Tenant arrears and potential problems with tenants - how often does it happen?

tom9980

Rent arrears only get registered as a ccj if the judgement is enforced and they don't pay. A landlord won't give a bad reference to a tenant who is still in their property otherwise they will stay and incur more debt. Easy to give your mates number and pretend they are your landlord.

[Deleted User]

They absolutely hate potential landlords on here so you will only get doom and gloom replies most of the time - not a fully balanced view 

[Deleted User]

Densol said:

They absolutely hate potential landlords on here so you will only get doom and gloom replies most of the time - not a fully balanced view 

I don't see any hate on this thread, in fact most if not all the posters are landlords themselves.   Whether to become a landlord frequently crops up on this board and it's nearly always the same "how long is a piece of string" questions from people who have done little to no research, not even searching the forum for near identical threads from other landlord wannabes.  Odd really that landlords choose a forum focused on consumers to start asking rather basic questions on starting a letting business.

Crashy_Time

Mike997 said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

Mike997 said:

Hi Guys,
Thanks in advance for the answer!

Why are the only two options cash in the bank or BTL?  What other investment vehicles have you considered?

There are already many. many threads on the forum already from people such as yourself thinking about getting into BTL, have a search and read the advice.

And this is what I am doing now but those topics are describing the issue and possible solutions. What I can`t find anywhere is how often such situation occurs. The thing is that if someone asks for help here, it is usually a person that didn`t have any insurance etc. so I can`t see any opinion on that.

What other options would I have if not cash or BtL? There is stock exchange where I am planning to invest lets say 20-30k. Other options seem to be very limited these days.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-uk-long-duration-gilt-index-fund-gbp-gross-accumulation-shares?intcmpgn=fixedincomeuk_uklongdurationgiltindexfund_fund_link

I would say a BALANCED portfolio, equities, Gilts/bonds, Corporate bonds maybe and some cash is a better, much better bet than BTL now. DYOR though.

Crashy_Time

Thrugelmir said:

With only one let property you haven't got a diversified portfolio. Rather akin to investing in the share of a single company. You run the risk of sizable losses. However much due diligence you undertake beforehand. 

You don`t with multiple lets either really, see the present situation for example, you just have an over-concentrated portfolio, unless you have also diversified elsewhere.

knightstyle

The problem is that letting can be great or a nightmare for the owner!  The houses on this estate have gradually changed from owner occupiers to being rented.  Of the rented about a third are fine and long term,  and a quarter are the kind of tenants who star on TV nightmare neighbours programs.  The rest somewhere in between.
So can you afford this if you only get 60% of the annual rent and have to pay expensive lawyers from time to time?
It is all down to the agents to vet tenants properly, I am amazed that problem tenants often get a new place close by after being evicted.  Perhaps the fact that the council pay their deposit helps?

[Deleted User]

Mike997 said:

I have been thinking about BtL as I have got some cash that is only losing the value due to inflation sitting in my bank. BtL + Interest Only repayments + high enough deposit to sleep well sounds like a nice idea to me. At the moment I am looking for information about this business, eventual costs and problems and I can say that there is pretty much only one thing that concerns me, tenant arrears and what can be done with it. Few questions:

Nice for you maybe but it screws over people trying to buy a home to live in.

Don't do it, don't become part of the problem.

HRH_MUngo

We have had one property since 2015.

The first tenant was great, paid his rent in full and on time, kept the flat immaculate....then went to prison for money laundering.
However, we were able to let the flat straight away because he had kept it so nice.  

The second tenant, I had doubts about from the start, although she passed all the checks and referencing.  She turned up to the viewing with three other people in tow.  I asked her who was going to be living there, she said only herself, and although I had the doubts, as she was a social worker I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  Two months into the tenancy, she wanted to terminate it due to 'domestic violence' .  We agreed to this and she went straight away....but left her 'partner' in the flat - he wasn't on the tenancy agreement!  Luckily he went quietly after a couple of weeks, but I had hassle after that with unpaid council tax which she wanted me to pay.  In the end, she paid it, or at least I assume she did, the Council stopped chasing me for it after I showed them a tenancy agreement and explained the situation.  She also left some damage in the flat (holes in wall, and a broken shower), which we deducted from her deposit.  When we were cleaning out the flat, we came across letters with about five different names on...heaven knows how many people she had living there (two-bedroom flat).  I learned from this experience to trust my instincts and not let it to anyone I have bad vibes about.

The third tenant was wonderful, I wanted her to stay for ever, but  after a year she decided to buy a house with her partner.  She left the flat immaculate.

The present tenants have been excellent and  paid their rent on time and full and are just coming up to the end of the initial six month's tenancy.  Because of COVID-19 we have been unable to inspect the flat, so don't know if they have kept it nice, although I have no reason to suspect they have not.  We will let the tenanyc go periodic until we can inspect the flat.

So that is our experience, I think on the whole we have been lucky.  I would not particularly want to go into BtL now, although like yourself, we did it as a home for some money. We do not have a mortgage which makes things easier.

Best of luck.

Mike997

HRH_MUngo said:

The second tenant, I had doubts about from the start, although she passed all the checks and referencing.  She turned up to the viewing with three other people in tow.  I asked her who was going to be living there, she said only herself, and although I had the doubts, as she was a social worker I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  Two months into the tenancy, she wanted to terminate it due to 'domestic violence' .  We agreed to this and she went straight away....but left her 'partner' in the flat - he wasn't on the tenancy agreement!  Luckily he went quietly after a couple of weeks, but I had hassle after that with unpaid council tax which she wanted me to pay.  In the end, she paid it, or at least I assume she did, the Council stopped chasing me for it after I showed them a tenancy agreement and explained the situation.  She also left some damage in the flat (holes in wall, and a broken shower), which we deducted from her deposit.  When we were cleaning out the flat, we came across letters with about five different names on...heaven knows how many people she had living there (two-bedroom flat).  I learned from this experience to trust my instincts and not let it to anyone I have bad vibes about.

Wow, that`s sick with this bloke that stayed in the flat. But since the agreement was only between this woman and you and suddenly there is some bloke in the flat that you know nothing about, can`t you just call the police since she already moved out? I would assume they should threat him as a burglar as he has no right to be there?

Talking about Council Tax and other bills. I assume that the most popular option is to let the tenant pay for it under their own name but what is going to happen if they don`t pay for it? Since you have got the tenancy agreement, are they still able to force you to cover Council Tax, electricity etc. if tenant is not paying?

CIS

Mike997 said:

 bloke that stayed in the flat. But since the agreement was only between this woman and you and suddenly there is some bloke in the flat that you know nothing about, can`t you just call the police since she already moved out? I would assume they should threat him as a burglar as he has no right to be there?

Talking about Council Tax and other bills. I assume that the most popular option is to let the tenant pay for it under their own name but what is going to happen if they don`t pay for it? Since you have got the tenancy agreement, are they still able to force you to cover Council Tax, electricity etc. if tenant is not paying?

It's not an option - it's a matter of council tax legislation (it cannot be contracted out of by any personal agreements).

If a tenant is liable by way of legislation and doesn't pay then the landlord cannot be held responsible.

If the landlord is liable, and has a contractual agreement for the tenant to reimburse him, then he is liable to the council and he would need to separately pursue the tenant.

If neither a tenant or a landlord is resident then, in most cases, the liability would then fall on to anyone who is resident (except in certain specified cases).