Would a fussy landlord put you off renting somewhere?

[mondaze10]

I'm in love with a house and we're currently waiting for the landlord to 'approve' us. It's a one off house that most people wouldn't ever get a chance to live in, it's absolutely stunning and I feel lucky to even be able to 'apply' so to speak.

Anyway, the landlords are very particular and I don't know if it's worth it...

They vet who can live there (standard procedure but turn down a lot of people like they turned down a family that they thought the children would be too 'playful' with footballs etc). They live up the lane behind the house so not far from the back garden. The agent has hinted that it's all very community so it seems as though they wouldn't be your normal 'silent' landlords but ones that would very much want to know you, and they'd have to drive past the house everytime they left their own house.

Would that put you off?

We live up the road from our landlords, they are technically next door but there's a small woodland and a field between our properties. They are very good about managing it via the letting agents so the landlords never do inspections nor do they pop round. But they do drive past as the road ends with a farm so they have to go past our house every time they go anywhere. Im certainly paranoid about keeping the front looking tidy and weeding the driveway, and I worry about it being obvious if we go away for the weekend (curtains shut) as they may then let themselves in/have a nosey round the back.

Its the only downside to living here though, its a beautiful house and kids can make as much noise as they like etc so we extended our lease and intend to stay here for as long as possible.

I think you may be making assumptions about the landlords on the basis of the agent saying it's ' all community' in the area. What does this even mean? Could mean all sorts of things- from general consideration for neighbours to riotious swinging overinvested 'fussy' landlords.

If the property is as lovely as you describe it, then the landlords can be very selective and fussy about who they rent to. They are likely to have a number of prospective tenants to choose from, and therefore will wait for the 'right' ones. It doesn't neccessarily mean they will be very interfering to the new tenants. They use an agent so obviously don't want to be over involved in the day to day running of it
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I would construe the turning down of the famiy with the 'playful' kids' as being the landlord concerned that the property would be subjected to very heavy wear and tear, and perhaps damage, and the risk of noisy kids in the garden upsetting the neighbours.

I'm a landlord, and whilst my properties are not grand, they are smart and in extremely good condition. I would not rent them to tenants I did not feel confident would look after them well, or would cause regular complaints from neighbours. I don't require regular contact or access with my tenants though, and there's no hard evidence in your post that your prospective landlord would want it either.

Therefore, Id say go for it!

We have just gone from owning to renting, and back to our owned house again, and after what we went through last year I would never again rent a property without talking to the previous tenants. If we had known that our neighbours were going to complain about us daily whether or not we were actually there, we would most definitely have lived somewhere else!

I think the agent is giving you a strong hint about the landlord fully intending to breathe down your neck.

Try to find out if that's in a nice way or in a fucking annoying way before signing anything!

We're still waiting to hear as to whether they want to meet us and see if we're suitable.

I really hope they will meet us at least so we can both 'vet' eachother as I really do love the house.

Yes that would definitely put me off!

Even though the house sounds amazing, having the landlord living round the corner/driving past each day would just be too much.

Our landlord is great, they are local but we hardly ever see them unless there is an issue with the property.

@mondaze10 Please report back if you get to meet them.. I think that would be the best way to tell whether to run for the hills or not, first impressions & all that.

@astoundedgoat
I tend to agree with your thoughts re talking to the previous tenants

We moved into our current home last year- we happen to know the previous tenants through my husband's sports club.

They told us that it was coming up for let as they've moved abroad for work. So we got the lowdown from them on the landlord/general set up

Yes definitely! I paid the £300 application fees before the agents let me view the house so couldn’t reject it. I have had no blind in my bathroom for almost a year now as the LL’s was mouldy and rotted away from the fixtures. The same with the kitchen blind, I can’t pull it up otherwise it’ll fall down so it’s enternally dark in there. I’m not allowed to put my own blinds up so have to make do without can’t wait to move

We rented a huge new build, owner used a letting agent but drove past every single day. Once had a ranting phone call off agent saying my ddog was going nuts through the window - asked how the owner knew this - he was in my garden at the actual window ffs!! He hadn't put a gate at the side of the house so access to the garden was via double doors in the dining room - across cream carpets - and he wondered why I had to have them cleaned so often that they looked worn!
Ll from afar OK but ll close by no way.

Them living so close would put me off, myself and DH and a couple we’re friends with have both lived under LLs and it’s not gone well, both sets over-involved and knocking on doors over bugger all.

A landlord who can’t mentally see the house as a business rather than their home will potentially be a nightmare.
Only plus side is they should get problems sorted in the house quickly as you have them on your doorstep to nag them!

