suestslincs Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 We are new to this forum so may have posted this in the wrong place but this is our thread: We are seeking to escape the world of work - who isn't - and have decided that we can rent our own house out for a year and take off in our motorhome around Europe (mainly mainland, until we get our bearings, we think) for the twelve months. We have loads of questions and it would take too long to list them all here. We've already come up with a list of things we need to check out and prepare for, in respect of our house and our motorhome but we could really do with some advice from our fellow motorhomers who may have already have done this or be much further advanced than us in preparing for such a trip. We would really appreciate any help you lovely people can give. So, can you help us??? FROM: Roy & Sue, South Lincs. : :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnerontheroad Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I would ask your questions on here and read the info on the forum http://www.motorhome365.com/ and also read the info on this link http://www.magbaztravels.com/ Good Luck Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Dave, thanks for that useful info. We have had a look at those websites, they look like just what we need and as for mainland Europe, we feel we're being distinctly unambitious! The world, here we come, Cheers, Roy & Sue :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Roy and Sue, I am sure that you will get lots of useful advice and guidance from the many knowledgable and experienced members on this forum and also as suggested the Fulltimers forum (www.motorhome365.com). Just a word of caution, there may be a few problems with 'officialdom' if you intend to be out of the country for a full year. You will need to be aware that if you 'rent out your house' then YOU do not have a permanent residence in this country and therefore would need to consider 'Fulltimers' Insurance (Not cheap and very few providers). There are quite a few people who do it so do not be put off with what may potentially appear to be obstacles. The Fulltimers forum is very good as the forum has members who are actually fulltimers. Not sure if you aware of the blog sites of people living this kind of life, below are a few you may want to take a look at, they provide some good information: www.paulandlynne2011.blogspot.com www.magbaztravels.com www.ukgreynomads.co.uk Feel free to ask specific questions and be prepared to be inundated with many different responses ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porky Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Hello Roy & Sue. Have a look at www.vicariousbooks.co.uk they have some very usefull books which will help you with your thinking and planning. Good luck with your trip. (ps. I am nothing to do with Vicarious Books just a customer) Roy Fuller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Big Momma (love the name!) Thanks for that. We thought we might struggle to get info for this so are amazed at all the knowledge out there! We had thought our normal insurance may be ok but insurance issues are on our list of 'Stuff To Do'. It's helpful to have a heads up on the issue of our residency and its effects on our insurance. Going to see if we can get round residency by having an address with one of our sons. We'd already thought about that, having been the 'mailbox' for our eldest who's away for 3 years with the RAF. He can return the compliment! He also has our home down as his permanent home for voting purposes so may be we can do the same with him for the residency. We'll make sure we flag it up if the answer's yes. We've also noted down the blog addresses you've mentioned. Cheers, Stay POMPOUS! Roy & Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Roy, Thanks for the advice. Looks like we're going to have loads of reading up to do... Good thing I've just got new glasses - think I'm going to need them! Bes wishes, Roy & Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 If you still have a mortgage on your home, do check with your lender about renting. Also check who will insure your home while you are away and it is tenanted. Make quite sure the rental agreement provides for your tenant to leave when you want to resume residence. Assuming you have a garden, who is to maintain that during the tenancy? Ditto any problems with equipment your tenant will use, heating, cooker, fridge, washing machine etc. Will you divert all post elsewhere while you are away, or will you rely on the tenant not to look at personal items? Consider the phone, and who pays the bills. Will someone check regularly that the property is being used as intended, and that furnishings etc are not disappearing, or will you strip the house and put everything into storage? Have you considered not renting out, and making a series of trips, instead of one long trip? You will need your vehicle serviced, taxed, insured, and possibly MoT tested, so these may be easier to do from home. Wherever you are in Europe, you will find July and August relatively crowded and expensive, and November through to March short on open sites etc, more so January/February when even water can become difficult during cold spells. Much of Europe gets a lot colder than UK in mid-winter, and that is not limited to the northern parts. Is your van fully winterised? Have you refillable gas