www.iva.co.uk

my partner and i have split up. we are in negative equity and in an iva. are we allowed to rent the house out?

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.

You will need to let your IP know of the change in circumstances as your expenditure will change due to you both needing to rent somewhere.

Will you be able to afford the IVA payments with the increase in expenditure? I imagine that even if you let the house out, it will only cover the mortgage payments.

Run it past your IP.

Steve.7 - welcome to the forum - Also remember if you are talking about long term renting of your property out - you may find the mortgage payments switch over to "Buy to Let" with payment higher than normal mortgages, also you will be expected to pay for the building insurance as well. You usually need the lenders permission.
Also there may be times when you cant rent your property out ,but the costs need to be covered.

All these costs need to be factored in.

Hi Steve ... without wishing to be the "soothsayer of Doom". You will also need to factor in empty periods, between lets and the improvements you will need to make to adhere to Landlords resposibilities (Services certification, smoke alarms etc).

As said above, run it all by your IP. I am sure he has come across similar circumstances before and will be able to advise ( at least on the IVA front).

There seem to be a lot of hiddens costs to renting that may mean it isn't worth your while. It may also be worth investigating whether you can hand the keys back and include the shortfall in your iva.

You will need to inform the mortgage company that you intend to let the house out which could, as ginger says, make a difference to your mortgage payments.

I can tell you from personal experience that Renting out a house is a lot of hassle. If you are splitting do you intend to move back to the house? Would it be better to sell? If you need to know more about renting then I will be happy to help.

Can you not come to some sort of arrangement whereby one of you stays in the house, one rents and you split the resultant costs between you.

ie Mortgage = 500, Rent = 600 Total cost therfore 1100. Divide by 2 = 550 each.

Compare to both renting and letting house: Increased mortgage = 600, cancelled out by tenants rent. Tax on rental income = 200 ish, Landlords insurance = 50 Rent for both of you £600 each. Total 1450. Divide by two = 725 each. Which will be increased to cover empty periods.

The figures I have used are loosley based on a three bed property around here --- yours might be vastly different, but it's just to compare the two scenarios.

Are you both in interlocking IVA's ?

Also another option, if the house is big enough to to rent out a room - and stay in it yourself. not only does that help with the running costs but - you dont have the situation where you have empty property trying to let.
If my memory serves me right you can earn £5500 per year on this tax free

ginger3232 wrote:

Also another option, if the house is big enough to to rent out a room - and stay in it yourself. not only does that help with the running costs but - you dont have the situation where you have empty property trying to let.
If my memory serves me right you can earn £5500 per year on this tax free

Its called the rent a room scheme. You can earn £4250 tax free. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAnd ... DG_4017804 for more information

thanks Shaunkip - it been ages since i needed to do this, that was because i was in my own IVA at the time - and just needed money for college fees etc

It's a handy scheme if you have the room. Anyone who can should take advantage before the government scrap that as well.