As a landlord myself(basing my retirement income on it till my state pension kicks in) I hear of lots of bad experiences from others I know (landlords and tenants). The fact is, renting is a serious business, and should only be done if you are serious about it.
We have been doing it for about 12 years now with a number of properties and havnt had much trouble at all, but we do stick to our own formula, as even the letting agents can seem complacent about the condition of property for rent. I have listed some of the main issues worth considering from our experience........
Be prepared to spend before you can let your property, you will need insurance, a gas safety cert, an eicr(electrical installation condition reort), fire/smoke alarms and an energy performance cert. All those are the minimum requirement, and legislation is changing all the time.
Present your property for rental in a condition that you would be happy to live in yourself, you will find that your tenant will respect something that is well presented and clean, after all it is their home for a while.
As above, remember it is their home during the rental period, they are paying you, you are providing a service to them, and if they are happy, they will stay, and that will minimis
Made this thread to share experiences from landlords and tenants, maybe people can get help if required as well.
We are landlords, but it's only for the first small house that we bought as a couple when we got married. We grew out of it and managed to borrow money and get another house, so put this on rent. My wife dealt with it all but she had no experience and didn't really bother reading up on it (massive mistake) and she found a woman who wanted a long term rental. She was on benefits but we were just happy that a family would be living there.
The deposit was put into a savings account instead of being put into a scheme (stupid) and we didn't have any of the certificates either (stupider). Everything went fine for a year or so until her benefits changed and she said she couldn't afford to live there. She asked us to evict her so she could get a council house, on her request we gave her a section 21 but it was rejected due to the above, obviously.
She then had a benefits completely stopped. Later to find out she should have been claiming Universal Credit, so we lost over 2 months of rent. Due to this, we agreed to speak to UC and get the payments sent direct to us, but they are unable to pay her arrears as she has other out goings that are more important. She has a job but now refuses to answer texts or calls about the money she owes, doesn't want to make any formal arrangements to pay and just says she will if she can. She wants to move out but has put it all on us.
She then went out of her way and got a section 239 against us for disrepair (which i will be going to visit today with the inspector, even though i know and he knows there is just normal wear and tear) but didn't both telling me she had spoken to them.
She agreed with us that we would give her the deposit for the property back, and she would return this to go against her arrears but then just kept the money and spent it, without any discussion or contact. So now we have a tenant who doesn't want to communicate, has 2 months arrears and no deposit. I have got the gas cert done, planning to have electric and EPC done this week but due to Covid it will take at least 6 months to evict her.
I suppose you get all sorts of people and live and learn, we made some big mistakes and most likely we will lose money due to it, but lesson's learnt and we'll probably try and sell as it's not worth the hassle.
e periods between tenants.
There are loads of reasons to rent, short term employment in the area/between house purchases etc, renters are not the dregs of society, they are people wanting to rent.
Always use an agent to find and vet/check prospective tenants and draw up tenancy agreements, sticking an add in the local newsagent window is a massive risk, even if you think it may save money. It will more likely cost you in the end.Also a tenant willing to go to a letting agent to find a property is genuine too.
When you have a tenant, welcome them by leaving a bottle of wine and a card with a nice message, they will instantly think you are ok even though they probably havnt met you yet. Ensure that they know to organise the utilities etc in their name from the correct date and any other things like contact details in case of emergencies etc.
Remember, when you receive the deposit, you must forward it to the dps(deposit protection service) they will hold the deposit and act as arbitration in any disagreements concerning it. This doesnt cost anything and neither you, or the tenant can access the deposit without both agreeing.
Have a team of tradesmen you can call on for emergencies if you are managing the property yourself, and make sure to fix any issues asap, dont ignore them. Remember its easier to carry out repairs etc between tenants than wait till a property is rented.
By following this criteria we had a run of 216 consecutive months of rent spread between our properties until a change over in one last october. Like most things in life, what you put in reflects what you get out.
There are loads of websites that can give you all the official requirements etc, but I hope the above gives you some insight from a fellow bluemooner who is genuinly active in the subject.
I hope you can sort your issues soon and maybe wipe the slate clean and start again, because if done right, everybody involved can be happy.
