Can't afford to fix boiler

Marvel1

Angela_D_3 said:

grumiofoundation said:

Angela_D_3 said:

theartfullodger said:

And some still wonder why landlords have such a bad name.  

Situations like this make it tougher for the few decent landlords.

Ive not had to do it,  but i wouldnt hesistate.  Go to a hairdressers,  use their  services then refuse to pay its theft,  the police would be involved.  Do the same with a house/flat and the LL is in the wrong ?  Its madness.  The Op is only broke because their tenants are thieves.  

Well you should hesitate (well in reality you should sell the house and stop being a landlord).

The landlord is in the wrong if they illegally evict the tenant as you (seemingly) proudly state you would. 

The difference with your hairdresser analogy is the landlord (or at least a competent one) understands that tenants can not pay rent and that the landlord's mechanism for getting them out can take many months and the landlord may well not get their money owed. 

Did you do any research before becoming a landlord?

Still theft though isnt it ? 

No getting away from that.  

I did of course do my research,  after careful consideration ive chosen the lock smith and correct size baseball bat for the job.  

Some you are far too soft 🙄

Nice troll post

lookstraightahead

In my opinion, being a landlord is a job, a business. That's why I don't do it. I don't have enough money to cover lack of rental income - sometimes properties are empty for months at a time - and I don't have the time to do it professionally now.

There are too many people who don't see it as a serious job, with serious responsibilities, and just an income.

Personally I think you need a year's slush fund. And extra for when things go wrong.

When you set up in business you need to know a lot about running a business, but being a landlord doesn't appear to seem that important to some people. Accidental landlords especially know too little, too late. 

warwick2001

So, GENUINE question. To the landlords that frequent this thread/website, how many months of 'unpaid rent' do you have set aside, in case every one of your property's tenants stop paying?

So far in this thread, 6 months up to a year appears to be the norm/advised. But if evictions aren't happening for approx. another year or so, do we all expect to see a mass of landlords essentially having to quit landlord-ing (if that's a verb....?) as they haven't received any rent for 18 months or so (due to job losses etc. cos of the pandemic). Like I said, genuine question. I'm not a landlord, so have no 'horses in the race', so to speak. Just interested in the thoughts here 

Aranyani

nicmyles said:

Aranyani said:

nicmyles said:

Aranyani said:

caprikid1 said:

I would like to understand how long most of the landlords with more than one property could remain solvent if all of their rent stopped for 6 months. I think there are some harsh / self righteous comments being aimed at the OP. I agree that renting a property whilst in a DMP was probably the wrong move but some of the unsubstantiated comments are IMHO unacceptable.

6-12 months without rent is exactly the kind of thing potential landlords should consider and plan for before they go into the business.  It’s not so out there or unusual. 

Yes, and most people's answer to that would involve looking at their normal income and feeling they could cover expenses that arose, or that if they lost income, they would be able to find other work within a reasonable period of time. Which is not an option as easily available to people during a pandemic. I believe the OP has said up-thread that he did have savings to cover these eventualities but they have been eroded.

Losing your income is another thing landlords should plan for.  In fact everybody should, it can happen at any time to anybody.  Planning for it is even more important when other people's homes depend on you.

I agree with you, but the pandemic is an exceptional circumstance that many people (and entire industries) have not - and could not - made adequate contingency plans for. What amount of income, in your view, should a landlord have in the bank to prepare for lost income? Three months? Six months? Seems reasonable to me, if unachievable for many, but depending on the impact of the pandemic on your industry, even this may have been inadequate.

At least 12 months, ideally 2 years, and enough funds to cover every major repair in every property they own on top of that. 

Without that, don’t go into the property business, it’s not compulsory and it’s people’s lives and homes you’re messing with, it’s not like it’s a cupcake business. 

AdrianC

warwick2001 said:

So, GENUINE question. To the landlords that frequent this thread/website, how many months of 'unpaid rent' do you have set aside, in case every one of your property's tenants stop paying?

So far in this thread, 6 months up to a year appears to be the norm/advised. But if evictions aren't happening for approx. another year or so, do we all expect to see a mass of landlords essentially having to quit landlord-ing (if that's a verb....?) as they haven't received any rent for 18 months or so (due to job losses etc. cos of the pandemic). Like I said, genuine question. I'm not a landlord, so have no 'horses in the race', so to speak. Just interested in the thoughts here 

The problem here is not so much that the OP doesn't have the cash to hand, but that he has no route to credit - because he was already in a DMP before the pandemic even started. He did not go from being in the black with assets available and creditworthy, to being under a DMP in nine months. The pandemic is the icing on the cake, not the cause.

Angela_D_3

warwick2001 said:

So, GENUINE question. To the landlords that frequent this thread/website, how many months of 'unpaid rent' do you have set aside, in case every one of your property's tenants stop paying?

So far in this thread, 6 months up to a year appears to be the norm/advised. But if evictions aren't happening for approx. another year or so, do we all expect to see a mass of landlords essentially having to quit landlord-ing (if that's a verb....?) as they haven't received any rent for 18 months or so (due to job losses etc. cos of the pandemic). Like I said, genuine question. I'm not a landlord, so have no 'horses in the race', so to speak. Just interested in the thoughts here 

It wouod tske 6 months minimum before the banks would start proceedings,  therefore if you had 6 months mortgage payments set aside youd be fine.  In theory. 

