We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Debate House Prices
In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non MoneySaving matters are no longer permitted. This includes wider debates about general house prices, the economy and politics. As a result, we have taken the decision to keep this board permanently closed, but it remains viewable for users who may find some useful information in it. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
Tenants should turn the tables on dodgy landlords
carolt
Posts: 8,531 Forumite
Hilarious article - specially like the v amusing bit about dodgy landlords who came in unannounced! but makes some very important, serious points too. Her blog looks it would be well worth reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/jan/14/housing-rentergirl-penny-anderson-private-rented-accommodation
Prospective tenants are tested so thoroughly you'd think we were applying to be astronauts. Before moving in, we must provide faultless references from banks and employers and demonstrate an anachronism: our spotless credit record. We pay up to three months' rent in advance, one month's deposit, mysterious admin costs, and a holding fee is kept while our references are checked. If we use guarantors, they hand over home addresses and intricate details of their own personal finances.
And what do tenants get? Absolutely nothing. Owners can be elusive. Tenants may have just their mobile phone numbers or an email address. The landlord's financial stability is never assessed, so we don't know if our home is secure. I want landlords to be legally obliged to provide me with confirmation that my rent covers their mortgage, or proof that they can make up the shortfall. My last landlord went bankrupt, which was tough on the occupants of his 12 properties.
In theory, landlords must let us live in peace and maintain the property. It's a lovely idea, but the recent boom in buy-to-let encouraged hordes of amateur landlords to invest in rental property with only a basic knowledge of their own responsibilities.
Novice speculators are occasionally overwhelmed by the duties involved in managing property. Despite this, their requirements take precedence. I know tenants can misbehave, but owners are not always angelic. Some of the more touchy proprietors treat repair requests as a personal affront. Forced to pay a contractor's bill, landlords are known to cynically issue a notice to quit or refuse to renew tenancies, neither of which is illegal. Assured shorthold tenancies - renewable every six months - are the norm, and owners exploit our insecurity.
At least the deposit protection scheme (DPS) prevents abusive landlords from randomly withholding deposits and blowing the cash on hats and treats. Even so, the system is still one-sided. Perhaps owners should pay the equivalent of several months' rent into the same DPS account, forfeited if they misbehave. Oh - and they can pay for their own credit check, which like mine must be clear of so much as one red utility bill. I also require, for my personal amusement, a character reference from "a responsible, professional person".
Landlords can be capricious. Despite a verbal agreement, one changed his mind enigmatically the night before I was due to move in, and so, to even things out, I also require a non-returnable holding fee while deciding whether or not to sign the contract.
A minority of proprietors are downright hostile, and abuse the privilege of owning a key by marching in unannounced. Certain private landlords find it hard to let go of what may be their former home, and are indignant when tenants insist on the written permission required to come inside lawfully. Agencies are often no better.
My friends speak of being greeted by lessors waiting patiently in the lounge, or even cooking a fry-up in the kitchen. Paul's landlord visited without so much as a courtesy call, and gave some prospective tenants the grand tour. He strode into the bedroom and found Paul having sex with a boyfriend.
Even after many years on the rental carousel, I still reminisce about my own favourite worst landlord. I was renting the attic in a big spooky house. While working from home I heard someone creeping from room to room. I was terrified, and trapped upstairs. As the intruder approached, I hid in the cupboard, peering through a crack in the door.
Astonishingly, my landlord, not a burglar, sneaked in. I watched in horror as he rifled through my possessions, then pulled back the bedclothes to sniff my sheets. Unfortunately landlords never need references from their tenants. Mine for him would have read simply: "Behold, the king of all the weirdos."
To be truly fair, any referral system ought to be reciprocal. Allowing tenants to write and check references might encourage rogue landlords to behave themselves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/jan/14/housing-rentergirl-penny-anderson-private-rented-accommodation
Prospective tenants are tested so thoroughly you'd think we were applying to be astronauts. Before moving in, we must provide faultless references from banks and employers and demonstrate an anachronism: our spotless credit record. We pay up to three months' rent in advance, one month's deposit, mysterious admin costs, and a holding fee is kept while our references are checked. If we use guarantors, they hand over home addresses and intricate details of their own personal finances.
And what do tenants get? Absolutely nothing. Owners can be elusive. Tenants may have just their mobile phone numbers or an email address. The landlord's financial stability is never assessed, so we don't know if our home is secure. I want landlords to be legally obliged to provide me with confirmation that my rent covers their mortgage, or proof that they can make up the shortfall. My last landlord went bankrupt, which was tough on the occupants of his 12 properties.
In theory, landlords must let us live in peace and maintain the property. It's a lovely idea, but the recent boom in buy-to-let encouraged hordes of amateur landlords to invest in rental property with only a basic knowledge of their own responsibilities.
