Rent out my property - is there a less stressful way?

Brb

busy_landlady wrote: »

The tenant's mother is her guarantor

LA ASTs are woefully inadequate in this area. They need to be a done as a deed and some LAs (dumb ones) just tack an extra signature space on the back of AST saying guarantor and some meaningless tripe they think sounds official. By all means get a guarantor to sign AST as this proves they've seen it/read it but it's doubtful that would actually cover you the way you'd like. You'd need a "Deed of Guarantee" (google it for an example of one but don't actually use that one. It's out of date. It's always advisable to pay for up to date forms/ASTs etc as housing laws change regularly (2 in October so far)).

Jowo_2

What is the length of this fixed term contract?

Sounds more like a Nigerian approach to renting! especially as she has already given both you and the agent the run around as to who she is paying it to

Did the agent ask for proof of ID, such as a copy of her passport and proof that she's a student, such as a letter from the institution confirming she's enrolled?

busy_landlady wrote: »

The tenant's mother is her guarantor .

which, since she is in South Africa, is completely worthless and unenforceable, as its virtually impossible to seek legal redress overseas. what are you doing to do, hop on a plane to Jo'berg to sort it out?!

busy_landlady wrote: »

..
The tenant said the lump sum for rent would only be released once I had signed the tenancy agreement as proof - otherwise she would have no proof that the money was going towards her rent. .

That should have been her problem, not yours, such as borrowing from her relatives to pay you and then pay them back when she received her alleged grant. No payee, no keyee...

Your agent should serve an S21 now, and then an S8 when the arrears are two months rent, so this is the day after the second months rent is due and not paid (not two full calendar months).

To me, this sounds like a scammer but I hope for your sake I'm wrong. I find it incredible that an impoverished country has a scheme whereby its many hundreds of thousands of civil servants are entitled to a grant to cover the accommodation of many millions of their children during their studies, and extends their largesse to picking up their tabs when overseas, where the rent alone would be more than the civil servant earns as salary...

busy_landlady

In retrospect I feel rather stupid for having let out my property to someone that now is turning out to be a bit unreliable. But given the circumstances (2 tenants pulling out at last minute and empty flat) I felt under pressure. The references seemed fine and the letting agency I used are well established and having used them previously I thought were competent until now.

I spoke to the tenant again this morning and was told that she had called her people to confirm the money is coming through, in the meantime she said her guarantor would cover the rent.

I'm not sure how it is for everyone else but trying to strike a balance between finding a decent tenant and not leaving the property vacant for too long can be nail biting. I don't have masses of money to cover vacant periods and neither do I have tons of time to go through all the minutiae to prevent the mishaps that occur. I pay my managing agent a good price and I expect them to do their job, just as people expect me in my job to deliver results. I am grateful for all the advice given to me but it is worrying how much there is that one should/can do because of the incompetencies of these lettings agents. I'm not targeting letting agents as they deal with a lot of nonsense and it's not an easy job, but having met a few, the varibility in competencies is wide and it seems as landlord I have to compensate (in money or effort) for those who fall nearer the bottom. It's like I get punished for owning property that I worked really hard for.

Jowo_2

I think the saying is that 'no tenant is better than a rogue tenant'. Well, I'm sure forum members hope we are wrong in our suspicions that you've been duped by this tenant and hopefully you can come back in a week or so to say the rent is in place.

A landlord reduces the risk of having poor tenants by 95% if they undertake thorough screening which isn't possible with someone claiming to have come from overseas and substantially reduces the risk if they have a genuine guarantor, one where the paper is worth what it is written on, such as a UK based employee or homeowner.

Does your agency belong to a professional body? - RICS, NAEA, ARLA or NALS? You've been asked this before and warned of the risks if they are not, and the advantages if they are. You say you are time poor but it seems your hastiness and lack of contingency for void periods is forcing you to make quite basic mistakes, such as employing a poor agent and agreeing to an overseas student with useless references and a worthless guarantor.

Did you employ them to find you a tenant or also to manage the property, too? It's the norm for a tenant to complete a standing order form to pay the rent, and to give the form to the landlord or their agent to forward onto their bank. Why was this not set up?

Are you planning to join a UK landlord association, attend one of their courses or read one of their recommended books on being a landlord? You are making elemental mistakes. Rogue tenants hone in on weak agencies and naive landlords. You should be business like and professional in your dealings with the tenant and be corresponding with her in writing, keeping proof of postage and copies of letters. You need to send her a letter about her arrears.

Many agents serve an S21 upfront with the AST - has yours? This should be served now to show that you are serious about dealing with arrears. It cannot be served until the deposit is protected in a tenancy deposit scheme (if the property is in England/Wales) so has the agent put in a TDS?

Have you seen the references (not that they are worth anything as her behaviour demonstrates)?

