Small-scale private landlord

[smallscaleprivatelandlord]

5 houses that I rent out.
Doing this thread because I've found several questions to answer on other threads and people seemed to find the answers helpful, from tenants to people wanting to do it themselves. I am in the North, I feel that's relevant.

Do you have them on BTL mortgages? If so, did you consider other investments? What led you to choose to invest in property?

Are you running them as a business? I’m considering renting my house out but would want to do it as a business but don’t know how to structure it?

Yes I do.
I'd never considered other investments more than a fleeting look. I didn't feel I could fully trust any of them.

My parents are landlords (many more houses than I have) but I'd never seriously thought about it. I was quite immature really and hadn't thought about the future.
I had a friend who had a lot of money just sitting and my parents encouraged me and him to buy a property together, draw up an agreement due to him investing his money and me not, that I would do all of the work. I paid him the equivalent of his investment once I had some money, then we bought another and another, and I bought on my own.

Have you had any bad tenants and how difficult were they to deal with

I think of it as a small business but I am not a limited company. If I were you, I would speak to a decent broker (go on trusted recommendations) about how to structure it, as it can depend a lot on your circumstances, finances and other commitments. Money well spent.

Only one. It saddened me, as I gave someone a chance who I had a bad feeling about. She was from a rough estate, young with a baby, and pregnant (funnily enough she hadn't told me about the pregnancy but instinct told me, and I was right). I have a habit of feeling sorry for people, and I felt it would be nice to give someone from that background a 'leg up'. Nice house in lovely area, new start.

Unfortunately she was constantly complaining about every little thing, neighbours were suffering because of her habit of starting fires that she couldn't control, mess, bins overflowing, nappies in front garden etc. She would be combative about letting people in to do mandatory work, and eventually stopped paying her rent. It took me almost 6 months to get her out and she cost me roughly £12K in damages to the house. I think the only reason I got her out is she wasn't actually living there, she'd moved back to her mum's but refused to communicate and refused to give me the keys back. I went to court and she didn't turn up.

The reason it saddened me is that I am sure there are plenty of young women who would have kept that house nice, who may have a questionable background, but I would never give them a chance now.