What should Landlords do to encourage Tenants to stay longer??

casper_g

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

No it doesn't, the tenant rents it from the owner. It may be the tenant's home, it is not their property.

This thread is about how landlords can build better relationships with tenants and encourage them to stay for longer. The attitude expressed above is really not the right one. I suggest you read the page entitled "Urban Myth – when a landlord lets a property, its still his" on the landlord law blog (which is written by a solicitor with considerable expertise in property law and no reason to come down on the side of the tenant).

seven-day-weekend

casper_g wrote: »

This thread is about how landlords can build better relationships with tenants and encourage them to stay for longer. The attitude expressed above is really not the right one. I suggest you read the page entitled "Urban Myth – when a landlord lets a property, its still his" on the landlord law blog (which is written by a solicitor with considerable expertise in property law and no reason to come down on the side of the tenant).

OK right, so that's the law.

I will say now on the occasions I have rented my property I think I have been a good landlord. I have respected our tenants'right to quiet enjoyment. I have not entered the property without consent (in some cases not at all) and have always had schemes like Homecare where the tenant can report their own faulty heating/plumbing, get it fixed and I the landlord foot the bill. We have never charged more rent than a Local Authority property of the same style/size. .

So if it belongs to the tenant,while they are renting it, would it be OK for them to knock it down or add an extension, or raise a mortgage on it? If they are saying they own it, then they can do all the maintenace. Saves me money.

Can't have it both ways.

N79

jjlandlord wrote: »

It just needs to be executed as Deed.

You know how to do that and I know how to do that but I suspect that many accidental LL's would have no idea. Still, it is ancillary to my question to Tiddlywinks which is to try to understand why Ts might think that longer tenancies with break clauses provide more security.

theartfullodger

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

OK right, so that's the law.

I will say now on the occasions I have rented my property I think I have been a good landlord. I have respected our tenants'right to quiet enjoyment. I have not entered the property without consent (in some cases not at all) and have always had schemes like Homecare where the tenant can report their own faulty heating/plumbing, get it fixed and I the landlord foot the bill. We have never charged more rent than a Local Authority property of the same style/size. .

So if it belongs to the tenant,while they are renting it, would it be OK for them to knock it down or add an extension, or raise a mortgage on it? If they are saying they own it, then they can do all the maintenace. Saves me money.

Can't have it both ways.

What training have you had in LL/tenant law??

Whenever a Landlord bangs on about how they are great and behave so well one is often tempted to wonder what the view of their tenants would be..and spring to the likely conclusion. Me, I know I have failings...

jjlandlord

N79 wrote: »

You know how to do that and I know how to do that but I suspect that many accidental LL's would have no idea.

Until someone enlighten them

theartfullodger

Thanks for all comments, of whatever nature, very interesting, perhaps a little sobering and certainly food for thought (e.g. I'll be giving all my tenants bottles of wine at Christmas, hope they ain't offended, telling them they're good tenants and explaining, again, that they can stay as long as they like if both they & I are happy with things...and be more flexible over decoration for tenants who've stayed a bit....)

I've not seen any formal large surveys of what tenants want (clearly this was a small sample) - perhaps some independent body (i.e. not a Landlord Association ...) should do one - or can anyone point to an existing one please???

My analysis (any errors/interpretation all my fault..) is that tenants voted as follows...

Tenants want.............................................. # of votes ...
Sort out/get rid of agents ................................... 11
Dealing OK &quickly with repairs/ issues / queries 11
A good relationship, respect, friendly is key.............9
Fair visits/inspection, not intrusive........................ 5
Allow pets.......................................................... 4
Freedom to decorate........................................... 4
No rent increases/reasonable/low rent.................. 3
A bottle of wine at Christmas............................... 3
Let tenant live as they wish................................. 3
A half-decent heating/hot-water system................ 1
No renewal fees..................................................1
Have B2L or Consent2Let mortgage..................... 1
Better Security.....................................................1
Decent awareness of law/responsibility..................1
LL tell T if they are good T.................................... 1
Be realistic about quality of property ......................1
Longer leases but with break clauses.................... 1
Emergency contact details that work.................... .1
Permit Political posters in windows....................... 1
Better insulation.................................................. 1


As with most surveys a few contra-views..


I was surprised nobody mentioned dealing with benefit (eg HB/LHA) applications in a helpful manner.


Best wishes to all, including those who disagree with me...

Cheers!

Artful

mustrum_ridcully

Ooooh let me think.

1 - Don't take the pee when it comes to rent increases
2 - No repeated 6m ASTs, either allow long-term contracts or periodic tenancies
3 - Very low frequency of snooping in tenants home inspections (especially if tenants have been in for a while and have looked after the property)

Wobblydeb

Can I add one?

Rent the property unfurnished. IMHO it's the best way to get (and keep) long term tenants.

I am much happier with my style of furnishing and not worrying about accidental spillage every time I open a bottle of red wine.

tealady

I'm with you on that one wobbly deb. The one and only time I rented the LL provided a cheap fridge/freezer which broke down in a month (during the summer!!!!).
Also the insulation was very poor, had to sleep fully clothed one night as the storage heaters ran out (they were made in the 70's from the look of them.
I would also expect the LL to respect my right to live in peace, once my LL had a parcel delivered to where I lived, my neighbours accepeted it thinking it was for me. I gave the agent some grief over that, the LL never tried that one on again with me.

seven-day-weekend

tealady wrote: »

I'm with you on that one wobbly deb. The one and only time I rented the LL provided a cheap fridge/freezer which broke down in a month (during the summer!!!!).
Also the insulation was very poor, had to sleep fully clothed one night as the storage heaters ran out (they were made in the 70's from the look of them.
I would also expect the LL to respect my right to live in peace, once my LL had a parcel delivered to where I lived, my neighbours accepeted it thinking it was for me. I gave the agent some grief over that, the LL never tried that one on again with me.

To be fair, many old houses are just built like that, you can't have cavity wall insulaltion because there are no cavity walls. Not a lot the owner can do about that.