Offers on rented place

Fire_Fox

By all means have them as tenants but do everything by the book - full referencing, deposit lodged, dual signed inventory with photographs, AST with break clause, communicate by snail mail and e-mail wherever possible NEVER text message or dropping in for a chat, get things fixed promptly or communicate any delays to them. If you behave in a professional manner at all times it's likely they will follow your lead.

Werdnal

As above, keep it all written and legal and you should be OK. However, you must remember that if anything goes wrong with the tenancy, you must treat these tenants the same as you would any other - that means possibly evicting them, suing them through the courts for damage costs or loss of rent etc. Provided you are happy to do this, then no reason why the arrangement should not work.

Make sure you do thorough credit checks - OK so you know they come across as a nice, genuine couple, but even nice, genuine people can have problems with money management, bad credit history etc. Get them checked the same as you would any other tenants, and be guided by the results of those checks - don't feel that just because you know them, you will take a chance on them as tenants, if the credit reports come back anything less than clean. Check their references, work details etc - don't take their word for it just because you are on speaking terms at the school gate!