Accept a tenant based on gut feeling?

theartfullodger

Loza2016 said:

My previous Job was managing rental properties and from my experience I would never rent to someone who needs a guarantor. Majority are happy to sign and promise to pay if tenant can’t but when it comes down to it they don’t. I can count on one hand the amount of guarantors who actually paid. Most would just ignore communication completely. 

Did you - assuming  you could - (or landlord) always take guarantor to court if they didn't pay?

Best wishes to all?

ThisIsWeird

foxreymann said:

I have found a tenant who looks great for me and I feel very good vibes from her. Details are:

- Divorced mum with 3 teenage boys

- Kids spend 50% of time with their dad

- Sources of income:

  - Benefits will covert part of the rent.

  - Works as a waitress in a restaurant. With my girlfriend actually.

  - Ex-husband with £80k salary as a guarantor.

Pros are:

- Willing  to pay good rent (£1950pcm) and holding deposit instantly.

- I don't have to look for a tenant anymore. I'm overworked and need a rest. I have hired an estate agent but he is not doing a good job.

Cons are:

- She seems extremely desperate. Nobody wants to rent her a place.

- How can a mother with 3 kids live in a one bed house. This is surely an overcrowding issue.

- I've called another agent I know. He has told me that this financial situation is looking good but for him it is a no as I can find better tenants.

So to sum up. My gut tells me it is a yes, I can trust her. Everyone else is againts it. Any advise? What would you do in this situation?

Also what happens if she doesn't pay the rent. Are kids a big problem here?

A dilemma, indeed.

Fox, what alternatives are available to her in the same-ish area (I presume she wants that area for schools and her job)? I'm guessing, no real alternative as she'd normally be looking at a min 3-bed? And single with three teenage boys?! No wonder she comes across as desperate - she must be

Tbh, you are not acting on 'gut', well, not alone anyway. You are making a reasoned judgement based on the info you are given. And, because you are clearly an empathetic person, part of you wants to do this; you could presumably rent that lovely place out to a single tenant if you wanted to?!

A dilemma.

Her ex has a solid income, and is guarantor. That ticks the biggest box. Your GF knows her to some extent, and presumably has good vibes too? 

My main concern - like yours - is how on earth can three teenage boys live in a one-bed flat with a single living space - which doubles as one of the bedrooms? I would suggest that this is the Q to get some reassurance on. Is it actually 'permitted'?! I have no idea. Will they survive? Ditto. They are 'only' there 50% of the time, but it's still 4 folk in a one-bed house.

You cannot prejudge based on them being 'boys' and 'teenagers' - many such families are astonishingly impressive, and the kids very mature.

If you can get answers to the main issue - would it be 'legal'(!), how on earth could they cope, and your GF's impression of this lady, ideally seeing them with her kids, then I would suggest that you could have a mutually-superb LL/tenant situation, and it would make you feel good to boot.

(I can only vaguely compare it with a friend's rental near here; single mum, her mum as guarantor, and - I think - now with 2 kids and a baby from a failed marriage and subsequent relationships! Ok - it's a 3-bed (well, 2.5) house, so a mega-difference to yours, but my friend rents it out privately a nice bit below market value, and this woman has transformed the house, making it far more than the blank canvas it was before, and has not been an iota's trouble; she knows she has a good thing going as well. An utterly perfect win-win.)

But, 3 teenagers in a one-bed?! You'd need to meet her and her kids, and have a chat about how they can manage, and if it would even be permitted. You may be mightily impressed by them all, in which they deserve a break.

What's the worst that could happen? :-)

KxMx

I live in a one bed flat below a neighbour who is the NRP of three kids (14 & up) and is also in a one bed.
2 even spend regular stretches of time living there. 
It can and is done I assure you! 

housebuyer143

KxMx said:

I live in a one bed flat below a neighbour who is the NRP of three kids (14 & up) and is also in a one bed.
2 even spend regular stretches of time living there. 
It can and is done I assure you! 

Of course it can be done, but should it? The property is going to have huge condensation issues in the winter most likely just because of the sheer number of people showering and breathing.

Jemma01

My gut feeling says no 😅

I get you're exhausted and overworked, and I hope it gets better. Remind yourself that a bad tenant will turn your situation 5x worse.

Let your agent do his work.

zagubov

I've lived in London for 40 years in a varitey of accommodation.
It seemed to me the general rule was you found shared property via friends of friends pretty much all the time and that would go by gut feeling.
But finding a property for yourself /renting out a property you don't live in always involved going via lettings agents and taking their advice.

