Letting out property - references for tenants

fishhawks

Can anyone help me? I have just rented out a property through an agent but and thinking of not using an agent next time and organising it myself.

Can anyone give me some advice or tips of how to ensure that I have the right information for references from the tenants, and what sort of questions to ask.

Many thanks

Natelle_2

Two good sources of reference:

The Which? Guide to Renting and Letting.

Successful Property Letting - How to make money in Buy-to-let
David Lawrence,
Elliot Right Way Books

Innys

I used to let independently of agents but, generally speaking, the standard of tenant I got was dire. You also could not get reliable employment references plus their previous landlords' references could not always be reliable.

While agents can be expensive, you can play one off against another to knock them down on the rate. Also, if you can manage it, just go for a letting only fee, the management service they offer is a rip off. This assumes you can actually deal with any urgent repairs that prove necessary.

Finally, don't forget that the agent's fee is allowable for tax purposes.

On balance, I would stick with an agent, unless the fee really means that much to you.

Steel_eye

I too would like to recommend the Which guide. Seven years ago when we got our first property I read it from cover to cover, and as a result had the confidence to go it alone.

We advertise in the local free ad's, property paper, and put cards up at sainsbury's, we also check out wanted ad's. We insist on references, for job and previous landlord. These are always checked, we have had one forgery to date.

We then run a credit check (I forget who we use but can look it up) this costs about £12, I fax the details and get a report back the same day. It does not do much more than check for bankruptcy or CCJ's but just the threat of the check has eliminated a few potential tenants.

In those seven years we have had a total of almost twenty years of lettings with less than four months void, and have only had to withold £50 of deposit. The secret is to choose the right tenants. The properties are priced a little under the agents prices, we do not have expensive admin fees, and the properties are well kept so that everyone who comes to look wants to take the flats. That way we can pick and choose.

All our properties are within a fifteen minutes walk of home, we have a number of local tradesmen who we trust to do the jobs I cannot do myself. All repairs are carried out quickly. Twice we have needed work doing whilst we have been holidaying abroad on each occassion the plumber dealt with it.

My wife worked (briefly) for a local estate agent and was appalled at the level of service both to the tenant and landlord, potential tenants were taken around properties which had not been cleaned, repairs took ages, certain landlords were favoured above others. I'm sure that not all agents are not the same, but I doubt that they can do a better job than I do. The only advantage of an agent is that it is usually the first place that people think to look for a property.

fishhawks

Thanks for the info Steel-eye, since posting the thread I have bought and read the Which guide, to find out that my agent was ripping me off. I wish I had read it before I appointed them as I would have done it myself.

I am now trying to find a tenant for my second property, I will do all the paperwork myself - if you could let me have the name of the credit agency you use I would be really grateful.

I like you will look after my tenants and my properties, as my property is my investment for the future.

zar

From my perspective as a tenant, I have rented 4 different properties in the last 3 years (had to move for my masters and phd studies to different towns and also once because the landlord decided to sell) - and a few more student properties before that. The first place was rented directly, the middle two through agents. We were keen to go back to renting direct the most recent time, as we found the whole process much more hassle when having to go through agents. Most of the agents seem to charge both parties so much for doing so little! In both the cases where we have rented directly, the landlords have become friends - and that makes things a lot easier for all concerned as small problems can be sorted out without becoming big issues.

I don't have any experience from the other side of things, but as far as I see it you can actually get far more of an idea whether people will be good tenants or not by actually talking to and meeting them - and then you can get whatever references you feel you need after that. We're good tenants - honest, take care of the property, spend days throughly cleaning a property when we leave til its better than when we arrived, and wouldn't dream of missing a rent payment. But when trawling round agents we were classed as terrible tenants as we have pets, at the time my husband was unemployed as we'd just moved to the area and I'm a student, even though I'm paid a studentship. The only way we managed to rent the two properties through agents to get through the credit checks etc was to pay six months rent in advance - and then it seemed they were doing us a favour, even though the agent kept the money and got the interest on it before paying it to the owner each month!!

Good luck with renting directly next time - I hope you find good tenants that you can get on well with. Once you have, the most important thing is good communication and fixing any problems straight away, especially if its the boiler in winter...

We were extrememly lucky to find the property we're in now - rather than our guinea pigs and our wish to get a dog (which we now have) being a hindrance, my husband's farming background was actually a plus for our landlady as we help take care of the chickens and sheep in the paddock next to the garden! :j

We found it throught the classified ads in the paper, which here in Kent are near the agents ads anyway in a property supplement so I'm sure most potential tenants will read through those as well as the agents ones. If you can, it would be helpful to create a webpage with some photos and a description of the property on and then to put the link in the advert - that should encourage people to contact you if they can see it is well-maintained etc.