I had the same reservations before moving into a previously rented property. Landlords wanted to meet me, it was like a job interview, then protracted contract negotiations as they wanted certain special clauses. We went ahead and actually it was fine, we didn't hear a peep, and the neighbours were very welcoming without intruding. I'm sure being local that the landlords did walk past and have quick look over, but I'm glad we didn't pull out, with hindsight they just wanted to make sure they got tenants they were happy with, which I guess was their right.

They want to be able to have their cake and eat it. I'd avoid like the plague.

I'm not feeling like they'll even meet us to be honest - they were passed our 'profile' yesterday morning and no response yet!

I have a landlady who just lives over the field. My cottage used to be a holiday let so she is used to checking on it.

A typical opening gambit is her recounting my work/sleep patterns and that she’s been watching my windows to see if they’re open etc. (I say “watching” as she knows/compliments the timespans of closure/openness)

She also cuts the hedge so low that she can always see everything I’m doing in my garden from her kitchen windows etc. She is quite open about it all; everyone else is

I hate it. I’m very private so it makes me uncomfortable.

When she mentions my late nights I now just lie and say I’m working on a Hong Kong project to stop the inevitable judgement (I actually have insomnia/am a night owl). I’m not in any way noisy and she is a field away so the only way she would know is observing lights being on.

It would 100% put me off future properties!

The actual and reported behaviour and proximity would outweigh the appeal of the house itself, I’d rule it out.

Older houses can be damp, cold (or expensive to heat) and impractical, and IME there is a higher chance of things happening that the landlord could blame / charge the tenant for.

I just think it is random and down to luck. Do you get a good vibe off the landlord?

We have rented lots of places and it is absolute pot luck what your landlord is like. We had one flat where the landlord lived over the road. If I had known that when we signed I probably would have backed out but as it turned out he was amazing. We never saw him, he let the agent be the intermediary and he did repairs very quickly. He would often drop us light bulbs from Ikea in the communal hallway & champagne if he couldn't fix things as quick as he would have liked. Another landlord lived locally in a small village and had a business over the road. She left us alone, would just wave if we saw her.

On the other side of the coin we had another landlord who lived overseas who was an absolute horror show.

Like I said I would just go off what your gut feeling says about the landlord and whether they seem nice and reasonable.

I would be worried that they would keep a set of keys to be always snooping around when you are out, and making snide comments that you hadn't done this or that.

I've had this happen to me and its not nice - from the feeling that someone else has been snooping in your space, to the snide comments about messiness, then finding out they snooped regularly as soon as I left for work.

Oh, god, I'd run a mile.

When I was a student and pretty naive, I signed up to a shared house where the landlord was letting his elderly (and, we later realised, early-stage-dementia patient) mother in weekly so she could have a nosy. She had rules about everything, down to where we put the shampoo bottles beside the bath. I came home one time and she'd thrown a load of my cooking equipment outside by the bin, because she didn't like which cupboard I'd put them in.

This was not a house with a live-in landlord, btw!

It was awful and I moved fast.

I would never, ever rent from a landlord who thinks they get to lay down the law about anything like football games. Or, ideally, one who lives near enough to snoop. They're too invested.

I had a mate who moved into a house that had previously been the landlord's own residence. She would come back asking to use the washing machine when the one in her new house broke, and got very upset when my friend moved furniture.

Maple & LRD you've scared the life out of me lol - the thought of anyone letting themselves in to my house is just horrible! Especially unexpectedly (as in not pre booked works or whatever)

Totally put me off!

I really hate it too.

Though, I have to admit, the worst experiences I've had of that have been in properties where the LL was just fine and we dealt with the agency. There's a traumatised plumber in Oxfordshire who's still recovering from seeing me jump out of the shower to greet him as he came in through the door, having been told by the agent he should let himself in ...

It was a locked room in an HMO rather than a whole house to be fair, but still it was horrible to realise it had been going on.

How long would people leave it before chasing up to see if they want to meet us?

LRDtheFeministDragon I had something slightly similar (though less embarrassing). I walked in on the plumber repairing our broken shower. He'd let himself in and I got the fright of my life opening the front door to a bloke standing in my bathroom (it was at the end of a long corridor, facing the front door).
DH was in bed sleeping off a night shift and hadn't locked the door.

Luckily I didn't actually mind at all because I wanted the shower fixed and the very hard to get plumber had turned up unannounced at the Landlord's door and they sent him on up to our cottage. A downside to rural living was actually getting any tradesmen at all so my LLs hoped that I wouldn't mind the guy popping in. They were lovely so I didn't mind at all. I can understand how other people would hit the roof though and if my LLs were the interfering type I would have gone mad.