Tips on vetting new tenants

lookstraightahead

Uxb wrote: »

I'm neither a tenant nor landlord but I'm afraid from what I've seen I never want to go into the sector as a Landlord.
I'd want inspections every month frankly.
Endless unreported damage and unreported attempted break-in'.
Unreported major water leaking causing more extensive damage turning a minor issue into a major one.
I someone do wonder how on earth some of these tenants could ever cope if they actually owned and occupied a property.
Then there was indeed the cannabis farm where the tenant/tenancy was a front for the real occupant and 'farm worker' and the place was trashed cumulating in the Landlord getting a call from the police to say they have just raided the place. This was an upmarket house in a good area as well.

Some people who are owners do all this as well. I've been a tenant and a landlord and my tenants were great.

buggy_boy

franklee wrote: »

I would have thought this is a good question to clear up at the initial viewings. If you tell the tenant you inspect every quarter you will deter the cannabis farmers. If you tell them you inspect more than once a quarter you will deter the tenant who wants reasonable privacy. Either way it helps make sure the landlord's and tenant's expectations match. Better to know upfront than have arguments about it once the tenant is in. So I would put that on the good question pile.

I actually meant if the prospective tenant asks when you will do inspections.

franklee

buggy_boy wrote: »

I actually meant if the prospective tenant asks when you will do inspections.

Does it matter if the tenant asks how often or if the landlord volunteers the information? Either way surely it's best for LL and T establish they will be on the "same page". The exact when would be down to making mutually agreeable appointments nearer the time of each inspection.

buggy_boy

gonsdad wrote: »

A significant portion of this thread seems to be landlords gloating about how they can degrade and humiliate their tenants. It's vile.


Perving on social media profiles, pestering them with crank phonecalls and demanding to see their current accommodation? Really?


And as for anyone not going through agents clearly having "something to hide", it's equally as likely they'd just rather not deal with sleazy, money-grabbing letting agents.

For a landlord they are handing over an expensive asset to the care of a complete stranger, as a landlord you don't want someone to destroy the property or turn it into a drugs den, unfortunately no bad tenants will say they are going to turn the property into a cannabis farm.

I had a tenants scream the road down, did drugs, drove at scary speeds in a small road almost hitting neighbours children, I got so many complaints from the neighbours it was a nightmare, they then stopped paying rent, thankfully I managed to get rid of them, anyway when I went to relet that property I found on social media the prospective tenant was part of a heavy metal band and did private lessons from his home, you can imagine how the neighbours would have reacted. Would you give a complete stranger your life savings to look after without checking as much as you could that they were good people?

Due to new right to rent checks and other regulations the days of not using a letting agent are over.

buggy_boy

franklee wrote: »

Does it matter if the tenant asks that or if the landlord volunteers the information? Either way surely it's best for LL and T establish they will be on the "same page".

If the tenant asks about when and how often the inspections are they may be looking to turn it into a cannabis farm, ive never had a tenant ask this question.

I had a Polish family once be really interested in the property, they could move in when ever suited me, and phoned the letting agent as soon as they were open the next day to push to get the property, they just seemed to be trying too hard. A few other alarms were the guy said he worked for logica CMG, I work in IT so knew where the local offices were, when I asked which office he worked out of he was stumped and struggled to answer. Turns out in there was one or more Polish families that seemed totally respectable renting properties, they would then get friends or family to advertise the property in Poland as its hard for people just coming to UK to get a property, they were filling the rooms with bunk beds making massive profits subletting, my property would have been ideal for that. It would be a nightmare to get rid of them. I refused them, later turned out from letting agent I was spot on and they did this to another landlord.

After doing it a while you get a hunch about people, remember the letting agent will never be as interested in getting good tenants than you will so don't leave it all up to the letting agent.

franklee

buggy_boy wrote: »

If the tenant asks about when and how often the inspections are they may be looking to turn it into a cannabis farm, ive never had a tenant ask this question.

They may well be but the question is still beneficial to you. As I said letting them know you inspect regularly will deter the cannabis farmer. So if they ask & you say every quarter without fail then they will realise you are not for them.

buggy_boy wrote: »

After doing it a while you get a hunch about people, remember the letting agent will never be as interested in getting good tenants than you will so don't leave it all up to the letting agent.

Well quite. I do wish even the landlords whose agent fully manages would get at least a bit involved as the agent never really cares about the state of repairs or keeping a good tenant as much as a landlord would. In some cases the agent's interest and landlord's conflict, e.g. renewal fees and not "allowing" a periodic tenancy, or using the agent's favoured contractors. However in my experience agents often actively block the tenant getting any direct contact details of the landlord.

shortcrust

deannatrois wrote: »

Don't rely on simple credit checks and references from an old LL (the LL could write the tenant is a perfect tenant because they want rid of them, little you can do if you discover the tenant is a nightmare).

