So then landlords, where do you get your tenants?

musey

The police in my area do not recommend this way of finding tenants as often a poster like this means that a property is empty and can encourage thieves to pop in an steal your boiler. The mess that makes is awful as they don't bother shutting off the water just cut the pipes and away they go.

RHemmings

ginger_nuts wrote:

I got a poster printed with flat details .I put it up in the flat window I had a tenant in 3 hours .Tenant is still there 18 months later .

Is your flat in a block of flats? If so then a poster in a window could be a very good strategy. If you're not paying management fees, then you can slightly undercut the other flats. And when people are shown around the block by estate agents trying to let other flats, the prospective tenants will see your poster.

ginger_nuts

My ground floor flat was vacant for 5 months (previous owner asked tenant to leave ,so she could sell ) . If there was no damage in 5 months I thought a poster in the window for a few hours would be worth a try .As it happened my tenant happened to be visiting in a neighbouring flat and seen my poster .

Bernie

TAG wrote:

Sadly if you have to claim HB you tend to be seen as someone who won't pay their rent. But it's not always the case.

We have learned a hard financial lesson, we were stiffed twice by people on HB. These two tales were the only bad ones in 25 years of letting out our home (we were away with the Armed Forces).

The first we're genuine people, like you, for whom it all went pear-shaped financially and to whom the DHSS paid the HB direct. They obviously used the money for their other needs and left us hanging out to dry financially, the HB people and tenants couldn't care less about where it left us. We, and our letting agents, joined your 99% at this point....

The second time was by some-one who turned out to be a professional foreign exploiter who, with good references from a Dutch Bank, paid 2 months up front and never paid again. By then he was milking our Benefit System and DHSS were paying HB direct to us. Until the toe-rag (Dutchman, Koby K) started falsifing receipts for having paid rent, went to the DHSS and claimed the money back. Our Property Manager had to threaten to sue DHSS to stop them paying any money to him. The DHSS were happy to believe the thief, were going to pay him off effectively with our money and were ignoring our professional letting agent. That would have been the easy way out for them, using money due to us to get rid of the problem confronting them. The threat of being sued for the money was the only thing that persuaded them to face up to the fraudster. He lived, rent-free, in our home for another 10 months.

It also cost us a grand to evict him (two court appearances because he claimed papers were not served on him - the video of the officials doing just that resulted in his immediate eviction)....and another couple of grand to refurbish, change locks etc etc.

So, while t is unfortunate that others have generated the stigma that affected you, these two lots of HB tenants were financial hand grenades that caused us dearly, caused great stress and financial cost to our family. We are not voluntarily exposing ourselves to that again.

gallygirl

TAG wrote:

Sadly if you have to claim HB you tend to be seen as someone who won't pay their rent. But it's not always the case. Especially I'd say a single mum with children. I wouldn't have wanted to keep moving from pillar to post with 3 kids in tow.

TAG I for one have never thought of HB tenants like that. The only reason I would prefer not to take them is that I cannot afford to pay the mortgage for 3 months while the claim is sorted out.

If councils paid HB quickly I'd be happy to have HB tenants - as you say, with a young family you're going nowhere!

What I'm amazed at though is how manky some people can be!!! Had one nightmare tenant who left the place absolutely bogging. Another has just moved out - and I can't believe how many filthy cobwebs there are (some are so black I think they're the ones I left 7 yrs ago when I moved out:rolleyes: ). If you're going to put up a lovely light fitting at your own expense wouldn't you think to remove cobwebs while you're up there? And kids writing their names on the wall with marker pen - what's all that about .

Wish you'd been there TAG to clean up......

We also had 1 couple look round a place, when I commented the kitchen was old fashioned but immaculate she replied I don't care what the palce looks like, all I do is live in it...... needless to say she didn't get the tenancy.

clutton_2

i had one prospective tenant tell me how he had knifed his previous landlord !!!!!!! needless to say ..........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

BT_man

I think it's a lot harder to find tenant's in today's market because of the over-supply of BTL properties. I know the last place I rented is now up for sale because the agent's could not find a tenant.
I would concider selling the property as we seem to be at the peak of the housing market and rent no longer covers the mortgage.

Jorgan_2

Local papers or if you have a number of big empoyers in your area, approach the personnel dept & ask if they have staff notice boards where details of the properties can be advertised.

seven-day-weekend

We let two rooms in our house in the UK. Our son has the other one.

We advertise on the University Website and Easyroommate.com. We have had two through Easyroommate.com and three through word of mouth - none (apart from a month-long 'host family' accommodation) from the University. (But it was probably the wrong time of year).

Easyroommate.com costs about £25 for three months, the Uni £10 a year, but we've always got someone within a week of advertising.

seven-day-weekend

>>The only reason I would prefer not to take them (HB candidates) is that I cannot afford to pay the mortgage for 3 months while the claim is sorted out<<

Same here, except it's the bills, as my rent is all-inclusive.