Meeting The Landlord

jamesb1239

First landlady was a nightmare, turning up out of the blue and sending round someone to fix the damp in the flat by....... yes painting over it.

Current landlord really understands the whole free enjoyment part of the tenancy. Simple relationship he gets his rent every month and i only see him every 6 months when he drops round a new tenancy agreement, doesnt even come in, and thats the way i like it

barnaby-bear

SUGARSPICE wrote: »

What were your experiences of meeting the Landlord of a place that you renting ?

Would be great to hear from you :beer:

My favourite was the amateur ex-pat I never met, met the LA employee who confessed he rentedd via another agency though....built false backs in cupboards to store his rubbish, had a SAHM wife who was slummy-mummy - we complained about the dirt and damage rubbish the left behind...inventory included rubbish indian sculpture tat, dried flower arrangement and giant church candles (on the inventory) so if we burnt them -problem.... and really do you really want tenants using candles????? Always wanted to meet him to find out if all his designer suits, computers and unchipped (we got the charity shop tat) stuff from behind the fake cupboard backs fared well after a few years in a snail infested shed?

barnaby-bear

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Landlords are human beings, with the full gamut of personalities that one would expect from people in any walk of life....therefore asking what one's experience of 'meeting a landlord' was is a bit pointless to me. It's like asking 'what was your experience of meeting the mechanic who did your MOT' or 'what was your experience of meeting the woman at the library who stamped out your copy of a Douglas Coupland novel'

Of course I can wholly understand the question given the fact that some people on this board paint all LLs in the same vein as one would usually reserve for axe murderers.

All these seem interesting anecdotal experience scenarios for gossip though....

franklee

I normally go through an agent so don't meet the landlord. The one time I did he was just what I expected, bit of a poser. We used to get the gossip from the neighbours that he'd managed to get into a dispute with, looking back it was quite entertaining. He did eventually manage to sell after years of trying. Fun place to rent but a turkey to own as it was a very dodgy conversion of a lovely old house into flats. Practically no sound insulation and some seriously dodgy plumbing, and a pigs ear of a design for the way it was split up.

debrag

my current landlords are lovely, never meet last one (developer)

Lavendyr

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Landlords are human beings, with the full gamut of personalities that one would expect from people in any walk of life....therefore asking what one's experience of 'meeting a landlord' was is a bit pointless to me. It's like asking 'what was your experience of meeting the mechanic who did your MOT' or 'what was your experience of meeting the woman at the library who stamped out your copy of a Douglas Coupland novel

With all respect, Welshwoofs, I disagree, and feel that a meeting between a landlord and their prospective tenant has several benefits and few drawbacks (on both sides). Unlike when you borrow a library book, when you rent out a house, you are entering into a serious and lengthy business relationship with someone. You therefore want to have an impression of the person you are going to be dealing with.

With regards to the comparison to "who did your MOT", I think it applies more to the landlord than to the tenant (i.e. landlord lets house to tenant, car owner gives car to MOT tester to work on) - in both cases you are putting your property in the hands of someone else. I personally select the garage I give my car to very carefully and base it on several things, not least on their customer service and the impression they make both on the phone and in person. I would expect a landlord to be even more cautious when letting their house to a person, since the value of a house is significantly higher than the value of a car.

Obviously a landlord has an interest in knowing their tenant, at least by impression, in order to trust that they will look after the house while they are in it. However, does a tenant not have a similar interest in the landlord? After all, the tenant, while in the house, will need to rely on the landlord to perform maintenance and repairs as required, to keep to the terms of their contract, and so on. And sadly, I'm sure you and I both know that there are many landlords out there who do not do these basic things (just as there are many tenants out there who are bad tenants).

In summmary, and having realised I have just written an essay here, I feel it has been a great benefit to me (and to the landlords) to meet my landlords in advance of taking tenancies.

Welshwoofs

Lavendyr wrote: »

In summmary, and having realised I have just written an essay here, I feel it has been a great benefit to me (and to the landlords) to meet my landlords in advance of taking tenancies.

No you misunderstand me....

I didn't say there's no benefit in meeting your LL, my point was that there's no benefit in knowing what somebody else's LL is like when trying to ascertain what one's own LL may be like. Every LL is an individual, as varied in personality/culture/morals/tastes etc etc as every tenant, therefore knowing that Person's A LL was a total knob and Person B's LL is chatty and pops round with homemade jam doesn't help when you're Person C with a totally different LL from A and B.

Hope that explains what I'm getting at

Mrs_Boo_Boo

A little bit different but still relevant. My mum has a holiday let and she ensures she sees the people in, if she can. Seems to put a personal touch on it and she thinks people are less inclined to disrespect the place.
I am a landlord and am hands off. Manage it myself so respond to texts mainly from tenant. Always ensure emergencies or defective things are dealt with in a timely way. Why should good tenants be treated any differently? In fact rented house is much more comfortable than own!!! Go round about twice a year and house is well looked after. Her mum is also supportive and have her tel no because tenant had depression a while back and did not communicate very well.

SUGARSPICE

Welshwoofs

If you dont like the question dont join in!

franklee

Lavendyr wrote: »

With all respect, Welshwoofs, I disagree, and feel that a meeting between a landlord and their prospective tenant has several benefits and few drawbacks (on both sides). Unlike when you borrow a library book, when you rent out a house, you are entering into a serious and lengthy business relationship with someone. You therefore want to have an impression of the person you are going to be dealing with.

With regards to the comparison to "who did your MOT", I think it applies more to the landlord than to the tenant (i.e. landlord lets house to tenant, car owner gives car to MOT tester to work on) - in both cases you are putting your property in the hands of someone else. I personally select the garage I give my car to very carefully and base it on several things, not least on their customer service and the impression they make both on the phone and in person. I would expect a landlord to be even more cautious when letting their house to a person, since the value of a house is significantly higher than the value of a car.

Obviously a landlord has an interest in knowing their tenant, at least by impression, in order to trust that they will look after the house while they are in it. However, does a tenant not have a similar interest in the landlord? After all, the tenant, while in the house, will need to rely on the landlord to perform maintenance and repairs as required, to keep to the terms of their contract, and so on. And sadly, I'm sure you and I both know that there are many landlords out there who do not do these basic things (just as there are many tenants out there who are bad tenants).

In summmary, and having realised I have just written an essay here, I feel it has been a great benefit to me (and to the landlords) to meet my landlords in advance of taking tenancies.

I agree. You do need to be picky who you have such an important business relationship with. I'd substitute landlord for agent for those of us that go through agents who fully manage with landlords a long distance away, but the same applies to both agent and landlord really.

Going through an agent makes it hard to get any feel for the landlord, so I do try to see if I can get that by asking questions about the landlord and his plans for the property etc. and looking online (land reg etc.).