Letting a flat to an east european.

robby-01

Anyone any experience of letting to a migrant.
Obviously it is going to be hard for them to obtain references that can be properly checked.
I have a flat that is empty and an east european guy is interested in letting it,He says he has a job but basically thats it.
Might be a great guy then again might have 36 mates waiting around the corner to crash on the floor.

lynzpower

Anyone could have 36 mates ready to crash on the floor IME, its not jsut the eastern eurpeans!

Have you thought about getting a reference from his employer?

cookie_monster

lynzpower wrote: »

Anyone could have 36 mates ready to crash on the floor IME, its not jsut the eastern eurpeans!

Have you thought about getting a reference from his employer?

:rotfl: :T

pmsl

Lavendyr

lynzpower wrote: »

Anyone could have 36 mates ready to crash on the floor IME, its not jsut the eastern eurpeans!

You're absolutely right, but IME of living next door to a house rented out to Eastern Europeans, it *was* the case that they had 36 mates ready to crash on the floor - and also ready to drink, smoke (not just cigarettes), play loud music and party every single night of the working week outside the house until 2am. Every week there were different people there, different cars parked up on the driveway, and the language barrier (lack of English on their part) meant it was very difficult to ask them to keep the noise down, not to mention that as two young women we were more than a little intimidated by them.

However, I have, conversely, met some lovely, quiet, polite Eastern Europeans who just want to get on and earn some money and support their families, who genuinely want to integrate into the country and its culture. And I've met a lot of English people who behave in a pretty similar way to the above-mentioned.

If you want to go for it, you need to get as many references as you can, perhaps ask for the rent up-front rather than on a month-by-month basis, and make sure you are as well protected in terms of having a comprehensive inventory, a large deposit, and can keep well-informed as to what is going on in the property.

PasturesNew

I've two anecdotals.

1] A woman rented her house to two lovely European girls. At some point she went round there and found the place a complete tip and 8 people living there. Worried her a bit. They'd all been out/about, bumped into random strangers and said "Oh, you can stay at ours" type of deal. Anyway, in the end the girls left on time and the property was restored to how it was when they started renting it. So she'd have never known/there was no problem.

2] Due to a marriage breakup, my bosses son could not afford his house any longer, so rented it out to a Polish couple. He had some local building work, she was looking for work. Only issue he had at the beginning was that they didn't know how to use things (like the heating, etc), so it's worth noting that Europeans won't know "the way things are done here" and it's worthwhile going over: turning off water, water heaters, showers, heating system with them etc. In the end, the tenancy was ended early as the chap lost his job and couldn't find another. The property was left in pristine condition.

Both those were in Cornwall and in the last 2 years.

PasturesNew

Lavendyr wrote: »

... play loud music and party every single night of the working week outside the house until 2am. Every week there were different people ... not to mention that as two young women we were more than a little intimidated by them.

I used to live 4 doors down from a house of multiple occupancy. He had 24+ in his house (4-6/room in bunk beds + 2-3 in the grotty outside shed). They would be noisy/drunk/have music playing in the garden until late a LOT of nights in the week. Whenever the weather was dry.

I felt lucky I didn't live closer. I'd have felt intimidated by them - and the constant noise would drive me nuts.

They weren't bad people, it's just that Europeans here to work tend to be in their 20s and here not to build a life, but to pop over and earn as much as they can while the work's going so they can return home with their cash to set themselves up for life. As a group of 20-somethings, away from home, of course they will tend to party, party, party. It's like one long holiday for them. No daily grind and planning for the future for them!

$$$_12

We have a group of Eastern Europeans living above us - to be honest I'm not sure how many (at least 5 I reckon).

Generally they seem considerate - only occasionally noisy with music (and it's their appalling taste - mostly east German sounding techno - which is the most annoying).

foreign_correspondent

Hi,

I was out of the country last year and rented my house out. It was viewed by two young polish girls, who I felt may not be my ideal tenants - I live in a semi detached house and wanted to return on good terms with my neighbours!

My concerns were mainly that:
a) as two young twenty somethings, away from home, I was concerned they might be having parties all the time (which I would have been doing at that age!)
b) our communication was very limited as their english was poor, and my polish non-existant...so I found it hard to suss them out, work out what their personalities etc were like

I hesitated about whether to let them the propertly, but in the end time was pressing so I reluctantly agreed.

They paid the rent on time, sorted out minor glitches (eg, one of the girls bag was stolen with her house keys in, so she got the lock replaced herself, which was fine). They kept stray mail for me, and the house was clean and tidy when I visited to pick it up.

After ten months they moved out, which worked well for me, they left the house empty, clean, hoovered etc and it was pretty much ready for us to move our stuff back into. The only 'damage' was some hair dye stainson the bath sealant and shower curtain, but I have done that myself enough times, so no biggie!!:o

No complaints from the neighbours either, so can't have been too noisy!

My feeling is that the risks are pretty much the same whether a tenant is from the UK or eastern europe, except that the eastern europeans are probaly more likely to be working, and work full time or overtime, and so are perhaps less likely to have loads of time at home to party than their uk counterparts!!!

robby-01

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

Go with your gut feeling. That's what I'd do.

But saying that, would he pass the credit/referencing checks that the rest of us would have to? This is what it comes down to almost. Chances are that he wouldn't.

I'd ask to see copies of his bank statements and bank balance. Which I would be prepared to do for someone if money was involved. A company though could go whistle, but personal money transactions are different, alot more is based on trust and goodwill.

thanks i think i will go with my gut feeling on this one.
I will tell him to get lost when he rings back.

kunekune

I'm not from Eastern Europe, but I did have to try and rent a house when we had only been in the UK for a week. We started looking before we even got here, since I had proof of employment, but in the end got lucky with a private landlord who had put something on fish4 and set up his own website with all the details. He had heaps of applicants, and decided to let us have the house for some weird reason. So we rented it without having seen it, and sent over lots of money ...

It all worked out fine. We moved out recently, and didn't get all the deposit back but we knew that would happen and it was all very amicable (families with children are harder on houses, and we ran out of steam at the end when it came to tidying the garden, which was a lease requirement).

We were lucky because letting agents would not have touched us: no UK bank account (can't get one till you have an address ... yes, I do realise it's a catch 22), and no UK credit record. So, on behalf of people new to the country, I'd say trust your instincts, it isn't easy! Find out lots about them - we just about shared life stories, and I know he googled me, just as I googled him. If it all adds up, well, it's no more risk than any other tenancy. Someone with a great credit score may have got it cos they have borrowed heaps and they've been lucky so far, but one knock and the whole heap of cards will collapse.

dolce_vita

I find this thread hilarious.

Immigration is often cited by BTLers and HPI cheerleaders as one of the things that will keep prices high and yet here you are questioning whether letting to "them" is a good idea.

Absolutely priceless.

You couldn't make it up.