A relation is thinking of renting out his house for a year or so while he works away. He has had a very tentative contact with a local estate agent who has quoted the possible rent and offered to manage the whole arrangement. The agent hasn't seen the property.
My immediate thoughts were about the state of the property. It was originally bought with a plan to refurbish it to a high standard, but he hasn't had time to start. It has been fine as-is as a home, but, for example, many of the interior doors don't close and are visibly out of true. 2 surveys 10 years apart said that this was due to historical settlement which has now stabilised and is no longer a problem. There are other problems with things like garage doors that scrape on the path, soakaways that need investigation and so on.
It is his main home and he needs to be able to return to it after the current job.
We can get the garden tidied for him and do small jobs so it looks OK, and I might be asked to get involved in meeting one or more estate agents on site. Is it likely that he would have to get all the doors right before it was rentable? What do these inclusive estate agent deals involve? If a tenant is installed and a light bulb needs replacing, is the agent likely to call in a contractor at great expense?
Any comments from anyone who has experience of this would be very welcome.