The landlordzone website is a good source of info

20 steps to successful landlording
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/successful_landlording.htm

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/rent-arrears.htm


http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/tenant_screening.htm

Landlords are always anxious when they have a property vacant and want to fill the vacancy as fast as possible, but always remember this: no tenant at all is 100 times better that a bad one! You won't know the full significance of this statement until you have experienced the grief of a really bad tenant for yourself.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/sureties_&_guarantees.htm

"Guarantors should be checked out - verified and referenced just as would a prospective tenant. ..
The guarantor would usually need to be a home owner with steady long-term employment if she is to satisfy the requirements of a good credit score to become a guarantor."

mr_hoverland

You can't always tell that you have a rogue tenant just by their refs jowo, some people have good refs and turn out to be crap tenants, others may have no refs but can be brialliant tenants.

I'm from the Netherlands, when I moved to the UK I had no references, or UK guarantor, surely that does not label me a bad tenant.
I was lucky renting for the first time in the UK, as I did not have to pay a 6 month deposit, which I know is the norm by talking friends that have moved over as well.

P.S. not all overseas tenants are evil my landlords have never once complained and I have always paid the rent on time.

Taking a chance with tenant is better then no rent to pay mortgage! :cool:

Trollfever

I pay my managing agent a good price and I expect them to do their job,

Has your professional adviser checked the immigration status of your tenant and seen the confirmation in their passport?

busy_landlady

No, I'm not sure if her immigration status has been checked but i've seen copies of her passport and it looked ok to me.

As far as being accused of "hastiness and lack of contingency for periods of void" I think anyone in my situation would find it difficult to manage. That is, my previous tenant gave me notice when I was 7 months pregnant, I put my property on the market straight away. I found a tenant and she was able to move in as soon as the other vacated so I wouldn't have an empty period, but then she pulled out a day before she was supposed to - when the estate agent called to tell me this, he asked me if it was a good time to talk because I sounded quite put out and I said not really as I was in labour. Having pushed a baby out, i promptly got on the case find another tenant and one was found a week later, but she pulled out too when she came to sign her contract. Then a few weeks later, a tenant was found. The agent I am using is ARLA, NAEA and OEA (all of these) registered.

Maybe it's no excuse to others, but all I am saying is that I am trying to be a mother of a newborn baby, an 18 month old toddler and rent out my flat that somehow 2 tenants have managed to pull out within 2 weeks. I am not rich, I became a landlord because I started a family and outgrew my own property - I now rent and have to juggle the finances of my own household with two children and keep the mortgage covered on my property. I thought about selling my flat but in these times I would be making a loss.

I'm not asking for sympathy here but I started this thread for some advice which some people have kindly given and I appreciate it. I get told it's the "norm" for this and that, but how much of my situation is the norm? If it was normal at all, would I be posting on this forum? I haven't asked to be judged, although some take it that way because I have put myself out here. I can tell the difference between getting advice and getting a lecture about something.

westlondonbuyer

busy_landlady wrote: »

As far as being accused of "hastiness and lack of contingency for periods of void" I think anyone in my situation would find it difficult to manage.

Every single person on this forum who's currently thinking of trying to rent out their property because they cannot sell it should seriously think about the implications of this.

I found being a landlord incredibly stressful, time-consuming and financially draining. That was with a 150% of mortgage rental income, an ARLA agent providing total management, full LL insurance, and very comprehensive credit checks and referencing of my tenants.

Being a landlord is not an 'anyone can do it' business. The television programmes and newspaper articles may make it look easy, but unless you have a lot of time, patience and a LOT of spare cash, you are often setting yourself up to fail.

busy_landlady

Quite agree - it is very tough and it's not something anyone can do. Maybe I'm not cut out for this but I do have a property. Selling property can also be trouble too as I've experienced. And if I seriously think about the implications of this, which I have - either I rent out my property (which is risky) compared to selling at a (definite) loss or leaving it empty (also complete loss), I'd rather take a chance with letting it out where I actually might do alright, maybe not now as it is obvious I'm a novice but when I get a bit more experience.

I'm sure all you experts out there have been new to this at some point - or maybe you were all born with a landlord's manual in your hand.

PS. My previous tenant had just renewed her tenancy for another year, so I had not planned on her giving notice so suddenly. Her reason was that she acquired a pet rabbit from a friend who moved back to Australia and this rabbit needed wooden floors because she couldn't let it run around my carpetted flat in case it gnawed holes (which it had done already). So no, I didn't have a contingency plan because I thought I wouldn't have to look for another tenant for another year and I was able to get on which giving birth and looking after my new baby in a couple of month's time. That was my plan - I had my tenant organised and then get ready for the baby. But that's life isn't it, things don't always go according to plan. So, maybe I should also have a contingency plan for world war 3?

westlondonbuyer

busy_landlady wrote: »

I'm sure all you experts out there have been new to this at some point - or maybe you were all born with a landlord's manual in your hand.

You can take courses. You can join professional associations. You can do your research on the internet. You can borrow books from the library. You can set up a float for these sorts of contingencies.

If you're going to learn a trade or start up a business, you don't do it clueless.

I'm really sorry you're having a tough time, but ill-prepared landlords blight the reputations of those landlords who HAVE put in the appropriate preparation. And often make life very difficult for their tenants.