Possible tenant owns new local business, what paperwork?

chipotle_2

A possible tenant has come to the estate agents interested in renting my house.

The agent told me this person used to own a business somewhere else in the UK, but had sold that and decided to move over here with his family.

He now owns a business locally and is happy to pay deposit and provide his accountant details for the references we need.

The agency is supposed to check all this, however, I've never had a tenant of this type. Is there anything I really should check in terms of this guy's financial/job history? The idea of relying on an accountant's reference ONLY makes me shiver....

Please help!

ruggedtoast

Nah, it'll be fine.

olly300

As a rule references are not worth the paper they are written on. Lots of people change and lose jobs.

If you are worried the only thing you can do is ask for rent up front. However if there are loads of rental properties in your area expect to lose your potential tenants.

tbs624

Never simply leave matters to a LA - they don't have be trained, have any qualifications or specific experience before setting up in business.

Specifically ask the LA *what level* of credit check they will undertake - go and look at tenantverify, maras, homelet, the RLAs own checking service etc so that you know what is covered by the different levels. Where appropriate check Companies House for his former/current business accounts.

Google the potential tenant under his own name and the name of his former business. He may be totally bonafide and or he may be one of those fly by nights who shut down one business owing thousands & moves on elsewhere to do the same again.

The main thing is to have open dialogue with both your LA and any potential tenant - insist that the LA keeps you fully informed at all times, discusses the results of checks with you and be prepared to negotiate, looking at guarantor agreements etc

chipotle_2

this is VERY helpful tbs624. a big thanks is on its way