Does anyone have some inspiring renting stories?

Amie_007 · 16 August 2005 at 5:14PM

I am debating over whether to rent out my second home to tenants (it is currently being rented by friends who I know very well and I have been happy letting them live there) They have bought their own home and are soon to move out, hence the property soon becoming vacant.

Now you hear so many stories from people who have rented out their houses only to be faced with nightmares to follow, ie, bad debts, damaged interior, damaged exterior, flees, mice etc etc.

At the moment, the bad stories, by far outweigh the good.

So, does anyone have any positive and encouraging accounts of renting out houses to tenants, that could maybe show me that renting it out is a good idea and not quite so bad.

I will (if I decide to do it) be using a letting agent.

Thanks in advance, and I really hope that someone has some good experience in this type of thing.

Bossyboots · 16 August 2005 at 5:20PM

My son rented with his girlfriend and on the whole I would say was a good tenant. They had to have the washing machine and cooker repaired/replaced but that was not their fault.

I would say the worse thing was that they did not notice how grubby things were. It took me two solid days to bring it up to my standard when they left but the landlord had no complaints and it was cleaner when they moved out than when they moved in. We even painted over parts of the wall where marks were from furniture that we couldn't get off.

So there are good tenants out there but you probably don't hear about them because people only want to rant about the bad ones.

Lemoncurd · 16 August 2005 at 5:31PM

Another story from the tenants point of view - but the last couple of times we moved out of a place the inventory clerk said that we'd left them in better condition than when we moved in.

Natelle_2 · 16 August 2005 at 5:42PM

Speaking as a landlord my first bit of advice is don't use an agent unless you really have to. Control the property and the tenants yourself, it's not that difficult, and you will reduce considerably the potential for problems.
A good starting point is 'The Which Guide to Renting And letting'.
Follow basic sensible proceedures and you will have the odds in your favour.
Being a happy landlord is not based on rocket science but on common sense.
Not always, but often, those landlords who have problem tenants deserve them because they didn't think enough about who they accepted as tenants.
We only accepted employed persons, no housing benefit claimants and no students.
If your sensible, and I assume you are go for it.

Bossyboots · 16 August 2005 at 6:12PM

Just to balance Natelle's post, my son was a student. They are not all bad.

bamberbamboo · 16 August 2005 at 6:43PM

evening all. just read "Natelle's" post and my tenent is on housing benefit and is unemployed due to health, he been in my house for two years and is great, I agree with "Natelle" and manage the property yourself if you feel you can as when I nearly put it with an agent the people they had vetted/checked where awful (I live in a small place everyone knows everyone) so if you can check them out yourselves, and don't be put off by housing benefit a working tenant could just as easily blow the rent.

JanCee · 17 August 2005 at 9:54AM

I fully agree with what Natelle has said. In most cases decent landlords get decent tenants. I have been letting property for the past 5 years and have never had a bad tenant(touch wood). Minor problems arise but these are to be expected with any property and are not usually the tenants fault. Wear and tear is normal for any home.

Make sure you select the tenants yourself even if you use an agency for the introductions, you can usually judge what people are like even on first meeting. I use a lettings agency for the introductions but do the viewings myself so I get to see all the potential tenants first.

Foxy · 17 August 2005 at 11:30AM

bamberbamboo wrote:

evening all. just read "Natelle's" post and my tenent is on housing benefit and is unemployed due to health, he been in my house for two years and is great, I agree with "Natelle" and manage the property yourself if you feel you can as when I nearly put it with an agent the people they had vetted/checked where awful (I live in a small place everyone knows everyone) so if you can check them out yourselves, and don't be put off by housing benefit a working tenant could just as easily blow the rent.

i as a housing benefit claiment have to say the landlords i have had have usually prefered it as the rent goes direct to them instead of the uncertainty of collecting it. in fact my landlard im with had no end of bother with regard collecting rent from his last tennant so was happier with it going direct to them with little messing about tbh

Amie_007 · 17 August 2005 at 5:20PM

Thank you for taking the time out to reply.

I really do appriciate that not everyone is out to cause a whole load of bother, but you never hear about the lovely tenants, just the awful ones!

I have spoken today to a letting agent, and they are a local firm, been in business 18 years who seem very professional. After speaking to them, I think that I will go ahead and rent the house out. I think, to start with I will use the letting agent, and see how it goes. If I get a good tenant, that wants to stay on after the initial period, then I may consider renting it to them directly.

I expect general wear and tear on the property, and fully expect to have to give it a lick of paint, when people move out, but what I don't want to find, is the house in ruins. Relatives of mine, rented their victorian terrace house out before and found their kitchen sawn in half, all the old fashoined fire places removed and skirtking board and door frames chewed to pieces - that is something that I can live without!

I think Jancee's idea of showing potential tenants around the house is a good one, I wouldn't have thought of doing that at all. I like that idea, so will bear it in mind before I let anyone move it.

Finally, can anyone give me any tips for how to be a good landlady!

Does anyone have some inspiring renting stories?

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