Landlords: any tips?
Discussion
Buy something you would be happy to live in yourself. That way you will be able to rent to a decent tenant. I own 4 BTL's and would be happy living in any of them. 3 are in a 2 mile radius of my own home.
Its very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
Its very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
Lots of things to consider do you manage it or a letting agent? Will you meet the tenants? Furnished or unfurnished etc...
Personally I want to look them on the eye I want long term tenants who will call the place their home and look after it. A young family is ideal the kids make friends go to local school and they stay for years.
Personally I want to look them on the eye I want long term tenants who will call the place their home and look after it. A young family is ideal the kids make friends go to local school and they stay for years.
I was worried about my furnishings as they were high spec stuff like hand made silk curtains as I lived there previously. But it comes back to renting to the right tenant because he's taken care of everything very well to date.
In your case I wouldn't buy furniture - yet. Advertise as can be furnished or unfurnished and then simply acquire the furniture if the tenant requires. This gives you a wider pool of potential occupants.
In your case I wouldn't buy furniture - yet. Advertise as can be furnished or unfurnished and then simply acquire the furniture if the tenant requires. This gives you a wider pool of potential occupants.
Edited by DoubleSix on Saturday 17th May 10:57
StangGT said:
This is echoing my thought process... I want to rent a nice place to nice people. Any views on furnished v unfurnished? As it happens, I can get furniture very easily so I was leaning towards furnished but interested in the pitfalls...
I let mine part furnished which includes wardrobes sofa coffee table few other bits and bobs not a great deal really but it helps. Tenants will want their own bed unless they are dirty students but that's a whole heap of problems I'm never doing that again. You will no doubt get a bad tenant at some point so you have to be on the ball when it comes to the legal side of things so that an already stressful eviction process isn't made worse. I would strongly recommend reading through a vast chunk of the landlordzone forums as there is a lot of information on there that will help you, and perhaps joining an association like the RLA or NLA if you plan on having a few properties.
Also don't get emotionally attached to a property as you might find it wrecked one day and its gut wrenching.
They are probably the biggest lessons I have learnt since starting out as a landlord.
Also don't get emotionally attached to a property as you might find it wrecked one day and its gut wrenching.
They are probably the biggest lessons I have learnt since starting out as a landlord.
98elise said:
Buy something you would be happy to live in yourself. That way you will be able to rent to a decent tenant. I own 4 BTL's and would be happy living in any of them. 3 are in a 2 mile radius of my own home.
Its very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
All of thisIts very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
I have one BTL about 400 yards from my current abode and I did live in it before we started letting it out
I am also buying another one about half a mile in the other direction
One other piece of advice - don't bother with a deposit. The schemes for handling them are not as user friendly as they might be but the downside of getting the hugely complex procedure wrong is potentially catastrophic. ANY error and the tenant gets 100% of the deposit back and at least as much again as a penalty. At worst the penalty can be THREE TIMES the amount of the deposit. So if you could take £1k and have to hand £4k back
I am a lawyer and even I can't be certain what is required to comply with the rules so I no longer take a deposit. I will deal with any problems as they arise.
Final advice - get an accountant to help with the tax. A good one will always save you more than it costs
Billsnemesis said:
98elise said:
Buy something you would be happy to live in yourself. That way you will be able to rent to a decent tenant. I own 4 BTL's and would be happy living in any of them. 3 are in a 2 mile radius of my own home.
Its very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
All of thisIts very difficult to get a non paying tenant out of a house, and it can get ugly and expensive if you do. There is very little comeback on a tenant if they also decide to trash the place. For this reason when I have a good tenant, I start the rent at market rate I don't raise it for quite a few years (effectively giving them a discount for a long term tenancy).
Above all treat it like a business, be polite and friendly to your tenants but do not be their mate. Do not let rent slip as the first time you do then it will become normal every time money is tight.
