Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

renting flat to 17 year old couple

149 replies

skiingcat · 02/03/2014 10:56

This is probably not in the right place but this is my first ever post..
My dh has a flat which he rents and we were showing people round yesterday and this couple were really keen however they are both only 17. They both work and have been to the council and got paperwork to confirm they can afford it. My husband agreed they could have it subject to the solicitor doing references. He agreed before I could jump in and say we would discuss it as we still had others to see. She seemed lovely but I didn't like the look of him but I am probably quite judgemental. I did some sock media searching when we got home and it seems like he has cheated on her in the past and she is barred from the pub he works in cause she doesn't get on with his family. Maybe I'm just worrying but I do not want trouble as getting tenants out seems like a nightmare and the law is more on their side than the landlords. Also he asked what our jobs were and when he said he was like oh you must have a fair amount of money coming in...

OP posts:
FabBakerGirl · 02/03/2014 17:49

If they were 25 or 30 and everything else you feel was the same would you want to rent to them?

LimitedEditionLady · 02/03/2014 17:58

Does the equalities act apply when you are renting your own property out?Surely it is your right to choose who you wish to reside in your property?

Joysmum · 02/03/2014 17:58

I'm a LL and my advice is that even if this is contractually a goer and they have a guarantor etc, if you aren't entirely convinced by your gut feelings, wait for the right people to come along.

I used to pay estate agents a finders fee and let them set up tenancies. I'd be very tetchy when I first met the tenants despite them have gone through the usual checks ok. Lo and behold, either trouble or the tenancy only went for the initial 6 months.

Now I do my own tenant find and rent to people I like the look of. I even have a bankrupt couple who I liked and wanted to give a chance to and they've not defaulted in nearly 3 years!

Go with your gut feelings.

HoratiaDrelincourt · 02/03/2014 18:50

Age is a protected characteristic but there are exceptions such as age of consent, age of legal responsibility, etc. And not in all circumstances.

Some properties can be 55+ only, for example. Minimum wage is different at 16+, 18+,
21+.

expatinscotland · 02/03/2014 19:02

It's your flat. You can rent it to whomever you please and you have signed no agreement with these people. Who cares if he told them they could let it, he can change his mind. There is ZERO way I'd rent to them.

cees · 02/03/2014 19:07

I wouldn't rent to them, go with your gut, it doesn't feel right so don't do it.

JazzAnnNonMouse · 03/03/2014 06:45

No but not because of their age, I wouldn't because of the other things you found out about them.

RenterNomad · 03/03/2014 09:28

Has your DH done this before? If he is so cavalier about promising the tenancy, and doesn't appear to have heard of guarantors, he doesn't sound experienced enough to be letting a flat and certainly not to "non-standard" tenants. Given the importance of level-headedness and experience in LL- tenant relations, TBH, I think both they and he would be better off without one another!

HadABadDay2014 · 03/03/2014 09:31

I wouldn't.

They can't even buy a bottle of wine or vote.

GreenLandsOfHome · 03/03/2014 09:33

Has nobody on this thread heard of the Equalities Act?? Nope? It is unlawful to discriminate based on age

It's probably unlawful to discriminate based on appearance too. But when I had a viewing and the couple turned up looking like they'd just rolled out of bed and hadn't had a wash that day I declined giving them the tenancy.

It's all very well, if you're NOT a LL in that position to clutch your pearls and say you mustn't discriminate but at the end of the day, with my property, i'm going to take the best bet. Which is NOT a couple of 17 year olds (or even 18,19 or 20 year olds usually). No, not every 17 year old is a careless party animal or a do-a-bunk-er. But the odds of them being so are higher than with other age groups. So not a chance i'd take.

Floggingmolly · 03/03/2014 09:42

I wouldn't. I'm intrigued though, you managed to find out she's barred from a pub and he has cheated on her just by searching social media?
Do people really lay themselves bare like this? Shock. If it impacts on their finding a flat, imagine whist it's doing to their employment prospects...

Floggingmolly · 03/03/2014 09:46

Can 17 year olds even enter contracts? I thought any contracts with under 18's couldn't be enforced?

Rommell · 03/03/2014 09:51

^getting tenants out seems like a nightmare and the law is more on their side than the landlords^

Yes, you poor little flowers, my heart bleeds. Ffs.

LordPalmerston · 03/03/2014 09:53

lol at vote - relevance?

LordPalmerston · 03/03/2014 09:54

gut feelings already would have made the decision for me

plus why go through all this hassle for a stranger?

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 03/03/2014 09:55

"Necessities of life" contracts are enforceable on minors, but given that the case law is based on Victorian teenagers not paying their tailor's bills I wouldn't consider it without a guarantor.

specialsubject · 03/03/2014 09:58

Rommell, there have been threads on here with people whose tenants have never paid rent, are wrecking the place and cannot be removed without legal proceedings and a lot of time and expense. These landlords risk repossession and can have huge bills.

tenants who have dodgy landlords can leave at a month's notice.

I don't suggest anything should change, but you need to be better informed rather than producing the usual knee-jerk 'all landlords are rich bastards' reaction.

VeggySausage · 03/03/2014 10:00

I would have been a safe bet at that age.

However it doesnt sound like these two are and I wouldn't rent to a couple at that age because paying the rent depends on them staying together reasonably long term..and the FB stuff is dodgy.

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:02

If LHA were allowed to be paid directly to landlords without them having to take the risk of paying it back if a tenant has made an incorrect claim, then it would solve some of the issues LLs have with 'DSS'.

If the government wants to help solve the problems faced by people on low incomes that need HB and have trouble finding private landlords, then they should set up some kind of scheme where they insure the HB tenants and if any financial loss is caused to the landlord, then they know they can be repaid without having to take the risk and pay out more in insurance.

It is not down to landlords to provide housing for people who struggle to pay for it themselves, they are running a business. But housing is a social need, and so the government should be the ones to take the risk on people who are statistically higher risk.

livenlet · 03/03/2014 10:03

Give them a chance everyone has to start somewhere,

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:05

You're quite right of course, specialsubject - I feel sorry for anyone whose plans to get other people to work and fund their investment for them goes awry. I really do. Tenants have it too easy in this country - some would argue that the fact you can evict them for no reason whatsoever, or refuse to let to them at all because you don't like their Facebook page means that they don't actually have that easy a time of it but I would never suggest such a thing. Although I am 'lol'ing at the idea of a tenant acting 'entitled' given that that is the very definition of a landlord.

abitsc · 03/03/2014 10:08

They are 17, probably lies about employment, think you are rich.

Run! Run!

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:12

If both tenants and landlords could stick to their side of the bargain, the whole thing would be plain sailing. But there are as many bad tenants as there are bad landlords, it's weird that some people seem to think that it's automatically the LL that is in the wrong just because they are landlords.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with charging someone to use your property, whether that be a house, a van, or anything else.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:14

Yes, because hiring a van is exactly the same as renting a home.

^But there are as many bad tenants as there are bad landlords,^

Link?

Swipe left for the next trending thread