Ask for bank statements to prove they pay their rent and don't have bad spending habits. Look at social media to see what sort of person they are. Visit them in their present property to see if they look after it as you would want your property looked after.

A bit more intrusive than normally considered but when I was a private tenant I always took bank statements with me when viewing properties as I wanted prospective LL's to see I was a good, financially responsible tenant. Some will not like it but it will help you eliminate the sort of tenant you don't want.

I honestly thought this bit was going to be followed by a punchline.

An eye opening thread that paints an almost dystopian picture. I'm pretty scornful of the moans and groans from 'generation rent' or whatever but I wonder if I'm just out of touch. Perhaps I'm being a bit hard on myself? I mean, whoever could have guessed you could be excluded from the rental market because you don't answer withheld calls...:(

need_an_answer

time for this mornings reality check and to put the thread back on a bit more of an even keel.

particularly reading the highlighted portion of a post above its worth remembering that the poster of those comments Deanna,I am under the assumption is not a LL but a tenant who is accepting of those types of checks to be carried out.

I hope Deanna doesn't mind me pointing out that fact but it hopefully does show that everyone has differing views clearly on whats acceptable and whats not .Its not a case that the LL's are making these suggestions some are coming from the tenants too.

Fully appreciate that Deanna may find it an intrusion into privacy but I also believe she has extensive knowledge that at times has proved very valuable on the board when helping others with tenant issues from a tenant perspective.
Its clearly something that has worked for her to secure an onward tenancy in maybe less than perfect circumstances.

Deanna,appologies in advance for picking you out in particular but I perhaps wanted to redress the balance for the occasional posters on the boards who have assumed that all the suggestions for vetting have come from LL's only.

SouthLondonUser

You will have to make up your own mind about renters with vs without children. Children can cause damage to the property. Ever tried removing the stains and the stench from milk spilled or vomited onto a carpet? Or maybe a toddler could scribble on doors or walls. But families with children are less likely to turn the property into a cannabis farm or to throw up wild parties every weekend. If your property is very close to a good state school, a family might want to rent there till little Johnny gets a place, then move out. Also, arranging a cleaning rota among sharers can be nerve-wrecking. I know of a landlord who would only let to sharers if they agreed to pay for a cleaning lady once every 2 weeks (the landlord hired the cleaner then charged the tenants).

The key advice I’d have for the OP is to meet with the prospective tenants, and not just outsource reference checks to the agency, but to understand exactly what they do and how. For example, I am genuinely not sure to what extent an agency would be able to access a tenant’s credit file.

If you personally collect any specific additional data on the landlord, do check whether you need to keep it and to what extent it’s compliant with GDPR and all the new privacy laws (I have no clue).

buggy_boy wrote: »

Be careful of strange questions like how often do you do inspections

Why? It is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. In fact, most decent contracts explicitly specify that inspection can only be carried out once every 3 or 6 months. Any more than that, and you’ll deter me. No, I have no intention of turning your property into a drug den, but I have a reasonable right to privacy; if you want to breathe down my neck every month, look for another tenant. An acquaintance was driven mad by the landlady's constant requests to inspect the property - in the end she wanted to come every month.

Bad apples exist among landlords like they exist among tenants. Some landlords tend to forget that tenants have a legitimate interest in trying to ensure their landlord is not the crazy cat lady from the Simpsons.

diggingdude wrote: »

Checking of bank statements should be a two way thing. How does a good tenant know they haven't got a broke landlord who can't afford to make repairs, will steal the deposit and avoids mortgage payments? Just for some balance.

Exactly!

franklee wrote: »

Years ago when I was posting a tenant ask for proof of consent to let or BTL mortgage (before the law was changed to help tenants should the property get repossessed) I got tons of outraged comments form landlords saying a tenant should not be that nosy.

Exactly!

SouthLondonUser

need_an_answer wrote: »

Although to the poster who is being critical of LL practices,please remember not all LL's have multiple properties and portfolios the majority of them are actually entrusting their largest asset into the hands of someone else to live in.

Maybe said landlord should have considered more carefully whether it was wise to invest so much of his wealth in a non-productive asset like property?? Especially a single property and not multiple properties (ie no diversification, a single bad tenant ruins the whole investment). BTL was not a doctor’s order, after all… IMHO it’s not a coincidence that the rental market is more efficient and less exposed to dodgy practices in countries like Germany, where many landlords are, in fact, large companies that do this as a business – not the average Joe who “invested” in BTL because a tabloid column and his neighbour told him to do so.

need_an_answer wrote: »

I'm not defending anyone but it’s very easy for a tenant to cause multiple damage to a property that far exceeds the deposit held sometimes by not reporting a problem sooner or in reasonable time.

Very true. But it’s important to draw a line between what’s so reasonable and what’s not. Stalking people on social media? Calling from withheld numbers? These kinds of behaviour scream “psycho” to me – I wouldn’t want to rent from any landlord that wants to do these things.