1st time Landlord advice please!!

mlz1413

clutton wrote: »

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do not buy an AST from Smiths - there is a thread on here showing it has important errors in it

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Hi Clutton can you post a link to the thread you refer to here? This is news to me and I would like to read up on the problems refered to.

Thanks
MLZ

moneysavinmonkey

Cheddar wrote: »

there didn't appear to be a great deal in her bank account statement (which I took a copy of). A guarantor is definitely needed, methinks, especially as her boyfriend only earns £17k.

Ting ting ting.. my alarm bells are ringing.

Something does not seem right here. From the limited information you have given these tenants seem like bad news.

these potential tenants Mr A + Miss B ...
1) intially tried to avoid doing tenant/credit checks
2) A is relatively low paid (not that bad, but below national average)
3) A only has one pay slip
4) B is not working at all
5) B Claims has divorce settlement/savings large enough to live on
6) B provides no evidence of divorce settlement
7) A moving out of previous rental after only 8 months

oh and sorry to keep banging on about it because I really do feel for the OP and they are doing everything else very professionally... but they still haven't got the permission to let - so isn't it a bit bad faith to take money and copies of bank statements etc from the tenants at this stage?

clutton_2

spot on msm - i'd say no also - the whole point of "checks" is to check and not to "confirm your hope"

move on and

get a working couple ..........

re Smiths AST - if i recall it was to do with an inaccurate Section 21 notice

i never advise anyone to get an AST from anywhere other than a landlords association or a solicitor who specialists in property such as Tessa Law - you will never know how good your agreement is until you are in court - then it will be crucial

gavinmulli

sorry if i have repeated some points already raised but i did not read all the posts...

1. you need a deposit protection scheme, you could be fined if the tenant reported you.
2. you might need permission from your lender to rent the property if it is on a residential mortgage.
3. you will need to have buildings insurance for a property that is let out (only buildings, tenants should get contents)
4. You can get AST's (Assured ShortHold Tenancy's) from the Clickdocs.co.uk, just pay and download)
5. References i found are not workth the paper they are written on, so to protect yourself you should be taking 6 weeks deposit and a letter from the employer of one of the people.
6. You might want to source some tradesmen like a plumber and electrican, word of mouth is usually best and better to have some names now rather than trying to look when there is a problem.


thats it really, cant think of anything else

good luck
gavin