I have one BTL about 400 yards from my current abode and I did live in it before we started letting it out
I am also buying another one about half a mile in the other direction
One other piece of advice - don't bother with a deposit. The schemes for handling them are not as user friendly as they might be but the downside of getting the hugely complex procedure wrong is potentially catastrophic. ANY error and the tenant gets 100% of the deposit back and at least as much again as a penalty. At worst the penalty can be THREE TIMES the amount of the deposit. So if you could take £1k and have to hand £4k back
I am a lawyer and even I can't be certain what is required to comply with the rules so I no longer take a deposit. I will deal with any problems as they arise.
Final advice - get an accountant to help with the tax. A good one will always save you more than it costs
Surely the deposit is at least something to make them think twice about how they treat the place?
Having had a 'bad' tenant at least I had £800 back from the DPS to get things moving - I tried a MoneyClaim on the rest but got nowhere which is I reckon is where you might start off. Yes - the DPS were slow but with a proper inventory all signed off the claim went through in full.
If they don't have to scrape together the deposit I don't think you'll get better tenants.
Having had a 'bad' tenant at least I had £800 back from the DPS to get things moving - I tried a MoneyClaim on the rest but got nowhere which is I reckon is where you might start off. Yes - the DPS were slow but with a proper inventory all signed off the claim went through in full.
If they don't have to scrape together the deposit I don't think you'll get better tenants.
Willhire89 said:
Surely the deposit is at least something to make them think twice about how they treat the place?
Having had a 'bad' tenant at least I had £800 back from the DPS to get things moving - I tried a MoneyClaim on the rest but got nowhere which is I reckon is where you might start off. Yes - the DPS were slow but with a proper inventory all signed off the claim went through in full.
If they don't have to scrape together the deposit I don't think you'll get better tenants.
prior to the deposit schemes most people wrote their deposit off as 'key money' as it seemed a lot of LLs used it as such , the protection schemes has seen the key money move to grossly inflated application and credit checking charges ... Having had a 'bad' tenant at least I had £800 back from the DPS to get things moving - I tried a MoneyClaim on the rest but got nowhere which is I reckon is where you might start off. Yes - the DPS were slow but with a proper inventory all signed off the claim went through in full.
If they don't have to scrape together the deposit I don't think you'll get better tenants.
interestingly deposits are also a significant block to getting tenants in the first place - perhaps there is an insurance opportunity here for an insurance product to replace the deposit
If you're going to self manage, then you need a "Kenny". I've got a "Kenny" and I can call him and ask hom to do anything from paint a flat to fix a leaky tap. You don't want to be paying AAAAAAAA Plumbing 80 quid to replace a split shower hose.
Also, fit easily accessible stop valves to all your taps, sinks, showers and baths. A bathroom sink tap will never start spraying water out all over the place at 10am on a Tuesday - they only ever do this at 10pm on a Saturday. Good thing is, if you have stop valves (and you've told them where they are / how to use them), they can isolate the sink and brush their teeth in the kitchen. You can get your Kenny round Monday morning to sort it, but at least the tenant has had water everywhere else.
Worth thinking about the deposit. The current trick with some tenants is to not bother paying the last months rent when they're moving out & just use the deposit to cover it. Makes me wonder sometimes if keeping a deposit is actually worth the hassle. I've had Council bonds before now & they work quite well.
Also, fit easily accessible stop valves to all your taps, sinks, showers and baths. A bathroom sink tap will never start spraying water out all over the place at 10am on a Tuesday - they only ever do this at 10pm on a Saturday. Good thing is, if you have stop valves (and you've told them where they are / how to use them), they can isolate the sink and brush their teeth in the kitchen. You can get your Kenny round Monday morning to sort it, but at least the tenant has had water everywhere else.
Worth thinking about the deposit. The current trick with some tenants is to not bother paying the last months rent when they're moving out & just use the deposit to cover it. Makes me wonder sometimes if keeping a deposit is actually worth the hassle. I've had Council bonds before now & they work quite well.
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