Advice needed!!!

PasturesNew

robpw2 wrote: »

1,if you did not specify no pets ... then nothing wrong with her moving dogs in
2. her personal life,and the guy she dates is none of your business

3. she isnt obliged to let you in unless it is for emeregency works or you have given 24 hours notice and call at a time both reasonable and in agreement with her

+1
This is the law.

caringa

robpw2 wrote: »

1,if you did not specify no pets ... then nothing wrong with her moving dogs in
2. her personal life,and the guy she dates is none of your business

3. she isnt obliged to let you in unless it is for emeregency works or you have given 24 hours notice and call at a time both reasonable and in agreement with her

FYO, we did specify no pets. No problem with the guy being there, except he was threatening when we called to see her, wouldnt let her speak to us and we had to call the police!

Perhaps I should have detailed the whole terrible saga here - just didnt want to write a book on it!

She didnt answer here phone and was driving her neighours "barking" mad!!!

As a landlord I know the legislation - both my rights and the tenants. We are reasonable people and believe in letting tenants to live a quiet and peaceful life - pity some of them dont respect others in the same way. Even landlords have a right to some respect!!:(

pizzarelli7348

I have sent the letting agent an email saying that we have changed our mind, and would refund the girl the £50 she paid for her reference.
Have not heard from anybody yet, should i make the first move and call the letting agent?

pizzarelli7348

I have not signed anything yet, the letting agent gave me the contract last week and it's still in my house, was going to send it this morning! Do I owe the letting agent any money? Also does anybody know if a paper bond deposit is a good idea and if there is a fee to set it up with the council?

pizzarelli7348

Fire_Fox wrote: »

No deposit and no guarantor? Neither set of parents, no other relative nor family friend trusts them? How do you know they have been given notice and what for, did you take up references? What are you going to do if he doesn't pay and you have to evict through the courts? You can get a CCJ if you know the new residential address but you can't get money where there is none.

I am not sure about his parents, I know her mum is on benefit too.

She told us she has been given notice because the flat she is in now has a problem with rats and she complained to her landlord and because he does not want to sort it out he has given them an eviction notice. Well that's her story anyway.

The money for them is tight, even putting the rent up £25 would be a struggle for them, so hopefully we will be set free by the end of today.

Werdnal

pizzarelli7348 wrote: »

She told us she has been given notice because the flat she is in now has a problem with rats and she complained to her landlord and because he does not want to sort it out he has given them an eviction notice. Well that's her story anyway.

Did you ask for contact details for the pervious LL? You don't seem to have asked for any references at all for these tenants. Whilst you may be leaving an agent to do the credit checks, never take a tenant's word for anything and always ask for contact details of the previous LL (and the one before that if possible) and speak to them yourself to find out their version of events. They may indeed have had rats, but did their lifestyle contribute to a vermin infestation - unless you get both sides of the story and weigh up the information you have been given, you may never know!

You seem to have been taken in by a sob story, and whilst there is every possibility this girl and her boyfriend are genuine and legit, never just take them on face value. If this is your first venture into letting, don't make things any more difficult for yourself by not checking and re-checking everything about the tenants before you agree!

pizzarelli7348

All done! Spoken to letting agent and explained everything!

We are going to refund £50 and we are out of this.


It is out first time with letting agent and renting, and it's a nightmare at least we managed out of this one!

And now looking forward to the next nightmare...:rotfl:

pizzarelli7348

Werdnal wrote: »

Did you ask for contact details for the pervious LL? You don't seem to have asked for any references at all for these tenants. Whilst you may be leaving an agent to do the credit checks, never take a tenant's word for anything and always ask for contact details of the previous LL (and the one before that if possible) and speak to them yourself to find out their version of events. They may indeed have had rats, but did their lifestyle contribute to a vermin infestation - unless you get both sides of the story and weigh up the information you have been given, you may never know!

You seem to have been taken in by a sob story, and whilst there is every possibility this girl and her boyfriend are genuine and legit, never just take them on face value. If this is your first venture into letting, don't make things any more difficult for yourself by not checking and re-checking everything about the tenants before you agree!

So even if a letting agent does all the checks, do we have to redo them? How can we protect ourselves next time?

Werdnal

pizzarelli7348 wrote: »

So even if a letting agent does all the checks, do we have to redo them? How can we protect ourselves next time?

No, I am not saying redo them, but if you have been given a reason by the tenants why they moved out of their previous place, it makes sense for you to verify the story. The LA may not even speak to the previous LL, so no harm in you phoning them to ask about the girl and whether they would recommend them as a tenant.

You can never protect yourself 100% against bad tenants, but if there is any doubt, find out everything you can yourself. I do my own checks as I no longer use an agent, and I ask for previous LL, previous LL to that if there is one, employer (obviously doesn't apply in your case) and a character reference and speak to all these people myself just to check the tenants out.

If you ask an agent to do checks on your behalf, ask to see all the documentation they have put together on the tenant - you are entitled to copies for your own records. Agents are often only interested in getting tenants in so they can cream off the letting fee, so may try to get away with doing the absolute bare minimum of checks to maximise their profit on the fee you and the tenants pay!

BitterAndTwisted

I second Werdnal's advice to see all of the agent's documentation when they have referenced and credit-checked any prospective tenants. Then, YOU decide whether to offer them a tenancy or not. Just because a credit-check shows no adverse information about someone does not mean that they can afford the rent, so you should need to see confirmation of their income from pay-slips and bank-statements. Never just blindly accept an agent's recommendation without seeing all of the documentation for yourselves.