To tell prospective tenants they can't move into our house...

looks like they are looking for a get out - i guess its up to you if you want them there...

They sound difficult. Has anything legally binding been signed? If not, look for someone else who meets your criteria and is more agreeable.

You are definitely NBU. Look for better tenants.

If you can legally get out of it then I would if I were you. I've got a tennent at the moment who phones me every week to bitch about something. She has complained that the skirting board haven't been painted neatly enough, she can't fit her rubbish in the wheely bin (wanted me to go and stamp on it for her), her tv reception isn't good enough, the fridge freezer i provided (brand new) is too tall so she can't fit her microwave on top. She wanted curtain poles over the top of all the doors. If they are already being unreasonable there is no reason to think they will be normal when they move in.

Be very wary. At the first sign of trouble get rid! Take it from someone who knows and has had a string of bad tenants. 1 stole post as my lodger, another didnt pay for 4 mths and also had a big fire at the house causing damage to all upstairs and smoke damage to downstairs ( and still expected to stay in the house while work was carried out!) Mind you was living in Cyprus at the time and couldn't keep a proper eye on it.
YOU ARE NOT BEING UNREASONABLE!

If they are like this before they even move in, they are going to be a nightmare! If you can get out, do.

I agree with what everyone else has said, try and get out of it if you can.

Better to have a few weeks of having your property unrented, and then find decent tenants who won't cause you so much stress.

Wouldn't want them as tenants, they sound like a nightmare waiting to happen.

i agree with others and if you can get out of it then should, there are far nicer people to deal with out there, why burden yourself with these horrible people.

OMG at alucard what a nightmare

If they are messing you around at this early stage, dump them.

Our house was rented out by the previous owners before we bought it. These renters were a PITA from day 1 and absolutely destroyed the house.

Experiencing any shit at this stage it a total no-no IMO. Get rid of them! There are many good tenants around.

I have a lot of experience in renting out apartments and my houses over the years. And my advice would be to run a mile from these tenants. If they are complaining before they have even moved in, they will be trouble. And if they think the house is expensive for what it is, then they will never ever be satisfied and always give trouble over the rent.

By the way, I know rent out my places exclusively through the internet. I haven't used an agent in years and have had a much higher calibre of tenants than I ever got with agents. When I was in the UK I found tenants on gumtree.com and here in the usa I use craisglist.org. The latter has a uk website, but if you are not in London or another major city, it may not be quite so useful. Anyway, I judge potential tenants purely on their spelling and grammar and ability to write a neat, orderly, timely email. It has turned out to be a much better indicator of a good tenant than credit reports or references (which I always check anyway).

ahhh, careless spelling = careless tenants, in my opinion.

When I lived in the uk, I rented out my house in la through craigslist. After a bit of experimenting, I found that if I thought I wouldn't be visiting frequently, the best thing to do was rent the house for a few hundred less than the going rate (ie $2000/month rather than $2300/month) and make expressly clear in the description (and lease), that the rent was lower than the going rate and that in return I didn't want to be bothered with little bits that didn't work right (wobbly door knobs, overgrown gardens, chipped paint). I would of course deal immediately with any emergencies like electricity, heat and water. The tenants were very happy with the trade off and offering the house at a good rate gave me a much larger choice of tenants. And the reduction in income for me was more than worth the reduction in hassle (and repair costs).

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i magine the stress you'll be under thinking of them in your property when you are away from it.

let them find something that suits them, in fact tell them to p off. If it were me tho, i would prob let them have their depsosit money back.

continue of highjack....

earlybird, even in the old days when I found tenants through an agent, I didn't use a managing agent because they cost a fortune and don't really get things done in a cost effective manner. Really only makes sense if you have lots of flats or just have no means of servicing them.

If you need some help with your london flat, my dh is still based in London most of the time and although he's now a full time student, he used to be a builder, so could be helpful. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Just CAT me if you want to get my info (and his), in case of emergency.

I have just gotten back from holiday and have been off mumsnet...how has your move gone?

I think that if you are happy to give up almost 3 months of your yearly rental income by lowering the rent that much, you can easily wait for a less problematic person willing to pay the full rent.

hello - are these students? (or been students recently?) - a lot of unis have a lost of necessary furniture - to stop people renting out tiny rooms - such as a bed, wardrobe, table & chair in each room. perhaps they are expecting this?

hellobello - it just sounds to me like they haven't rented before. presumab;ly the house is let as "furnished" and dfor some reason they expected wardrobes or some such? it sounds quite likely.

but anyway my advice is refuse to drop the rent, but go with these tennants. If they are the types to care about the lawn they won't be the types to have wild vodka swlling parties...

On what basis would these girls lose their deposit, as you mentioned below? If you decide not to go through with their tenancy you can't keep their deposit.

Also, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them just because they seem demanding before they move in. (Obviously though you have no obligatoin to drop the agreed rent) Maybe they've been burned by prior landlords and are trying to protect themselves.

If you have reservations about their moving in you should tell them and tell them why --perhaps they'll agree that this does not sound like a good landlord/tenant relationship. If my landlord wrote the original post I'd have second thoughts about moving in myself.

We are landlords for the first time and it has been an eyeopener for us ...
Our house is a big family house is a very nice suburb of Auckland as as such we can command a very high rent ... our tenants are a high earning professional couple who have never owned their own home.
The Pros are that they are of good calibre, and seem to be looking after the house, they can afford the rent and apart from a small negotiation (drop in rent if they maintain the garden). According to our agent the house is in tip top condition 4 months in.
The Cons are that they are picky and out for what they can get - they got a handy man in to change lightbulbs and charged in to me , yes, I didn't mind buying the lightbulbs but paying someone $90 to put them in was ridiculous. They also had to buy a new gas cylinder (not on mains gas) but tried to charge me for the actual gas in it ... . As they are long term renters who have never owned a house they seem very lazy ... also they have a bit of an attitude that if they are paying such a high rent they should get stuff for nothing.

I am sooooo glad I have an agent. She is just fantastic ... she is a wily, no nonsense Scot who deals with my tenant brilliantly (apparently the tenant goes in to the office at least once a week with a moad) ... I pay her 7% and she is well worth it.
If we were in the country we would deal with all that ourselves but we are overseas and I couldn't do it without an agent.

In answer to the OP ... no, you are not being unreasonable. It is YOUR house and you should get more tenants ... don't let them move in ....