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

busy_landlady

That's fair enough - I can admit to being a novice and will need to brush up. But there's no need to hang me up and shoot me because I haven't gotten to do these things yet. Not everyone has the time to do all these things all at once, they take time (and money). Being a landlord is just one role in my life, I have others and I do have to prioritise.

Being "ill-prepared" as some see it, doesn't make me a bad landlord or make my tenant's life difficult. My previous tenant was very happy with me, I was always contactable and any problems I dealt with straight away. She told me I was a good landlord to have. Being a tenant myself, that is what I care about in my landlord, not whether they have taken a landlord course or not. I don't think it's not having attended landlord courses or read the book that gives landlords a bad name, I think it's when landlords don't maintain their property so that it's habitable that does. But that is my opinion, and westlondonbuyer you obviously have yours.

Getting back to the original question I posed - as this all seems to have strayed into attacking me for not having done all these courses or done such and such if I am to be a landlord.

I have been messed around by so called tenants - is there anything that can be done? These were people who had good references and pulled out last minute.

The first girl, she had good references, she worked local and lived local. When I asked the letting agent why she was moving, he said because she was sharing at the moment and her tenancy agreement was coming to an end and the others she was sharing it with weren't renewing it, so she had to find somewhere to live on her onwn. Sounded legit to me. Then the day before she was supposed to move in, she pulled out - her excuse, her boyfriend unexpectedly proposed to her so she was moving in with him instead. It sounds to me that she was living with her boyfriend, had a dispute and so she wanted to move out and then patched things up so she didn't have to.

The second tenant, put a holding fee down and when she came to sign the contract said she had miscalculated and couldn't actually afford to rent the place and pulled out. This one sounds to me she carried on viewing properties after she put the holding fee down and found somewhere cheaper and so pulled out.

These prospective tenants were lying. I asked a lot of questions about the tenants, especially the first, as she was moving from sharing a place to living on her own and I wanted to be sure it was what she wanted and I was told in no uncertain terms that she was 100% committed. It is not uncommon that some adults get fed up with sharing and want a place of their own, so it's not that unusual. Regarding the second tenant, there is nothing I can do if someone continues to look for another property after putting down a considerable sum of money to hold another - people don't normally do things like that. I don't think it was the contract, as this was emailed to her prior to signing it so anything she was not happy with, she could have queried.

These are people in normal circumstances, after putting their holding fee down would have signed the contract and moved in - that's what happened with my previous tenants and what has happened in my own experience as a tenant. What are these people playing at?

One suggestion to deal with this was to pay more for an agent that guaranteed rental income which I may consider. But if I don't find one that offers that sort of thing in my locale, I'd like to know what else there is on offer.

N79

busy_landlady wrote: »

That's fair enough - I can admit to being a novice and will need to brush up. But there's no need to hang me up and shoot me because I haven't gotten to do these things yet. Not everyone has the time to do all these things all at once, they take time (and money). Being a landlord is just one role in my life, I have others and I do have to prioritise.

I'm afraid you've walked into a pretty bad situation for a LL with your new T. It is going to be expensive before you sort it out.

However, some of your own comments lead to "hang me up and shoot me" (not that anyone has really done that) comments. For example, even in the paragraph above, your Ts might have a very different view about what your priorities should be as their home is at stake.

Being "ill-prepared" as some see it, doesn't make me a bad landlord or make my tenant's life difficult. My previous tenant was very happy with me, I was always contactable and any problems I dealt with straight away. She told me I was a good landlord to have. Being a tenant myself, that is what I care about in my landlord, not whether they have taken a landlord course or not. I don't think it's not having attended landlord courses or read the book that gives landlords a bad name, I think it's when landlords don't maintain their property so that it's habitable that does. But that is my opinion, and westlondonbuyer you obviously have yours.

LLs that don't maintain their properties have never attended course either and are often very ignorant and operate outside of the law. There was a thread here recently where a number of successful prosecutions of such LLs were indexed (mostly by Artful and TBS). However, such prosecutions are few and far between.

Getting back to the original question I posed - as this all seems to have strayed into attacking me for not having done all these courses or done such and such if I am to be a landlord.

I have been messed around by so called tenants - is there anything that can be done? These were people who had good references and pulled out last minute.

Being messed around by your customers is part and parcel of running a business. There is nothing you can do about it. If you can not deal with it, don't run a business. That said, with time you will get better at judging potential Ts.

The first girl, she had good references, she worked local and lived local. When I asked the letting agent why she was moving, he said because she was sharing at the moment and her tenancy agreement was coming to an end and the others she was sharing it with weren't renewing it, so she had to find somewhere to live on her onwn. Sounded legit to me. Then the day before she was supposed to move in, she pulled out - her excuse, her boyfriend unexpectedly proposed to her so she was moving in with him instead. It sounds to me that she was living with her boyfriend, had a dispute and so she wanted to move out and then patched things up so she didn't have to.

Well you could have tried to hold this T to the contract (but this is nearly always a waste of time and money - it is better to just get the property relet ASAP) but since you now have a T, albeit and unpaying one, you would only have recourse for the period from the start of this contract to the start of your current Ts tenancy. I would strongly recommend it is not worth it.

The second tenant, put a holding fee down and when she came to sign the contract said she had miscalculated and couldn't actually afford to rent the place and pulled out. This one sounds to me she carried on viewing properties after she put the holding fee down and found somewhere cheaper and so pulled out.

And you kept the holding fee. That is why you took it. What exactly is your loss?

