What do you perceive makes a good tenant?

fishpond

As the title suggests
What do you perceive makes a good tenant? (in your own words)
This question is primarily for tenants (at the moment).

vqmismatch

No pets, no smoking, no kids, pays on time, doesn't damage the place or annoy the neighbours, doesn't complain about every little niggle with the place, not afraid to get on and fix minor things rather than complain forever to try and force an expensive repair. Probably best if away a lot to reduce wear and tear.

In short, the kind who can move in and be forgotten about until they give adequate notice.

bm147

I know its opinions, but i think ruling people out because they have kids is a little harsh... We have friends who have been denied viewings because they have kids and I think its wrong...

Dan-Dan

The answer needs to be dependant on the property in question.
If it’s a 1 bed flat , then your looking at a professional , works all week , then , hopefully doesn’t smoke , no pets , if it’s a 3 bed house on an estate , your not going to get many wanting it that DONT have kids (and probably pets)

I have pets, and rented for years, but as a LL I wouldn’t rent a house to anyone with pets, i`m sorry, but they do smell, like it or not, not necessarily in a bad way, but certainly an odour exists that doesn’t in a clean no pets home

EmmyLou30

Non smokers (real non smokers, not the kind of person who thinks it's ok to stand by the back door and do it so it wafts back into the house anyway and comes back in on their clothes - non smoker means non smoker in my mind), no pets (smells and possibly fleas), no benefits claimants (well not until the government do a U turn on giving HB straight to the tenant and not the landlord), a working person or couple with no kids to trash the place would be the ideal. But as someone else said - the house dictates it to a certain extent, a family house is unlikely to be rented to those without kids.

166million

we have pets in our rented house on the condition that we get everything professionally cleaned when we leave. Does it really matter if they have a bit of dog hair on the carpet in the meantime?

BirdSeed

vqmismatch wrote: »

No pets, no smoking, no kids, pays on time, doesn't damage the place or annoy the neighbours, doesn't complain about every little niggle with the place, not afraid to get on and fix minor things rather than complain forever to try and force an expensive repair. Probably best if away a lot to reduce wear and tear.

In short, the kind who can move in and be forgotten about until they give adequate notice.

Why would someone who has kids not be a good tenant?


Also, it's in tenancy agreements for the tenant to report all repairs. I pay a lot of money to live in the house I rent. I don't see why I should have to make the repair myself when there's a management company being paid to do this.

eilidhcatriona

Pays rent on time
Respectful of the property, i.e. don't trash it, keep it in a good state
Doesn't bother the neighbours


With regards to pets and smoking, I think that saying "no pets and no smokers" can only apply when these are both not allowed by the tenancy agreement. If a landlord is willing to accept pets and/or smokers, then the tenant is not being a bad tenant by doing this.


Our tenancy has a note appendixed to it saying the landlord allows 3 cats in the flat - one of our cats passed away in October so there's only 2 of the furry troublemakers now, and having reviewed the lease yesterday as we are renewing it, we noticed that it does state "3 cats" and not "up to 3 cats" so we were thinking we'd better get another one in order not to be breaking the terms of the agreement :rotfl:


Also saying no kids is unfair, there's a lot of families out there who have no choice but to rent.

G_M

Good tenant?

One who sends me a bottle of wine at christmas in return for my bottle.

Mattygroves2

166million wrote: »

we have pets in our rented house on the condition that we get everything professionally cleaned when we leave. Does it really matter if they have a bit of dog hair on the carpet in the meantime?

It's the potential for damage to furniture and potentially none house trained pets that are the risk for landlords. I'm a pet owner with cats and know it's not just a case of a few hairs - last year we came in to large blood stains on the carpet and blood splatter up two walls. It all came out but only because we dealt with it when it was still fresh - not sure every tenant would have had the same motivation at 11pm after a night out.

Landlords want to limit risk and taking kids and pets out does that. The type of property is a factor though as 4 bed houses in the country will be hard to let without allowing both.

What makes a good tenant IMO is one that pays on time, repairs any damage they (or their offspring or pets) cause and generally treats it as a home which would include minor repair jobs. You wouldn't get a tradesman out to tighten a screw up on a door handle or to clear a sink blockage if you owned a house so why not do the simple jobs yourself in a rental - probably much quicker too.

*~Zephyr~*

My letting agent insists that the worst tenants for missing rent payments are young professionals. Young professionals who live a champagne lifestyle on special brew salaries, because apparently, they blow their salary on payday on expensive nights out and don't have enough to cover the rent. But he might just be telling me that to encourage me to take DSS tenants. :rotfl:

My tenant is a young single mum of two, claims housing benefit, WTC and CTC and has never missed a rent payment in three years. I put a new boiler in the property last year and my plumber said the house was absolutely spotless. She doesn't have pets but i wouldn't object if she asked to. I'd probably ask for a bit extra bond to cover cleaning and flea treating when she leaves, but it's unreasonable to deny people having a pet.

I think some LL ask for too much. All I want is someone who wants to quietly live their life, pays their rent and doesn't trash the place.