or is this landlord going a bit OTT?

[CosmicMouse]

I found a new rental place last Tuesday evening. Put our holding deposit of £200 down straight away, and paid £50 for referencing. Sorted.

Was expecting to receive the referencing forms straight away, and was hoping to get all that done by the end of last week so we could hand in our notice on our current place.

Nothing had come through by Thursday so I called the Agent to ask what the hold up was. She was basically waiting for the LL to decide whether or not he wanted to take out his own Rental Insurance (to cover him if we don't pay). This affects which type of referencing the Agents do. LL wanted to know a bit more about us so he could decide - basically what job DH has, confirmation of his salary, how long we've been renting for, how old DD is. All of which I told the Agent when we when to view the house in the first place, and none of which she wrote down. Anyway, I could live with that and duly answered the questions over the phone. Since then it's transpired that the LL actually lives in New Zealand of all places, so all correspondence takes place via email and takes 24hrs at a time because the time difference.

Fast forward to today (Monday), and the LL is still asking random questions about myself and DH!! Agent phoned today to ask if DH is planning on taking Paternity leave, as the LL has seen an job advert for 6 months paternity cover in vaguely the same department in which DH works in a massive retail corp

Agent has said today that the LL has had nightmare tenants in most recently, and is trying to cover his back. But even she's admitted he's going a bit OTT.

We're not going to give notice on our place until the referencing is done, particularly with this LL being as fussy as he is. We're now already into another rental period on our place, so it's going to mean hoping and praying that our current LL will accept our 4 weeks notice in the middle of the month...not ideal. We need to have moved by the beginning of March as DD2 is due in April. It's been nearly a week and we haven't even seen sight of the referencing forms yet, because the Agents don't know which to give us yet!

Can any LL's help me see his side of this? Because it's worrying me a little as to how neurotic he's being and how long this is all taking?!

It's a lovely lovely house, exactly what we want in every way. I'm just scared that he's going to find a reason not to rent to us :(

Well, speaking as a LL I admit he is going a bit OTT BUT.....I have had nightmare tenants in the past too and so as agency says he is just trying to make sure that this time you are ok tenants.

As long as your previous rental references are good than I am sure he will rent to you, he is just double checking...and double checking!

Are you sure you actually want to rent from a landlord like this? Also, maybe you should check how financially solvent this landlord is?

I don't even know if the agents do previous rental referencing They haven't mentioned it, only employers reference for DH! Can't say we had it last time we moved either TBH. Won't be a problem obviously, aside from the fact we've not given notice yet! LOL!

Maybe that's why he's being a bit neurotic?

He knows we've rented our current house for the last 6 years though, so surely that shows we're not dodgy!!?

BobMarley - The trouble with going through an Agent is that there's no way we can check! The house is fully managed by the Agents, so we'll be dealing with them mainly...but obviously he has the say as to who lives in his house.

Going totally private leaves us more open to problems IMO.

They should do standard checks, credit checks, get references etc etc - hence why it sometimes takes a while to secure a rental property.

He isnt neurotic, he has just had shitty tenants and is covering his back, nothing wrong in that.....dont forget from a LL's point of view, if you have nightmare tenants it can be a real problem getting them out of your own property if need be, it's nothing to do with how financially solvent the LL is! I am financially fine and dandy but it is still a royal pita if my tenants dont pay their rent as I still have a mortgage to pay!

and yes cosmic always go through an agency- it's just not worth doing it privately, would bite you on the arse!

Thanks Betty - I am struggling to see it from his perspective I think. Because I know we're good for the rent, and will be long term, reliable tenants. But I know he doesn't know that!

I think it's grating on me how long it's taking, mainly because when I viewed, the Agent was wanting to know how soon we could move in and made it seem like they wanted people in ASAP. Which was perfect for us. But now we're all psyched up and ready to move, it's frustrating that a weeks gone by and precisely nothing has happened.

I need to remind myself that the fact he's in NZ is making everything take longer. If he was local, I would be a more than happy to meet with him prior to signing contracts! But obviously that's not possible.

I don't feel able to give notice, or start packing and planning, or start talking to DD about it until we know we're definitely in. And it's driving me bonkers, because I want to do all this last week!

Being 6mo pregnant is not helping the patience either.

I am a landlord and I think he is being incredibly intrusive, checking the local papers and questioning if your DP is going to take paternity leave is none of his business, he might like to know, to be sure his rent will be paid but he has no business asking you

How you manage yours affairs is your business and credit checks should give him all he needs o know, IMO he sounds like an arse and if it was me I would be looking for somewhere else...but that's just me!

Have the agents got any other properties you might find suitable? It might be an idea to ask them if they will roll over your already-done reference check to a new tenancy. After all, they want their fee for signing you up: if this landlord is messing you about, he is messing them about, too. Your interests are aligned in this: they should be more on your side than agents generally are at the start of a tenancy!

That's the trouble, there is really nothing else around at the moment. This was the 3rd and final property which was up for rental in the area we want (where we are currently) with the things we want. This was by far the nicest of the three, and I really do want this house.

If this falls through, we're going to push it to find somewhere else, get referenced, move in and get settled before the end of March :(

I would keep looking. He sounds more than a little neurotic, far from ideal in a landlord. What if your roof needs to be fixed, or your boiler replaced? Imagine how long it would take for him to sign off on that. On the plus side, being in New Zealand he is unlikely to keep intruding on your lives in person.

Could you wait till after the baby is born before moving?

As someone with a landlord in Hong Kong I would advise you to keep looking and find another property and don't worry about moving before you give birth.

It just took 3 months to get our bathtub taps fixed due to communication errors, time lag and all sorts of stuff. Our landlord has only authorized repairs through the agent up to a certain amount and the whole mixer tap needed replacing which was above that threshold. It has been a long drawn out saga to get it replaced due to the landlord's location.

If you really want it, pick up the phone and call him - or get him to call you as you can't get the phone number from the agency and just talk it through. Make it clear that there's a deadline for you now (even if you suggested there wasn't before)

Thanks for the alternative views.

We're meeting with the agent tomorrow afternoon at the house (as DH hasn't actually seen the place yet!!). So I'm hoping we can try and get some definitive answers. Hoping DH's presence will help. It's a female letting agent, but I can help but think she may act differently if it's DH asking the questions.