Murphybear

Loza2016 said:

My previous Job was managing rental properties and from my experience I would never rent to someone who needs a guarantor. Majority are happy to sign and promise to pay if tenant can’t but when it comes down to it they don’t. I can count on one hand the amount of guarantors who actually paid. Most would just ignore communication completely. 

I have to agree with you.  When I was studying for my ARLA advanced exam we were told “a guarantee is not worth the paper it’s written on”.  

_Penny_Dreadful

foxreymann said:

Please advise. I'm not an experienced landlord. 

I have to close this airbnb https://airbnb.com/h/central-london-house and convert it to AST from August. It is Bermondsey, London.

I have found a tenant who looks great for me and I feel very good vibes from her. Details are:

- Divorced mum with 3 teenage boys

- Kids spend 50% of time with their dad

- Sources of income:

  - Benefits will covert part of the rent.

  - Works as a waitress in a restaurant. With my girlfriend actually.

  - Ex-husband with £80k salary as a guarantor.

Pros are:

- Willing  to pay good rent (£1950pcm) and holding deposit instantly.

- I don't have to look for a tenant anymore. I'm overworked and need a rest. I have hired an estate agent but he is not doing a good job.

Cons are:

- She seems extremely desperate. Nobody wants to rent her a place.

- How can a mother with 3 kids live in a one bed house. This is surely an overcrowding issue.

- I've called another agent I know. He has told me that this financial situation is looking good but for him it is a no as I can find better tenants.

So to sum up. My gut tells me it is a yes, I can trust her. Everyone else is againts it. Any advise? What would you do in this situation?

Also what happens if she doesn't pay the rent. Are kids a big problem here?

Overcrowding is one potential issue and statutory overcrowding is a criminal offence. 

What counts as a bedroom?  A room that can be used as bedroom is defined in ss.325(2)(b) and 326(2)(b) Housing Act 1985 as a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it is of a type normally used in the locality either as a living room or as a bedroom.  I don't know your property but I'm guessing there is one bedroom and one living room so for the purposes of the space standard there are two bedrooms.  There will be 4 people over the age of 10 living in the property so they each count as a whole person, the mother cannot (under the overcrowding rules) share a bedroom with one of her teenage sons and more than two people (of the same sex) can only share a room if the room is larger than 10.22 square meters, that's 110 square feet in old money.  You know your property so will you fall foul of statutory overcrowding?

Moving on to the subjects of rent and non-payment.  Guarantees are notoriously difficult to enforce.  You must ensure that the guarantor has had sight of the tenancy agreement before becoming a guarantor and the guarantee must be executed as a deed.  Any material change to the tenancy agreement e.g. a rent increase renders the guarantee over.  If you do decide to go with this tenant then a joint tenancy with the ex might be an idea.

I don't know how much of her income is benefits but one thing to keep in mind is that once her teenage sons start to age out that will reduce her benefit entitlement and therefore her income.  Sometimes this is okay if the adult offspring starts contributing towards the household or decides to move out thus reducing household bills a bit.

My advice, if you are overworked and need a rest, is to either sack the current letting agent and find a good one to manage the let for you or to sell.  

[Deleted User]

Personally, I would not accept her in my rental because I have had a bad experience which caused me a lot of stress. I signed a 12 months AST with a tenant council introduced similar to the criteria you have listed. It took me 6.5 months through section 21 to get my property back.

My tenant had 3 grown up children youngest was 17 at the start of tenancy, part Universal credit payment and worked as a midwife. In the end the property was not affordable to her. What I would have done differently perhaps adding the adut children on the tenancy but would not be doing such again.

There is a lot of demand for rental property.

Affordability is a major criterion for me, realistically is the property affordable to her because I require income of x24 preferably x30 of monthly rent.

My ex-tenant was on UC and the stress of not knowing how much she will get each month and mine did not communicate with me as I would like her benefit was paid after rent due date and first payment was over £1000 subsequently dropped to around £400 as she was working more hours and each month had to send a reminder that rent is due.

Your property is 2 bedroom they will need a 4 bedroom or minimum 3 bedroom.

I list my property on Openrent and have found 4 quality tenants but does take patience and filtering. I have a finance director, 2 builder and doctor. I have not had to send 1 reminder for rent payment.

The guarantor been her ex what happens if they fall out and not in good terms, just too risky for me.

Do it yourself or find a more competent estate agent.

Check Rightmove to see what others are charging etc

I am very careful who I let to as eviction is not straightforward and people are not always who they seem to be.

thegreenone

She needs at least a two bed with the boys sharing the big bedroom and Mum having the smaller one.