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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:
WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:18

Why the need for a link? Confused

Surely you're not under the belief that no tenant has ever failed to pay rent or damaged a property?

Why don't you waste your time trying to find a link that proves all landlords are evil bastards?

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:21

I just wondered if you had any facts to back up your statement.

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:24

No, I don't have facts, but it isn't unreasonable to suggest that not all tenants are perfect and that landlords need some protection from financial loss in these arrangements as well.

Why do you seem to believe that being a landlord is a fundamentally Bad Thing?

titchy · 03/03/2014 10:28

Rommell seems to have forgotten that if it wasn't for landlords buying houses as investments then letting them out, we'd have a fifth of the country homeless....

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:29

That isn't what you 'suggested' though, is it? You said there are as many bad tenants are there are landlords. If that's true, prove it.

torcat · 03/03/2014 10:29

Haven't read this whole thread, but I would say go with your instincts. You obviously have a bad feeling about the guy and I think his comments about you obviously having lots of money coming in, is very off, he clearly doesn't think you need the rent and he shouldn't have asked you what you do for a living anyway.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:29

Yes, titchy, because all of those houses would just vanish if no-one bought them.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:30

Sorry, that should have read 'if landlords didn't buy them'.

VeggySausage · 03/03/2014 10:34

a certain amount of people in this world are assholes, some of those will go in to various professions. Some of which will be buying and renting homes.

All of those asshole however will need a place to live. So many of them will be tenants. Unless you can prove more assholes go in to the lanlording business than average I don;t see why it's a problem to say what whoowhoo said.

SanityClause · 03/03/2014 10:34

Why is hiring a van different to renting a house, Rommell?

Someone owns an asset, and makes money out of allowing someone else to pay to use it.

There are costs associated with hiring out a van, and with renting out a property.

In fact, many people make no money from their property rentals, but use them as an investment, as others might pay into a pension fund, or building society.

VeggySausage · 03/03/2014 10:35

Well unless people can afford to own those house they wouldn't disappear, just sit there empty.

VeggySausage · 03/03/2014 10:37

Our landlore rents our place out because he bought it when the market was high and then needed a bigger home (only 2 bedroom)

I suppose he could have sold at a loss and risked his family's future. Or he could rent to me and DH who can't afford to buy a house.

What a wanker he is.

SanityClause · 03/03/2014 10:38

So, are you suggesting that the OP should sell the property to these potential tenants, Rommell? How will they afford that, do you think?

Lots of people choose to rent. They move in together, and give it a trial run, before buying. They work in one area only temporarily. They are students, and expect to move away from the area in a few years time.

Renting allows a flexibility that buying does not. There are benefits to both the tenant and the landlord.

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:40

Properties wouldn't vanish if landlords didn't buy them, but they might sit there empty.

And there are plenty of people that can't afford to buy their own housing so they need to pay someone to do that for them, and to take the financial risk.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:43

^as others might pay into a pension fund, or building society.^

Are there many people who get others to pay into their pension fund for them, then? And, as is often the case with private landlords, where the LHA money goes to them, are there also many people who get the govt to pay into their pension fund for them?

I am not even going to address the point that hiring a van from Avis is the same as needing somewhere to live, because we are getting into farcical territory here.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:45

^but they might sit there empty.^

Or, conversely, the price of them would drop. Which do you think is the more likely scenario?

ParsingFancy · 03/03/2014 10:45

"Why is hiring a van different to renting a house, Rommell?"

Because the supply of vans isn't constrained and they aren't a social good.

VeggySausage · 03/03/2014 10:47

The price could drop by half we still wouldn't be able to afford them.

But actually I think most of the houses built right now would not have been built if not for the high price housing boom. So I still think houses would be expensive as there would be fewer homes.

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 10:48

The government doesn't pay into landlords pension funds for them. It pays LHA/HB to those who claim it because they can't afford to house themselves for whatever reason.

But as many landlords won't take LHA, it's not much of a problem.

So what do you suggest as the alternative for people that own property they don't need to live in Rommell?

Is it better that they leave it empty? Clearly you don't want them to sell and put them money in a pension fund, so what should they do?

TinyTear · 03/03/2014 10:48

Oh goody, another landlords are evil thread!

My husband rents out his old flat. Should he have sold it when the market was depressed?

FYI we are having to take the last tenants to court because they wrecked the place and won't pay for the damage. the place was so filthy when I went to visit after they moved i had to change my daughter's nappy in the landing as i wouldn't do it anywhere in the flat - including on the sofa...

but poor little lambkins, they had to rent off evil landlords, their rich daddy paid the rent and is claiming EVERY single item of furniture damanged nor destroyed is fair wear and tear...

And these were 20 something students with rich parents and guarantors... council tenants would probably take better care of the place...

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:54

^But as many landlords won't take LHA, it's not much of a problem.^

No, you're quite right. The £22 billion (yes, billion) that gets paid out every year in LHA is a mere drop in the ocean, as opposed to one of the biggest transfers of public tax-payers' money to private (landlord) hands going.

Rommell · 03/03/2014 10:56

Tinytear, what an apposite name you have.

TinyTear · 03/03/2014 10:57

Funny how I must have known I was going to comment here when I picked this nickname over 10 years ago

ParsingFancy · 03/03/2014 10:58

Yes, there are people who want to rent.

There are also people who want to buy but can't because the available property has been bought by people planning to rent it to them.

Look, it isn't a crime to own property or rent it out. But housing is a social good. So when the cost of housing is seriously distorting employment, other businesses and the welfare state, you have to expect that action will be taken to adjust it.

That doesn't mean that individual property owners have individually done something wrong. Just that taken together their actions are harming the economy.

The importance to the country of housing as housing, is more important than the importance of housing as a choice of financial vehicle (one among many) to an individual investor.

WooWooOwl · 03/03/2014 11:01

A lot of what is paid out in LHA goes to councils or not for profit housing associations.

Either way, the points that have been made here are not valid or accurate reason to attack all landlords.

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