However not paying is dimply not an option for my tenants.  If they've applied for universal credits snd are awaiting that fine,  if they are working and simply pocketing the cash they'd be out.  You cannot let people take the !!!!!! out of you in any business.  You only rent to people with more to lose than you by not paying,  be that credit record,  guarantors money,  roof over their head.  

Crashy_Time

ProDave said:

Tell them when they have paid their rent arrears you will get a new boiler.

It's ironic they don't want to pay but still expect a full service.

Legally speaking that doesn`t fly though?

grumiofoundation

Angela_D_3 said:

warwick2001 said:

So, GENUINE question. To the landlords that frequent this thread/website, how many months of 'unpaid rent' do you have set aside, in case every one of your property's tenants stop paying?

So far in this thread, 6 months up to a year appears to be the norm/advised. But if evictions aren't happening for approx. another year or so, do we all expect to see a mass of landlords essentially having to quit landlord-ing (if that's a verb....?) as they haven't received any rent for 18 months or so (due to job losses etc. cos of the pandemic). Like I said, genuine question. I'm not a landlord, so have no 'horses in the race', so to speak. Just interested in the thoughts here 

It wouod tske 6 months minimum before the banks would start proceedings,  therefore if you had 6 months mortgage payments set aside youd be fine.  In theory. 

However not paying is dimply not an option for my tenants.  If they've applied for universal credits snd are awaiting that fine,  if they are working and simply pocketing the cash they'd be out.  You cannot let people take the !!!!!! out of you in any business.  You only rent to people with more to lose than you by not paying,  be that credit record,  guarantors money,  roof over their head.  

You seem maybe to be under the impression that your boasting about how willingly you would break the law is impressive in some way? I'm sure your response will be that I am "soft" (soft = law-abiding apparently in your world) - reminds me of being in school and who was the 'hardest'.

I would suggest to anyone thinking of becoming a landlord that this poster is maybe not one to listen to since their back up if their 'business plan' fails seems to just be to break the law.

I can only hope you do one day you do try to illegally evict a tenant who is able to take the fight back to you using the legal system and both they and the police take you to the cleaners. In reality though bullies actually like you back down pretty sharpish whenever someone actually stands up to you, I am sure you would be nice as pie to any tenant who clearly knew their rights and made it clear they weren't going to let you bully them. Please do post if this happens though, or maybe we will see you on artfull's rogue landlord thread. One lives in hope anyway....

Crashy_Time

nicmyles said:

Aranyani said:

nicmyles said:

Aranyani said:

caprikid1 said:

I would like to understand how long most of the landlords with more than one property could remain solvent if all of their rent stopped for 6 months. I think there are some harsh / self righteous comments being aimed at the OP. I agree that renting a property whilst in a DMP was probably the wrong move but some of the unsubstantiated comments are IMHO unacceptable.

6-12 months without rent is exactly the kind of thing potential landlords should consider and plan for before they go into the business.  It’s not so out there or unusual. 

Yes, and most people's answer to that would involve looking at their normal income and feeling they could cover expenses that arose, or that if they lost income, they would be able to find other work within a reasonable period of time. Which is not an option as easily available to people during a pandemic. I believe the OP has said up-thread that he did have savings to cover these eventualities but they have been eroded.

Losing your income is another thing landlords should plan for.  In fact everybody should, it can happen at any time to anybody.  Planning for it is even more important when other people's homes depend on you.

I agree with you, but the pandemic is an exceptional circumstance that many people (and entire industries) have not - and could not - made adequate contingency plans for. What amount of income, in your view, should a landlord have in the bank to prepare for lost income? Three months? Six months? Seems reasonable to me, if unachievable for many, but depending on the impact of the pandemic on your industry, even this may have been inadequate.

They need at least enough money to fix boilers, that would be a minimum, and a year`s  worth of mortgage payments for each flat they "own".

YorkieDave

There have been some really helpful replies on here, thank you for those.

It's quite disappointing to find some of you berating me. I'm not sure what's to gain. If you feel better for it then that's great! I was just looking for practical advice. 

I'm not sure why I feel the need to justify my preparedness, or not, for this situation, but I'll give a bit more information. I have one property I rent out. It's gone swimmingly for 19 years, until this year. I have all the legal requirements in place, TDS and safety certificates and tenancy agreements etc. In 2019, I had enough to cover 12 months rent / bills on the rented house, plus enough set aside for a major repair like a boiler. 
Then both my wife and I were made redundant from separate industries within a short space of time.
We then both went self employed. That means we've had hardly any help during the pandemic.. 
Add to that my previous tenants did a runner at the end of 2019 owing rent and leaving the house like something out of extreme cleans with damage to doors, fittings, walls etc. That cost a lot of time and money to fix.

I've been very careful who I've chosen as tenants, so I think I've been unlucky.
Could I have been more prepared, sure. Will I get out of the property game, yes, as soon as I can!