Novice speculators are occasionally overwhelmed by the duties involved in managing property. Despite this, their requirements take precedence. I know tenants can misbehave, but owners are not always angelic. Some of the more touchy proprietors treat repair requests as a personal affront. Forced to pay a contractor's bill, landlords are known to cynically issue a notice to quit or refuse to renew tenancies, neither of which is illegal. Assured shorthold tenancies - renewable every six months - are the norm, and owners exploit our insecurity.
At least the deposit protection scheme (DPS) prevents abusive landlords from randomly withholding deposits and blowing the cash on hats and treats. Even so, the system is still one-sided. Perhaps owners should pay the equivalent of several months' rent into the same DPS account, forfeited if they misbehave. Oh - and they can pay for their own credit check, which like mine must be clear of so much as one red utility bill. I also require, for my personal amusement, a character reference from "a responsible, professional person".
Landlords can be capricious. Despite a verbal agreement, one changed his mind enigmatically the night before I was due to move in, and so, to even things out, I also require a non-returnable holding fee while deciding whether or not to sign the contract.
A minority of proprietors are downright hostile, and abuse the privilege of owning a key by marching in unannounced. Certain private landlords find it hard to let go of what may be their former home, and are indignant when tenants insist on the written permission required to come inside lawfully. Agencies are often no better.
My friends speak of being greeted by lessors waiting patiently in the lounge, or even cooking a fry-up in the kitchen. Paul's landlord visited without so much as a courtesy call, and gave some prospective tenants the grand tour. He strode into the bedroom and found Paul having sex with a boyfriend.
Even after many years on the rental carousel, I still reminisce about my own favourite worst landlord. I was renting the attic in a big spooky house. While working from home I heard someone creeping from room to room. I was terrified, and trapped upstairs. As the intruder approached, I hid in the cupboard, peering through a crack in the door.
Astonishingly, my landlord, not a burglar, sneaked in. I watched in horror as he rifled through my possessions, then pulled back the bedclothes to sniff my sheets. Unfortunately landlords never need references from their tenants. Mine for him would have read simply: "Behold, the king of all the weirdos."
To be truly fair, any referral system ought to be reciprocal. Allowing tenants to write and check references might encourage rogue landlords to behave themselves.
0
Comments
-
-
When my daughter was a student, the most suitable accommodation she could find was a shared house with 3 other female students. All new to higher education.
It was one of those "living as a household" deals, jointly & severally liable.
Now young hound had been managing her own finances from the age of 13 and probably had 6 months rent in her savings account; so I simply tore up the guarantee forms as by that time she had moved in anyway.
(Brilliant find Carol - as you can see I've just spent an hour of my life reading the wisdom of "rentagirl" - who would rather be known as rentawoman.)0 -
Not to be dismissed though. With the large amounts of lets arriving in the markets, the ball seems to be well and truly in the tenants court.0
-
I take it you've never been a landlord with bad tenants, then?I used to think that good grammar is important, but now I know that good wine is importanter.0
-
iolanthe07 wrote: »I take it you've never been a landlord with bad tenants, then?
Who me? No I haven't had any bad tenants. I believe you reap what you sow.0 -
If we use guarantors, they hand over home addresses and intricate details of their own personal finances.
And what do tenants get?
And that is how it should be, an address where we can go and do the damage you do to our properties.
Tenants get excellant accomodation with no up keep.
What more could u want?0 -
I take it you have never been a tenant with a bad landlord?iolanthe07 wrote: »I take it you've never been a landlord with bad tenants, then?0 -
Having been both tenant & LL, you that are quick to take sides, need to read a selection of rentagirl's blogs before jumping to conclusions. You will discover that rentagirl's landlord was one of those misguided BTL's who had rolled over the mortgages and ended up with a dozen flats.
Rentagirl could have checked with the Land Registry for 3 quid to discover that her landlord had had a mortgage with (say) "mortgage snail", a subsidiary of Bradford & Bingley, taken out in (say) 2006 and realised that her landlord might be financially unstable.
Not really his fault that he ended up with incompetent management companies BUT IT IS STILL HIS RESPONSIBILITY to deliver to the tenant what she had sign up to get "quiet enjoyment" of a property where the services function.
The moral of the story is both LL's & tenants should aim for a small house rather than a flat. The spare room can always be used for an extra rent-a-room income if push comes to shove.
There is nothing better than having your own door onto the street0 -
pickles110564 wrote: »And that is how it should be, an address where we can go and do the damage you do to our properties.
Tenants get excellant accomodation with no up keep.
What more could u want?
If you are being serious, you are part of the problem. Landlords who expect tenants to be ruthless damaging people. If LL's actually stuck to commitments and did things by the book maybe you wouldnt be in such a situation.0 -
Reading the article. Maybe a property crash is what is needed to rid the market of amateur BTL investors who drove prices ever upwards. Allowing FTB's to have the security and comfort of their own homes.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.4K Spending & Discounts
- 247.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 603.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.4K Life & Family
- 261.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards