What would you do...?

Advice is generally worth what you paid for it.

"excellent advice on the thorn tree" cost you how much???

If you had asked for my advice I would have advised against renting. ANY problem becomes a major problem when you are 5000 miles away. Yes many have done it without any problems but just as many have had problems. They just don't post here about it. Kind of like admitting they made a mistake, which no one likes to do.

The agent you have signed up with obviously knew what the kitchen looked like before today. Tell me, was he the one of the at least 3 you had around to look, who quoted the highest rent figure to you?

Feel sucked in? Sounds like you were.

Good to have you back on this branch BP. I thought you permanently migrated over to the old folks branch.

So let me follow your logic. Your advice on the TT, sicne it is free, is also worthless. So is anyone else's here. Anyone following them are stupid because it is worthless advice. We should all go home and LP should close down this entire operation. Another one of your classic gems.

The value of advice can be gauged by the cost only if it is specifically paid advice. This is a peer forum, not paid advice. Would you disregard the advice from your best friend just because it is free?

I would disregard the advice of any individual including my best friend unless he was an expert in the subject. There are some posters on the TT who do know what they are talking about and there are a lot who don't, just as there are some people you know in the real world who do and don't. As for the value of the TT in general, it has a lot of value when it comes to getting specific travel questions answered and for which a lot of people can agree on the answer. It has little value in some cases however and that's why TT has a Disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

If you ask whether a ferry runs from Dover to Calais and 15 people say yes and no one says no, you can pretty much rely on that answer. If you ask whether to rent out your house and 5 say yes and 3 say it can be tricky, which should you listen to?

The reality is that often people listen to what they want to hear and ignore what they don't want to hear. What I find amusing is that the OP stills says she got 'excellent advice'. Obviously it wasn't. Leaving in 3 days and no tenant speaks for itself.

Firstly, sack the guy from the letting agency. They've already proved to be incompetant and not to be trusted.

Unless your kitchen is literally falling to bits you do not need to replace it. If the kitchen is cosmetically poor then it might be worthwhile arranging a days labour to freshen up the paint and really scrub the units and cooker. Arrange for a family member (or trusted friend) to do this before you set off then give them the labour / materials cost plus 50% for extras and a few drinks for themselves.

It's probably too late to source a replacement agent, so again leave this in the hands of someone you trust. Let them contact & appoint a new agent.

Before you leave, and this is VERY important, take out rental / dispute guarentee insurance. For this insurance to be valid prospective tenats will need to be fully referenced. Any decent agent will do this, but you should make sure that they do this and perhaps use a seperate referencing agency yourself to make sure you're covered. If there is a problem with non-paying tenents then all your family / freinds will need to do is contact the insurance company and they will do the rest.

Make sure that you are insured with fully comp landlords insurance (liability, legal fire, total loss etc)

You shoud be able to find a combination of the two online.

Make sure all your safety certificates are up to date. If they are not then, again leave this in the hands of trusted family or freind and leave them with the money to do it.

Then depending on the trusted person, leave them with a few hundred Euros for their time or a case of good wine or a SUBSTANTIAL gift ('cause this is going to be a pain in the arse for them) and lots of hugs and kisses.

Then leave, forget about it and enjoy your year!

Keep an eye on your bank balance, if you see anything untoward contact the insurance and they should sort it out. No worries.

Sounds like the best answer to a bad situation jimr1. I hope that the OP will note the attention to detail in your post which certainly indicates to me that you know what you are talking about from experience as a UK absentee landlord or someone involved in the business of letting.

Being an absentee landlord always leaves you open to problems.