Hi All
I'm a newbie here and getting my house ready to rent out (painting/decorating done, new carpet to be done shortly) after buying a new house with my partner at the end of March - just before they hiked the stamp duty for the purchase of second homes

The mortgage balance on my old house was paid off 2 years ago, so renting it out rather than selling seemed like the sensible option. As a first time landlord and also now living 65 miles away and working full-time, I'm intending to use a letting agent for the first 12 months at least. I work for a housing association so am all too familiar with the nightmare cases - property abandonments, voids, ASB and rent arrears. Not sure if using a letting agent will protect me from any of those nightmares but at least it will save me a fair bit of mileage and I've already used up nearly all my holiday entitlement...
The guide, blog articles and forum posts have been incredibly helpful - thank you!