Buying lock up garages to rent, any experiences?

[rich_mkii_rs2000]

Right, this is going to make me look pretty small fry compared to all the high flying financial talk and big money going on here but for a while I have thought about the potential to buy some property to rent out.

I have seen the odd block of lockups coming up for sale within an hours drive which "appear" to have the potential to bring in a reasonable return but clearly you need to make sure the demand is there before buying a few and finding no-one wants to rent them.

Has anyone any experience/advice on buying and renting them?

Thanks

Rich

[Brother D]

I know someone who has a few hundred they rent out. Biggest issue is non-payment of rent, just make sure the contract is well written. But as far as I can see it provides a fair income stream with less hassle than renting property.

[DonkeyApple]

Your main issue is sourcing tennants and collecting money. Otherwise it can be a good little business.

Most 'lock-ups' as they seem to be termed seemed to be sourced down the local boozer and rent is cash in hand.

If you spend a bit of time on Google there isn't really a good system for advertising them and also running around collecting cash is a pain.

I think you may struggle to source normal punters who just want to keep a car in a garage and will pay by DD.

[911944]

I had thoughts about this my self last year. The rental charges are quite small as you'll need to compete with the council. So unless your dealing with a large volume of garages, the return isn't good for the outlay.

I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts.

[HeatonNorris]

I rent from someone who has an office about 200 miles away from the block.

Currently have 2 on rental, one for bikes, one for a car. (House garage is a bit full - with 4 bikes and 4 cars, I've just run out of space!)

Pay by standing order every month.

Works well for me - but I really want to buy one larger unit with power etc., rather than rely on renting 2 separate garages without power.

[911944]

What are the rental charges if you don't mind me asking?

[HeatonNorris]

911944 said:

What are the rental charges if you don't mind me asking?

I pay 30 quid a month per garage. Not a lot, but enough for me to consider that it's probably better to own, not rent.

[DonkeyApple]

One of the problems in the UK is the dire shortage of 'investment/yield' opportunities at the small scale.

It's quite a stumbling block to business generation.

In the US there are quite a few opportunities. The one that has always struck me as good is the cash machine one where you can own the lease on the cash machine and receive a yield.

Here, there just isn't much opportunity at the low or modest level or for people who don't want to use massive leverage to secure a yield stream.

[911944]

See the average cost of a lock up where olive ranges between £3-5 k so it'll take a long tine for it to be worth while. But if you've got a lot of surplus cash it's an alternative to a savings account, the garage has always got a worth and it's generating income albeit small.

T