These prospective tenants were lying.

That is a very strong accusation, which I don't think is at all justified in this case. The first appears to have had a change of situation - it happens to everyone. The second sounds a bit like the classic time waster, although also could have had a change of circumstances that you don't know about. Both were sufficiently sure of their plans to pay a holding deposit. I'm sure they both wanted to take on the tenancies, even if they had not thought through all the options. That does not make them liars.

I asked a lot of questions about the tenants, especially the first, as she was moving from sharing a place to living on her own and I wanted to be sure it was what she wanted and I was told in no uncertain terms that she was 100% committed. It is not uncommon that some adults get fed up with sharing and want a place of their own, so it's not that unusual. Regarding the second tenant, there is nothing I can do if someone continues to look for another property after putting down a considerable sum of money to hold another - people don't normally do things like that. I don't think it was the contract, as this was emailed to her prior to signing it so anything she was not happy with, she could have queried.

These are people in normal circumstances, after putting their holding fee down would have signed the contract and moved in - that's what happened with my previous tenants and what has happened in my own experience as a tenant. What are these people playing at?

In all honesty, they are playing at "life".

One suggestion to deal with this was to pay more for an agent that guaranteed rental income which I may consider. But if I don't find one that offers that sort of thing in my locale, I'd like to know what else there is on offer.

A much better suggestion would be for you to be more active and knowledgeable in managing your property, as indicated above (even if with the slightly sour comments of Ts who have been on the receiving end of "amateur" LLs).

Remember self employed business women do not get maternity leave unless they shut their business (impossible as a LL) or employ someone to run it while they are on leave.

busy_landlady

No I didn't get the holding fee, from either tenants. I did state that.

Sure, people's circumstances do change, as mine did - all I was asking is, if there was anything I could do about it. And from your post, N97, there isn't, it comes part and parcel of running a business. I only asked.

Maybe they were lying, maybe they weren't - who knows?. That's my interpretation of the situation. Yours is different. No need to jump down my throat about it.

Next time I'll just employ Jeremy Kyle and his lie detector test to get me tenants - that way I'll know for sure if they are telling the truth or not if they want to rent my flat. :beer:

We all make mistakes, we all place our trust in the wrong people from time to time - haven't you?

olly300

busy_landlady wrote: »

No I didn't get the holding fee, from either tenants. I did state that.

Sure, people's circumstances do change, as mine did - all I was asking is, if there was anything I could do about it. And from your post, N97, there isn't, it comes part and parcel of running a business. I only asked.

Yes get the letting agent/estate agent to advertise the tenants for you but you can credit and reference check them. Plus run the property yourself.

References are generally not worth the paper they are written on.

So your best bet is to interview the prospective tenant yourself before letting them into the property. If you do a search on this forum there are tips on what you can do. Plus if you join a landlords association there are other things they can tell you, you can do.

busy_landlady wrote: »

Maybe they were lying, maybe they weren't - who knows?. That's my interpretation of the situation. Yours is different. No need to jump down my throat about it.

Next time I'll just employ Jeremy Kyle and his lie detector test to get me tenants - that way I'll know for sure if they are telling the truth or not if they want to rent my flat. :beer:

We all make mistakes, we all place our trust in the wrong people from time to time - haven't you?

Yes but you could go bust due to the stance you are taking.

The first rule of any business is do your research properly. You haven't done this.

You have accepted people who most landlords would avoid and you have also had letting agents do what they like to you.

theartfullodger

Join NLA or RLA (tax deductible,.,)

Do one of their "how to be a landlord" courses....e.g.

http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/courses/course1.shtml

Lettings is a minefield and legal understanding of the main issues is important.

Keep reading posts here & you'll learn an amazing amount & also at LLZ...
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/

It amazes people that landlords go into the business with no training or research whatsoever and are then surprised to hit problems... Mind you that's absolutely what I did...

Cheers!

Artful
(PS But I've so far recovered £6k+ from ex-tenants for rent arrears etc... Sigh! It could have been so much easier if I'd only done a bit of research & got trained...)

PPS Then, get on an "Accredited Landlord" course...
e.g.
http://www.landlords.org.uk/events/NLAAccreditationFoundationCourse110610.htm
or
http://www.rla.org.uk/html/press/pressNews20.shtml
or
http://www.landlordaccreditationscotland.com/
(LaS is the best, by a street...IMHO)

mlz1413

Busylandlady - going back to your previous tenant if she had signed a new contract for a fixed term then requested to be let out early due to the rabbit you could have asked her to stay until the end of the tenancy but replace the carpet when she left or increase the deposit to cover the cost of a new carpet. Food for thought I realise this tenant is no longer with you.

Reading the bulk of the thread the LA's seem to be your biggest problem allowing the flat to be removed from the market but not actually getting deposits / rent / signatures where needed.

In your current circumstance you need to put in a fair amount of time to the current T & LA, I realise you have family commitments but you're going to have to divide your time.

Do you know which scheme the deposit (not holding fee) is held in?
Do you have a signed inventory?
Do you have a current address for the guarantor? Have you any checks that prove they do live there?

Please ensure you have these in place and get your LA to give you photocopies if you don't already hold them.


Regarding the guaranteed rental schemes get in writing:
what date you will receive your rent
if their are any months that differ (ie first month)
who pays for flats CT, utilities & service charges if it is empty
how damage is put right at the end (if their is any) do they pay the bills or do you have to pay and reclaim?
READ the T&C's completely and get answers in writing to any question you have.