we decided to go with a property management company to cut down the hassle of getting phone calls to deal with issues when sometimes you are not in a good position to

 

[geem]

Agree with what Vic says,
In addition the thing about renting a property is that it is a business and the tenants are your customers and you have to try and keep them happy. That means when something is wrong getting it fixed quickly. Also you do need to try and put to one side the thoughts that it was your home, personal feelings sometimes cloud business decisions. What you want to avoid is voids, a happy tenant will stay longer
On that line I personally would say keeping your address for mail is a no, no. Some may not mind but many tenants will not appreciate it and you having to come around and collect it on a regular basis.
Also after initially doing it ourselves we decided to go with a property management company to cut down the hassle of getting phone calls to deal with issues when sometimes you are not in a good position to

We have our post redirected to my mothers house. We have several properties rented out without an agent. We do it ourselves with email and a tribe of good contacts. We keep our rents lower than average and the houses in very good order. Our view has always been that we need happy tenants as happy tenants will stay. Every time you lose a tenant it costs you two months rent. One months rent goes to the letting agent and the other is the inevitable one months void in renting.
We have successfully done this for the last four years whilst we are in the Caribbean.
You need to make sure you change your address for HMRC otherwise any tax correspondence wont reach you. Royal Mail wont redirect this kind of mail. We use my mothers address for tax purposes.

 

[Tomahawk]

You must have had some bad tenants , in ten years we only had one almost bad tenant , who own us some back rent when they moved out , in the end you have to cut yours loses and get some of it back of your taxes . We have an agent who every three months visit the house and check it out ,
I think it all boil down to how well you maintain your house , if it looked after good there a better chance of the tenant keeping it in good order , if it's a mess before the tenant move in , what do you expect .
Renting out houses is a risk ,just like any other business.

Eveerything was lovely when they moved in.
New carpets, nearly new bathroom, good kitchen. The tenants were slovenly. Never cleaned the shower, toilet etc. They broke the lugs that hold the fridge door shelf in place... It needs a new door because of that. Nevee vacuumed and got a thriving colony of carpet moths eating the new carpet. If they stayed for a ling time, it would be worth it, but they left after a year.

 

[nortada]

Done that. Continuing hassle so finally sold up but kept a UK mailing address.

For us the right move.