Rent a house without a job

dimbo61

Have you tried spareroom and see if you can rent a spare room in someone's home as a Lodger !
Lots of homeowners doing this as government offer the " Rent a room scheme " which allows homeowners to make £7,500 a year tax free.

Scotbot

[Deleted User] said:

Hannimal said:

AskAsk said:

just watch some tv programs on bad tenants and you will see what i mean.
the vetting process is stringent for a reason as too many landlords have been taken advantage of by bad tenants.

Oh I'm not at all suggesting that they shouldn't be stringent or that there aren't bad tenants out there. I am just saying that the tenant is the one who is in a more vulnerable position. I am hoping to get a lodger once my new home is all set up and ready for it, and I am very nervous about taking someone in despite being fully aware that lodgers have even fewer rights than tenants. 

The problem is that for those organisations advocating for the rights of vulnerable tenants, their policies tend towards hampering landlords in their attempts for fast and efficient eviction processes. This protects vulnerable tenants from eviction.
But there is a consequence to this in that landlords must be very selective as to their tenants to avoid the world of pain that is the drawn out eviction processes and financial loss that would occur from a non paying tenant.  This means that some vulnerable tenants struggle to get a tenancy.
So I would argue that it is the very protections that tenants are afforded that cause landlords to be more careful. 

Spot on. Recent changes to tenancy laws have gone too far IMO . Not all landlords are millionaires with multiple properties, I know quite a few landlords who had only 1 property to rent which was their life savings. Once the ternant left they have sold up and put the money elsewhere  If a tenant can't pay the landlord should be able to get their property back within a few months. Private landlords are neither  charities nor social housing providers

As you say the net result is vulnerable tenants are worse off as few people will touch them

oldbikebloke

eve824 said:

Just offer the 12 months upfront if you have it in the bank. Therefore no risk to the landlord.

sorry but you are too naive if you believe that 
- as has already been mentioned - payment up front is a red flag indicating "certain" scenarios
- the tenant has no visible means of paying after month 12
- the LL will incur costs in evicting after month 12, costs which the ex tenant has no income from which to pay them. Money in the bank he may have, but will it still be there in 12 months time when the ability to get an attachment to earning order to pay the court is impossible as there is no job to attach to ?  

AdrianC

Scotbot said:
If a tenant can't pay the landlord should be able to get their property back within a few months.

Covid notwithstanding, they can.

s8 g8 notice, apply for possession, get possession granted, enforce possession.

Hannimal

I am a little confused by this. At normal times my landlord can serve me 2 months notice and I need to relocate for whatever reason. This means that effectively every tenant has to always have enough money set aside to be prepared to move at 2 months' notice. To me, that is a little bit unreasonable.

Scotbot

AdrianC said:

Scotbot said:
If a tenant can't pay the landlord should be able to get their property back within a few months.

Covid notwithstanding, they can.

s8 g8 notice, apply for possession, get possession granted, enforce possession.

I thought evictions took longer but I am no expert, it is a long time since I rented out my property.  Talking to friends,  expats mainly, they have sold up as they believed the new regulations were too onerous. That may well be an incorrect perception but I would say  1 in 5 sales around me in the last year have been ex rentals so something has influenced this.  Could be the tax hikes. Either way it means less supply 

shinytop

I think the problem is not being a British Citizen combined with having no job.  I recently rented with no job and no references and gave the agent 6 months in advance.  The LL was happy with that and it wasn't my only choice of property.    

jeffrose

WOW how many answer!

Well, for those that ask me to try to rent a room: I'm looking for a flat because I'm not so young and covid could become a problem for me. Then the best choice is find a flat where to live alone.

For all  other answer in part I understand and in part I don't understand. I mean are there so many scam in UK ? I'm Italian (then a country where honesty is a crime) and if you give 6 months upfront to a landlord he is so happy that he gave you back his wife in loan for 1 month.  Honestly 6 months are very much... if landlord become a suspicious if I pay 1 year upfront with contract of 1 year in my opinion or he is paranoid or UK is much more full of criminals than Naples. If Bill Gates come here to rent 1 bed flat for £500 pcm and he doesn't want tell the landlord who he is and his job, most probably will become homeless.

On spareroom I found a guy wants rent his flat for 800pcm then I offered to pay 6 months upfront and I sent him the screenshot of my bank account. Then I signed the contract, before to pay I asked him to see the flat... he answered me that he will show me the flat after the payment. I didn't pay. I think that there are some red flat that are probably true, others aren't.

jeffrose

shinytop said:

I think the problem is not being a British Citizen combined with having no job.  I recently rented with no job and no references and gave the agent 6 months in advance.  The LL was happy with that and it wasn't my only choice of property.    

Then you advice me to insist and continue to search the right agency offering 6 months upfront ?

what are the other choices ?

DCFC79

Hannimal said:

eidand said:

Hannimal said:

@AskAsk I am aware there is some tenant protection in place in the UK. However, having lived in 7 different countries during my short life, England by far is the worst place to live in as a tenant, closely followed by Scotland. There is some protection, sure, but a system that doesn't see housing as a human right is very skewed. I have very little sympathy for landlords when tenants are by far the most vulnerable in this equation. I do understand why you'd want to vet tenants but a system that makes it near impossible for migrants to rent out property is flawed.

There are a number of incorrect statements in what you said so far.
Your main issue is that you do not work. There are lots of migrants, I know, I was one of them a long time ago.
As long as you have a stable job, a bank account, stable income then finding a place to live is not an issue. You have no roots here, no income and you could disappear whenever. That's the issue.  You are high risk.

You're not the only one with "rights". A landlord also has rights and why should they take a huge risk with you, when they can let to someone who is employed and can prove they can afford to live in their property.
Your money is not even in a UK bank.

Surely you must understand why these things are an issue.
Nothing stops you from living in a cheap holiday let. If you do not want to work here, why do you want to be here for a year? If it's sightseeing then you're not going to be living in one place anyway. So, what's the issue?

I am not sure what you are on about but:
I have a full time job and make more than national average, my rent is  £1100 per month (fairly normal for a decent flat in the centre of the city I am in). My money is in a UK bank and another UK bank is happy to give me a mortgage (hopefully, we are still waiting on the offer!!). I have never had any problems with any payments in this country or elsewhere. I am by no definition a high risk, I am also at the moment a UK citizen - although I wasn't when I was looking to rent. Your comment to me is rude and off the mark. No idea how you can make these assumptions of me but maybe you should check what you assume of other people just because they disclose to you that they are a migrant. 

Maybe eidand thinks your the OP when your not.