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

[hellobello]

For being rude and insulting and for not trusting us to clean the house properly. Finally, for expecting a second drop in rent before 2 weeks before they move in.

I am really upset and feel as though I have been trodden on. They say we have 'missing' furniture, whatever that is.

Frankly the people don't sound as though they want to be in our house - they are even suggesting that it is expensive for the area, which it is not.

moad = moan.

Seem to be typing with my knuckles today

ghosty, the very last set of tenants that I got through an estate agent were high earning middleaged professionals with teenagers who had pretty much never owned a house. I now know that that should have rang alarm bells. You have to wonder about people who have never managed to get onto the property ladder despite earning buckets of money. It really suggests a good possibility of fiscal irrresponsiblity... as turned out with my tenants. I now try to stick to people who are looking to rent while they are saving up to buy their own place. Or people who need to rent because they are on temporary assignment. I tend to ask people how much they have saved up, rather than how much they earn. My current tenants are a musician couple. When I first rented to them, neither had a job, however they both had substantial amounts of money saved up in order to be able to take off and do their music full time. That told me that they were able to budget and prepare for the future. (last lot of estate agent tenants had a whole series of excuses for not paying the rent on time, including that the first was new year's day and the bank was closed... that month they finally paid the rent on the 28th).

earlybird...will look at your thread and get back to you.

I see your point SofiaAmes ...
But so far my agent is brilliant and she owns her own management business so she is committed ...
I think our tenants will eventually buy as they lived overseas for many years and have come back to NZ to settle ... but to be honest I am happy to have them there for as long as possible.
How can you watch over your places if you don't live in the same country? Don't you need someone on hand to manage it?

If you've not signed an agreement with them, then you can tell them to hit the road, I'd have thought.

As with these things, it all happens rather quickly. I really thought that if the people who were going to move in were causing problems even before they'd got the keys, that would only be the beginning. Where is your husband, SophiaAmes? The team who built our house are no longer around although we have a very good plumber. I have asked our plumber if the agency can use him - we didn't have drains in our house when we came here - so he knows the whole thing intimately!

It would of course be nice if tenants cut the lawn if we had a lawn to cut! I expect it might come back a bit, but you still couldn't play croquet on it. Some different people like the house and I think it will suit them better.

We are going overseas, so can't easily deal with things directly. We haven't negotiated our fee with the agents yet, but it's about 11%. All the others are 17-19% +VAT.

I think it would be simpler to let the house as unfurnished and put your furniture into storage. Tenants tend not to treat property as well as homeowners.

Why don't you get a compnay like keysafe to vet the tenants. The referencing fee includes 6 months of legal insurance. You can pay a small premium and have rent guarntee as well as legal expenses for up to 12 months.

www.keysafetv.com/

I think you are being short sighted in not having a letting agent. Our letting agent is excellent for finding plumbers and dealing with grumpy tenants. However make sure that your letting agent is ALARA registered.

We made the mistake of picking the cheapest letting agent. It was a nightmare dealing with a crap agent as well as bad tenants.

dh is in west london.

Most of our furniture is going into storage. I've just looked up Keysafe. It looks as though they've just started making their website. I may give them a ring tomorrow. Thanks for the info. We certainly have not chosen agents because of their cheapness. We had a lot of agents looking round the house, and because it's quite unusual I had to be more aware of what property and the kind of clients they deal with.

We are in right the other side of town, SofiaAmes!

Definitely have an agent if you aren't in uk - you can authorise them to arrange repairs up to a certain amount without needing to notify you first. 11% is cheap for full management, do chekc their professioanl affilaitions like ARLAand NAEA whcih have a code of practice. References, spot checks, sorting out repairs, gas/electric inspections and collecting rent should be included.

I'd try to avoid sharers, especially any who already sound financially flaky. We initially had trainee airhostesses but after 9/11 each lost their job in turn and the last month's rent was delayed because two had moved out sooner and the others tried to renegotiate the rent in order to stay. Also there are now legal multi occupancy complications. Perhaps you could secure a company let (ask agents if they have contacts) good for urban properties with small, easily maintained gardens. That way you have a more secure income if less control over who actually lives there.