Help!!! Advice desperately needed...

I'm going away soon for a year and intend to rent out my house.

There's one guy already renting a room from me who's been there for years. He's as daft as a brush but has never caused any trouble.

I can either ask him to move out and rent out the entire house or let him stay there and try to rent out the other 2 bedrooms individually.

The ifs and buts of both scenarios are endless. Either way, I am going to get an estate agent to look after the place while I'm away.

Complete strangers might thrash the place, as recently happened to friends of mine; sure, they kept the deposit but that didn't come near paying for the damage.

Tenants that I interview before leaving might move out to be replaced by the agency with complete strangers. Er...then again, the present occupant might also skidaddle in my absence anyway...AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH...it's driving me bananas!!!!

Thanks in advance for ideas, advice and abuse (of the verbal kind).

Thanks, metem.

On the basis of replies received, I am inclined to agree that dividing it between three while away is asking for trouble.

That only makes it three times more likely that there will be moving out/ in etc.

I'm no expert on this, but my parents used to let out my grandmother's flat for her to help cover her care home fees. I'm tempted to say -- better the devil you know. You're lucky to have a tenant who's been there for years and never caused any trouble. My grandmother was never that fortunate. Even though tenants were vetted by the letting agency, they didn't tend to stay long and there was a total of several months where the flat was empty. One tenant was also rather difficult, but I won't bore you with the details.

I'm not sure how you'll set up a reliable shared house arrangement, but the tenants themselves may be good at finding replacements for any that move out (especially if they'd have to pay the balance themselves). I lived in a shared house once and although there was some turnover, the landlord got some rent every month and usually all of it.

Just some thoughts.