What do you perceive makes a good tenant?

kinger101

(a) pays rent on time;
(b) notifies agent/LL of any issues with the property promptly;
(c) compliant with inspection/maintenance checks;
(d) doesn't annoy the neighbours; and
(e) doesn't bury too many bodies under the patio.

nzseries1

kinger101 wrote: »

(e) doesn't bury too many bodies under the patio.

Can I ask - how many is too many?

kinger101

nzseries1 wrote: »

Can I ask - how many is too many?

Well, that rather depends on the size of the patio.

Pixie5740

As a tenant I try to keep no more than 4 bodies buried under the patio.

JonathanA

For me, the good tenant I had paid on time, looked after the property and communicated with me so that if there were issues they could be fixed promptly. I couldn't really have asked for more, she treated the house as her home. She also co-operated with me when I was arranging the annual gas safety check etc, but then I always liaised with her to check when it would be convenient for her.

The tenant before that smashed the front door window when she locked herself out and then expected me to pay for the repairs, lost all the keys for the window locks, moved in 5 cats when the tenancy agreement said no pets and her boyfriend kicked the bathroom door in during an argument they had and never paid on time. Not surprisingly , I gave them notice to quit.

Paul_the_Painter

I quite like my tenant:-
Pays rent on his payday (last Friday of the month) rather than the due date (1st of the month)
Insists I keep a key (mostly as he occasionally loses his)
Is MORE than happy for me to go round when he is not in with the plumber for the gas check (means he isn't restricted by having to be there)
If something major needs doing (fence panels etc) has a bigger contact book than me and sorts it out after giving me the price, then deducts from rent and passes along the invoice. (That alone has saved me a day of work and about £200)
Happy on a Statutory Periodic tenancy
As such he's paying about £100pcm less than I could get (theoretically) through an agent, but an agent would cost a chunk of that, and a hassle free tenancy is EASILY worth any difference left

System

As a tenant, i feel its important for me to pay my rent on time (never missed a rent payment, even when i was on ESA), that i keep the place clean and tidy, that i get on with the other tenants and neighbours (its a shared house-we mainly keep to ourselves), inform landlord straight away if any issues and make sure at the end of the tenency to clean like a madwoman(!) and ensure its at minimum the same as when i moved in or cleaner.

I've never had pets and don;t have kids so thankfully have no issues with eirher of them

kinger101

Pixie5740 wrote: »

As a tenant I try to keep no more than 4 bodies buried under the patio.

Where do you keep the rest? I'm starting to run out of room for mine, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

jaylee3

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.

Yes, and I have known many people who keep quiet, and keep their nose clean, and are good tenants, and don't nark off the neighbours, and do little repairs instead of 'harassing the landlord,' and they STILL get the landlord trying to steal most of their deposit, because there was a penny sized mark on the landing wall, and a half inch tiny scratch on the worktop in the kitchen, after their tenant of five years have left!

You should not be a landlord if you cannot be bothered to be a landlord! If you cannot be there when your tenants need help, and cannot accept little bits of wear and tear on your rental house, you should not be a landlord! You would leave exactly the same amount of wear and tear.

I think some landlords just want the tenants to put up and shut up, they don't want to be bothered by them, and they just want the rent off them. I have heard many a tale from people whose landlord can't be bothered to fix repairs, they often won't take responsibility for anything and ignore the tenants, but will cry and whine if the rent is a DAY late, and they are quite happy to leave them without heating for weeks, because they claim they can't afford the boiler repair, and yet like I said, they will steal the tenants deposit for relatively little damage.

And not accepting people who have children? Seriously?

BirdSeed wrote: »

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.

EXACTLY. Like I said, some landlords just want to shove the tenants in the house, take their money, and try and forget they're there. They simply cannot be bothered if their tenant needs help or assistance or repairs done. Expecting the tenants to do repairs themselves is just ludicrous and offensive.

Pixie5740

It's been interesting reading this thread. There are a couple of landlords who think they have wonderful tenants because they treat the property like it's there home. Well it's not like the tenant's home, it IS the tenant's home. I think that for the most part, landlords get the tenant's they deserve.

My previous landlady was a total cow bag. Didn't know any of her legal responsibilities despite constantly boasting about having a law degree. Continually let herself into my home. On one occasion I came home from work and started making my dinner then about half an hour later I received a text from my landlady's PA to tell me that she (the PA) was in the flat doing some admin work. My landlady even allowed her cousin to start using my home to have their post sent to and gave them a key so that they could wander into my home whenever they felt like it (including whilst I was in the shower) to collect their post.

That relationship totally broke down and I let a Sky engineer drill a hole through the living room wall and tack cable everywhere. I knew it was bad but by this point I didn't care and I knew my LL hadn't protected my deposit so there was SFA she could do about it really.

My relationship with my current LL is much better. I reported an issue with the boiler when I first moved in and it was fixed promptly. I do small repairs myself. For the most part I leave them alone and they leave me alone and this works well for both parties. This is my home and it feels like it.