cylinders, or a bulk tank? If not, you will have to buy cylinders in each country you visit because, apart from the Mickey Mouse Camping Gaz butane cylinders, nothing can be exchanged across national boundaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antony1969 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Its simple enough to use a reputable letting agent to look after your property , they will charge roughly 10 percent of any rental income . They will interview potential tenants and with that look at required references etc .They will sign the tenants to a short term tenancy agreement . I would not rent the property furnished , its one thing renewing the decoration but replacing furniture can become quite expensive . We have 2 rented out and pay Direct Line £180.00 for insuring both .Switching your current utility meters to payment card ones is also a simple task . If not built in appliances then I would remove fridge , washer etc . There are lots of reasons to go touring and only a few reasons why not to , go for it , it sounds like a great plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 antony1969 - 2011-06-14 9:50 PM Its simple enough to use a reputable letting agent to look after your property , they will charge roughly 10 percent of any rental income . They will interview potential tenants and with that look at required references etc .They will sign the tenants to a short term tenancy agreement . I would not rent the property furnished , its one thing renewing the decoration but replacing furniture can become quite expensive . We have 2 rented out and pay Direct Line £180.00 for insuring both .Switching your current utility meters to payment card ones is also a simple task . If not built in appliances then I would remove fridge , washer etc . There are lots of reasons to go touring and only a few reasons why not to , go for it , it sounds like a great plan We let our house out while travelling, to a reputable couple provided by an agency, we returned to find the house uninhabitable, our credit rating was below zero due to bad debts in the missing tennants name and also in our name due to identity theft. TG the house wasnt furnished because just prior to the tennants p ing off with 000's of rent outstanding they had burnt the garden shed and removed lots of fixtures too. but look on the bright side it may not happen to you! Remember theres no point in sueing someone with Zero assets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Hi, retread, Sounds like you are already 'living the dream'! Thanks for the advice about rental etc. Cheers, Roy & sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thanks for the advice, particularly about Direct Line Insurers. Our eldest rents out a house while he's abroad with the RAF and he pays more than that, just for 1 house! Cheers, roy & Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Hi, Brian, We're probably going to use the gent our Lad uses for his house. they seem to do a pretty good job. Thanks for the overall headsup. There's some useful stuff in there to be thinking about, Cheers, Roy & Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 suestslincs - 2011-06-14 11:57 AM Big Momma (love the name!) Thanks for that. We thought we might struggle to get info for this so are amazed at all the knowledge out there! We had thought our normal insurance may be ok but insurance issues are on our list of 'Stuff To Do'. It's helpful to have a heads up on the issue of our residency and its effects on our insurance. Going to see if we can get round residency by having an address with one of our sons. We'd already thought about that, having been the 'mailbox' for our eldest who's away for 3 years with the RAF. He can return the compliment! He also has our home down as his permanent home for voting purposes so may be we can do the same with him for the residency. We'll make sure we flag it up if the answer's yes. We've also noted down the blog addresses you've mentioned. Cheers, Stay POMPOUS! Roy & Sue If you have not already done so, make a list of the primary questions and then post these separately. I say that because one question will lead to other issues you may not have considered and so if you ask all of your questions in one post it may get far too complicated. Do you intend to 'Fulltime' or 'Long Term', subtle difference but if the latter then many of the issues that you may have with Fulltiming may not actually be issues for 'Long Terming' ? (Especially relating to Insurance) I think that by reading some of the 'Blogs' you will find a lot of your questions will be answered, however, there is a lot of reading to do. Look at the 'Post Office' website and search for 'Poste Restante' - this will tell you how you can send and receive mail/parcels from/to wherever you may be in the world. Happy to assist wherever possible ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antony1969 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Retread24800 - 2011-06-14 9:32 PMantony1969 - 2011-06-14 9:50 PM Its simple enough to use a reputable letting agent to look after your property , they will charge roughly 10 percent of any rental income . They will interview potential tenants and with that look at required references etc .They will sign the tenants to a short term tenancy agreement . I would not rent the property furnished , its one thing renewing the decoration but replacing furniture can become quite expensive . We have 