We own a flat that used to be my flat (so we are semi-accidental landlords - we probably could have sold this flat). I bought it as a flat for me to share with a lodger and potentially (though I hadn't met DH at the time) as a family flat. As it turned out, we moved away when we got married and we now live in the NW with our two young DC.
The flat is in a fairly family friendly area of East London (some older housing, some council/ex-council properties) and is a converted 2 floor maisonette with a garden. 3 beds though one is small, open plan living/dining/kitchen with a lot of space.
In my book it's ideal for a family and if we still lived there we'd probably still be in the flat.
But when we rent we really struggle to get families to even look at it. We end up with a revolving door of frankly clueless tenants who, for example, never change light bulbs and then insist we call out an electrician because the lights aren't working.
I would far rather rent to a family who'd be there long term, but I have no idea what's putting them off. The estate agents say it may well not be price, or not just price. We have told the EAs that we'd be happy to be more flexible on price for a family/couple/just two adults (we have also had problems with three tenants each moving in a partner and that's less likely to happen even with two sharers).
If it's something we can't fix (area, access to the garden which I admit is via metal steps, though only half a flight as it's raised ground, layout, property type if too large for a couple?) then I will admit defeat.
But if it's presentation or security or something we CAN fix then it might be worth trying that next time. We've just had a new set of tenants in and yet again chasing around after deposits and forwarding addresses for the last lot and pointing out they MUST use standing order to pay the rent and references.
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What do a family look for in a rental flat?
66 replies
drspouse · 22/11/2016 09:47
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