1st time Landlord advice please!!

Bungarm2001

If the boyfriend is employed, ask for references from work and follow these up. Ask for references from previous LL's too for the both of them, particularly from the one before last if they have lived for less than 3 years anywhere in the recent past. Ask for a copy of their last council tax demand(s) as extra proof of previous address. (I'm still not comfortable with the girl's reaction to a credit check)

You don't say how old the prospective tenants are...if they are under 21 I would ask for guarantors as well as all the other references.

...have you informed any lender you may have on the property that you are letting it out? You should have them mentioned on your LL insurance.

Take on board everything Clutton has told you, and more. Be aware of your duties as LL's and be aware of all your rights and above all, all the tenants rights.

One other bit of advice I can give you, don't get overly friendly with your tenants. ALWAYS treat this as a business transaction, nothing more nothing less. Good luck

Cheddar_2

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

If the boyfriend is employed, ask for references from work and follow these up. Ask for references from previous LL's too for the both of them, particularly from the one before last if they have lived for less than 3 years anywhere in the recent past. Ask for a copy of their last council tax demand(s) as extra proof of previous address. (I'm still not comfortable with the girl's reaction to a credit check)

We're running the credit check via TenantVERFIFY, so they include:

• Verification of current employment details to include position, length of employment, whether employed on a full-time and permanent or temporary or fixed term contract basis, and annual salary.
• References, if applicable, from current/previous Managing Agent or Landlord to include length of tenancy, amount and promptness of rental payments, details of any dilapidation's, and whether tenancy was conducted in a satisfactory manner.

Will that suffice? I wasn't actually intending on contacting his employer as I presumed this would be okay.

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

You don't say how old the prospective tenants are...if they are under 21 I would ask for guarantors as well as all the other references.

She is about 36 and he is about 26.

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

...have you informed any lender you may have on the property that you are letting it out? You should have them mentioned on your LL insurance.

We haven't informed them as yet. See my separate thread where I ask about this: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=978113

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

Take on board everything Clutton has told you, and more. Be aware of your duties as LL's and be aware of all your rights and above all, all the tenants rights.

One other bit of advice I can give you, don't get overly friendly with your tenants. ALWAYS treat this as a business transaction, nothing more nothing less. Good luck

Thanks for the advice m8 - MUCH appreciated

clutton_2

get them to fill in the tenancy application form from www.landlordzone.co.uk and dont let them leave any blanks - as long as they have signed the last page you can ring up employers etc - and fax them the back page (Data protection disclaimer) and talk about your prospective tenants - make sure they complete the form in full

i would want 6 months bank statements from a non-worker/non-benefit person

i use an agency to do the credit check - cos i cant legally do that - and i do all the other checks myself - as long as you have the signed DP disclaimer its quite legal - folks will often say stuff they wont write

moneysavinmonkey

Cheddar wrote: »

We haven't informed them as yet. See my separate thread where I ask about this: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=978113

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

whatwotwhat!! You haven't got permission from your lender to let... surely you need to do that before you get all these tenant checks and take deposits? etc.

please tell me you are planning to do this ASAP, as I had you down as one of the nice landlords and now i'm thinking maybe your a bit of a !!!!.

Cheddar_2

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

whatwotwhat!! You haven't got permission from your lender to let... surely you need to do that before you get all these tenant checks and take deposits? etc.

please tell me you are planning to do this ASAP, as I had you down as one of the nice landlords and now i'm thinking maybe your a bit of a !!!!.

I am trying to source information on how this works before going head long into calling our lender with all our details. I have contacted our financial advisor for more information, but he is away until this evening, so hopefully I can get his advise then.

Trying to get information from our lender without giving them our mortgage details is proving difficult. They won't tell us what the conditions of approval are. Our monthly mortgage payment comes in at about £90 more than the money we'll be bringing in, so we will be making up the difference ourselves. But if they will refuse our application as a direct result of this fact, I'd rather not call them at this stage until we pay a lump sum off the mortgage (which we will be doing soon)... I think to get refused the change and then to go ahead and let out anyway is far worse than keeping quiet for a few months.

Rest assured that if somebody can pretty much guarantee that it's purely a paperwork exercise and us paying a fee, we will go ahead with notifying them immediately

As Clutton mentions on the other thread I posted about this, we certainly wouldn't be the first to let out on a residential mortgage without the lender's knowledge.

Nevertheless, we DO want to make sure we go about everything 100% the right way - we DO want to be excellent landlords. As Clutton suggested, it's a steep learrning curve, but we're prepared to learn from other people

Claire

moneysavinmonkey

It's good that you are getting advice from your FA etc on how to best make your application. You could also post a few more details .eg. lender's name on the mortgages board and someone may have experience and can advise you.
But ultimately you need to get this sorted out before you sign any agreement with your prospective tenants. I'm glad you want to do everything 100% right

I think to get refused the change and then to go ahead and let out anyway is far worse than keeping quiet for a few months.

Perhaps for you but from a tenants point of view it makes no difference - if you don't have permission to let by denial or omission then they don't have a valid AST!

And what happens if you keep quiet for a few months and still get refused permission?

Bungarm2001

As far as I am aware, you won't get LL insurance if you do not get your lenders' permission.

I have never had a lender refuse permission, but I have only done this once or twice, and in todays dodgy financial climate I would have thought they won't put up any objections. BUT you never know.

The insurance thing is crucial in my book. You should be required by the terms of your AST contract to "Keep the property insured against fire and other usual comprehensive risks"

You really do need to get the lenders support as a matter of urgency before you go much further with this. Really, it should have been the first thing you did at the planning stage.

To be honest, I can't really understand your reasons for delay...letting a lender know your intentions is by far the least scary bit of all the things you have to do as a responsible and honest LL. Give them a call today....

clutton_2

give the girl a break !! she's coming on here for help and there are only so many hours in a day !!

Cheddar_2

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

As far as I am aware, you won't get LL insurance if you do not get your lenders' permission.

I have never had a lender refuse permission, but I have only done this once or twice, and in todays dodgy financial climate I would have thought they won't put up any objections. BUT you never know.

The insurance thing is crucial in my book. You should be required by the terms of your AST contract to "Keep the property insured against fire and other usual comprehensive risks"

You really do need to get the lenders support as a matter of urgency before you go much further with this. Really, it should have been the first thing you did at the planning stage.

To be honest, I can't really understand your reasons for delay...letting a lender know your intentions is by far the least scary bit of all the things you have to do as a responsible and honest LL. Give them a call today....

I'll call them as soon as I hear back from my financial advisor :rolleyes:

The guy only has his most recent payslip (he shreds them), so I figured that will be okay as long as I write to his employer for time in employment, confirmation of income, etc. I'm using this form (as per Clutton's suggestion), which will provide me with all the information I should need: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/pdf/application.pdf

clutton_2

when he has signed the tenancy application form - phone his employer and explain you want employers references and will they agree to talk to you if you fax his signature on a DP Disclaimer - most employers will do this - ask them for the info that he has given you on the application so that you can verify it all. take copies of their passport or driving license.

i charge tenants £50 for credit checks/referencing/AST - which i dont think is bad.

i find it odd that someone only has one pay slip ......