2 rented out and pay Direct Line £180.00 for insuring both .Switching your current utility meters to payment card ones is also a simple task . If not built in appliances then I would remove fridge , washer etc . There are lots of reasons to go touring and only a few reasons why not to , go for it , it sounds like a great plan We let our house out while travelling, to a reputable couple provided by an agency, we returned to find the house uninhabitable, our credit rating was below zero due to bad debts in the missing tennants name and also in our name due to identity theft. TG the house wasnt furnished because just prior to the tennants p ing off with 000's of rent outstanding they had burnt the garden shed and removed lots of fixtures too. but look on the bright side it may not happen to you! Remember theres no point in sueing someone with Zero assets.Wow you had a bad time there Roger , does happen Im afraid . If the letting company got you the tenants and checked references etc and basically stated they were fit for your property do you not have any legal gripe with them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 At the time the agents checked they were truly a good prospect, She went off the rails, he left and her response was to hit out at everything (me included) some of the tales my Neighbours told would have been too extreme for a low budget porn producer! But it wasnt the agents fault as we say Sh*t happens! I got over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antony1969 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Roger sounds like it might have been my daughter , she did the same to her bedroom when she lived at home :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 antony1969 - 2011-06-15 10:00 PM Roger sounds like it might have been my daughter , she did the same to her bedroom when she lived at home :-D Amost every one has had an offspring like that:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Hello, again, We did make a list of questions but we're now discovering that there are, as you say, an awful lot more. We've decided to read as much of the stuff - blogs, websites etc. - as we can then ask the questions remaining or the one that spring to mind as we digest the info available. We assume fulltiming means selling up and living in the motorhome for a very long time? At the moment, the plan is just for a year but the more we hear on the news etc. about the way the UK is going, the more we think we'll want to stay away! Sad but true. (Hope that doesn't spark another debate...!) Regards, Roy & Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Must be something about Lincolnshire, we're all heading for the hills :D Just to add my fourpennthworth, we are planning on long terming for 9 months of the year, this is partly to get over the legal problems, and partly down to thrift :-D ...........ie avoiding the expensive months July August as site fee's will rocket then, I know we could wild camp for that period :D...............But we intend to spend a minimum of 2 weeks in an area before we move on so a site would provide a bit more comfort as we can set up camp properly...............think.... Top Gear and Richard Hammonds Landy motorhome.... and that will be us B-) Got the guest suite sorted now working on where to put the Library (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suestslincs Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Hi, Yep, it's the boring, flat bit where we live so what's your excuse?? Alford is supposed to be in one of the best parts of Lincs, isn't it? Maybe it's something to do with the jobs we do? The 'legal' problems sound interesting. Could you say more? Cheers, Roy & Sue :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Momma Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I think what youmay find Dave is referring to is both the 'Insurance' aspect and also the amount of time you are out of the country in relation to registration of your vehicle if you are classed as 'living out of the country'. You will find a long discussion on this on the fulltimers forum (Motorhome365). You don't have to sell up everything to go 'fulltiming', and it will depend on your personal finances. If you do not need to sell your property to fund your lifestyle then what do you do with it ? Rent it out ? Leave it empty and use as a bolt hole when you return ? Let family use it ? Again another discussion on the fulltimers forum. There is also the moral questions you will have to ask yourself on doing things the 'Official' or 'Unofficial' way. Once you have gotten around the Insurance aspect then a lot of the other things just fall in to place, using an alternate address, bank accounts, medication, vehicle registration etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc Just keep reading and asking the questions as you go ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 suestslincs - 2011-06-17 7:16 PM Hi, Yep, it's the boring, flat bit where we live so what's your excuse?? Alford is supposed to be in one of the best parts of Lincs, isn't it? :-S Your right, it's a nice area :D ....................but the police are after us................Joke :D No just decided to do it B-) ..........................which is the easy bit :D ...........I suspect selling up in this market will be the tough bit *-) *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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