Good potential tenant?

andyproc

I appreciate this is a bit of a how long is a piece of string question. I am looking to rent my house out and an agent has found a potential tenant. They are a couple and the agent has said:- 'They were home owners for 20 years but were having anti social difficulties, after trying to sell their home unsuccessfully they gave the property back to the mortgage lender to move and go into rented. This was a voluntary decision and the property wasn’t forcefully repossessed.'
Does this sound realistic? They are a couple and one has a CCJ from 3 years ago for £250, do they sound acceptable to any experienced landlords on here? They have an acceptable income.

Better_Days

Ummm, if they had been home owners for 20 years I would expect them to have a fair bit of equity unless they 'traded up' frequently, or ran up lots of debts on 'buy now pay later' etc. If they did have the equity, why the CCJ 3 years ago?

What are their sources of income? It maybe that the income is sufficient atm, but how secure is it? Are they self employed or employed and in which sectors?

I would not make a decision based on the info you have been given so far. Ask some more questions about the circumstances in which the CCJ arose and find out where they lived where the anti social behaviour arose, was anything reported in the press?

Plus are they already in rented? If so what does their LL have to say about them?

ACG

The mortgage thing alone sounds plausable - however i would want a letter from the lender saying it was handed back voluntarily.
BUT you then have the CCJ.

So thats 2 signs of not keeping on top of their debts.

Its difficult, i had a tenent in a property. Single mum, working, 2 kids who were both lovely as was the mum.
When they moved out it was apparant there was cannabis being grown in the basement. Thats the first and only time ive ever had a good impression of someone and been totally wrong.

Go off your judgement. Ask where there existing property was - go and have a drive round there and see if its surrounded by scrotes or not.

andyproc

I know their existing property is a scrote area, but then so is the one I'm renting to some extent. I know where they both work and both seem relatively secure. Delivery driver and the other office manager in local company. They are still living in the house they are handing back and this isn't due to mortgage arrears, just because they want to get out it seems. Im meeting the mother on saturday at the property so I'll see what I think and how she acts if ask about the CCJ.

david29dpo

Why would anyone in there right mind believe anything an agent tells them?
Get it from the horses mouth.

tom9980

I would side with NO at the moment. Sounds silly to give up equity of 20 years without more of a fight so it must have been serious/life threatening to do that if true. If they didn't have equity then they are not good with money obviously combined with the ccj.

Maybe if i believed the story enough i would go and check out the previous address and neighbors to see if it adds up but for me its not worth the time/effort without either a bigger deposit or significant rent/guarantor up front.

andyproc

I asked the agent to request a letter from their mortgage company explaining the circumstances of them handing it back and arranged to meet the client at the property to check them out. I then phoned the agent later after some thought to say I wasn't happy with them and he said he'd just come off the phone to them and had found out that they had actually defaulted on their mortgage and thats the reason they were moving out. Im not happy that the agent didn't manage to get to the bottom of this and have told him he doesn't seem to be acting in my best interests. Im going to see what he says and am considering doing it all myself as I have uncovered more than he did with a little help from here. Thanks

tom9980

andyproc wrote: »

Im going to see what he says and am considering doing it all myself as I have uncovered more than he did with a little help from here. Thanks

If you are going to do it yourself that is fine most agents are useless anyway and since you are ultimately responsible legally it would be best to learn everything yourself. However you MUST ensure you do everything correctly.

Read this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12

and buy this book from amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Complete-Guide-Residential-Letting/dp/1907765913