To ask what mistakes you have made as a landlord?

[Ditheringdooley]

Finding ourselves in the position of being a landlord for a 2 bed flat in London. Have not done this before- after 6m empty during lockdown etc we now have it on the market and are doing viewings.

Please share any lessons you have learned - things you would do differently this time?

Will be managing it myself. It is in a block with a managing agent who manages the building (well, mostly just passes stuff back to us so I’d rather not pay 2 sets of agents to not do their job).

Any wisdom gratefully received (and horror stories shared if it’s cathartic for you!).

Use a good letting agent.... treat your tenants fairly and usually they reciprocate.... i did have a non paying tenant who caused £12k damage ... apparently they had mental health issues.... I got the bill and they went owing 6months rent.... no point in getting a ccj against them as they have no money...

Be very careful about legalities re the tenancy and the deposit...
Deal with maintenance issues etc promptly

@Socksey yikes- that would ruin us! Was insurance any help at all?

Thanks - trying to be very by the book in terms of obligations at the outset and making sure we have done everything to fulfil requirements.

Someone not paying and not being able to evict is a concern but not much you can do about that (except insure I guess).

Our biggest mistake has been our current tenant 😡

Ne sure to conduct proper background checks including rental history and credit checks

Letting people move in who I was a bit wary were 'chavs'. (Sorry)!

Take out insurance against them not paying their rent. A letting agent can arrange all this and the referencing

Proper background checks.
Make sure the managing agents have your address - ours didn’t and we had issues with bills we needed to pay and not knowing about them.
Deal with any maintenance issues promptly.
Make sure you know what safety certificates are your responsibility as landlords
Be very thorough at check on and check out with inventory. It’s surprising what can be missed. Take photos.

I suggest inspections every 6 months. Our last tenants moved out three months ago and left the place in a disgusting state it took us six weeks of hard work to get it up to standard again

Right now go to the NRLA site and book yourself some landlord training!

Sign up to Landlordzone and ask the grizzled relics there a lot of questions. They are grumps but very helpful!

And read this

www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property

@thatbliddywoman don't apologise. People can be offended all they like we all know CHAVS exist!!!

Let a good agent do it for you. Trust me, an agent takes away the pain.

Be very sure you understand the law and all of the certifications that you need to have, have given out all of the correct paperwork, deposits correctly filed etc.
Landlords insurance including legal support.
Detailed inventory, signed off.
Also understand that the advice that tenants are often given including here about not leaving at the end of the tenancy waiting for a court eviction.
Honestly I wouldn't be without our agents.

Even if you manage yourself, I would use a reliable agent to tenant search and do the checks. Note use of the word reliable, there are some terrible ones out there.
Make sure that you have good trademen available for repairs etc.
Join Residential Landlords Association they give sound advice.
Main thing I regret is not following my gut about a Managing Agent, I wanted to change agents but my business partner felt we should stick with him. When he filed for bankrupcy, it cost us several grand in rent tenant had paid and he hadn't passed on AND he didn't put the deposit in the Deposit Scheme we had the paperwork for. ( thankfully this was before we were liable for 3X the sum).
Turned out he had a massive Cocaine habit his owners were funding, one of my niggles was the darkened office and tinted glasses together with late payments.....

Get really good insurance and swot up on boards like Curious suggests. Would never do it again, tbh. PITA.

Never let to the MoD, they make a big song and dance about how they make sure tenants leave the property immaculate..They lie.

Make repairs promptly. Make sure expectations are clear on both sides, make sure rent is set up as a standing order for just after pay day. Use a good agent. Vet, vet and vet.

I know lots of landlords won’t take them, it some of my best ones had a pet. They were often the ones who treated the place well. PhD students are also a good bet. They’re there for 3 years minimum and they tend to be ‘swots’ in the nicest possible way so they tend to be reasonably responsible.

I would recommend joining a landlord’s association so that you keep up to date with rental laws and matters. I would recommend getting a good bank of trade people to fix issues. Ensure your tenant knows to contact you rather than sit on problems for months. We had a beautifully crafted note about damage slowly growing up a bedroom wall over a few months, quite poetic. It was a leak from the shower that was seeping. We could have fixed in a day with minimal disruption but ended up having to plaster and decorate on top which inconvenienced the tenant as it was their bedroom. Be fair, be clear and be prompt in dealing with tenants.

Allowing pets. The cat ruined the bannister rails.

But overall, you have to accept that there is an element of luck. Apart from that, and a bit of mould due to not opening windows regularly (essential in the stone Victorian terraces), which was straightforward to deal with, we were very lucky with our first set of tenants(6years!). Just had a three month void due to needing to redecorate between tenants after that long, then finding tenants. Void periods is another thing you have to accept- it's unlikely you can have new tenants straight away.

And ALWAYS make sure your gas certs are up to date.

If people smell of smoke and swear they only smoke outside/are giving up/don’t smoke themselves, they’ve just been in a smoky house, they’re lying.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

If people smell of smoke and swear they only smoke outside/are giving up/don’t smoke themselves, they’ve just been in a smoky house, they’re lying.

Yep!

And yy to no pets. Fucking fleas. £200 later . . .

My sister had a tenant who killed her husband. Another was on the game and mixed up with a drug lord who promptly smashed every window in the house.
Yet another left owing money and left the contents of two houses in the back yard.
Good luck!

Don't leave white goods , you'll have to replace them , according to our agent.

Giving someone the benefit of the doubt they had a good income and references but iffy credit. They turned out to be a non-payer, we had to threaten court to get paid and they left the property full of their junk which we disposed of, then six months later they asked the next tenants for it back!

Read up on your legal obligations and rights as well as tenants legal obligations and rights.

I suggest inspections every 6 months

An example would be this. You have no right to enter the property even for an inspection, regardless of what the tenancy agreement says. The tenants have a right to exclusive use of the property and quiet enjoyment and the landlord can only demand access in specific circumstances (e.g., an emergency). Wanting to look around to check it is clean and tidy would not be considered to be essential access.