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!).

Make sure your inventory is 100% accurate.

Do thorough checks, no matter how reasonable they look.

Don't be an arse...you want them to think of it as their home, so let them put pictures up etc.

Use an agency to advertise for and credit check tenants, worth the fee.
When using tradesmen, tell them which brands to use. Our gas engineer put in a Hive heating system. Idiot.
Don’t be too friendly with tenants, they’re not your mates. No contact after 9pm except for emergencies.
Get landlord insurance that covers you for non-paid rent.

I would also say from a tenants perspective.. Don't be instantly judgemental. I'm a single working mother, unfortunately an ex partner got me in debt and I had a ccj on my credit file. I needed a guarantor obviously, but I've never missed a rental payment in three years and the house im renting is absolutely spotless, I take great pride in keeping it clean.

Take out rent guarantee insurance. Had a working tenant who only paid the first month and then nothing for the next 11, it took that long to get them evicted. Use a reputable managing agent, the legislation changes all the time. Don’t let it furnished, or with white goods in as you will have to maintain them.
Meet prospective tenants yourself too and turn them down if you feel uneasy.

Not for the first time, we are currently landlords on one property and tenants ourselves in another, so we see things from both sides. Just be decent.

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

^ this.

Someone mentioned chavvy tenants. Six months inspection etc written into contract are sign of chavvy landlords.

Thank you all for the experience and advice shared here, really appreciate it.

Definitely getting insurance but scrutinising terms so I don’t get a shock when something is not covered that I thought would be.

It’s going to be offered on a furnished, white goods basis- but for the type of property/ tenants I’m after that makes most sense. I don’t care about most of the furniture except a couple of ££££ pieces and going to reconsider whether to include those.

It is a property we love - and in an ideal world would keep it so that my daughter has a flat when she grows up. My friends at university whose parents were able to buy them flats or put them in flats when they had their first graduate jobs just had a level of security and were free of accommodation/ flatmate related stresses (one still had flat mates but at her choosing). There weren’t many in that very lucky position but I would love love to be able to offer that to my child.

We won’t be making money on this and as someone wisely noted the income tax implications mean that it’s not an economic decision...except maybe as a long term one!

I have advertised via an agency service on the main portals and will use their credit ref services and check references myself. And will use someone independent to do the inventory etc.

Thanks again.

Ps to those suggesting using a reliable agent- where on earth do you find one!! Experience of living in a building with mostly rented flats and having to deal with their managing agents hasn’t been great- so many just seem to charge you for being a (delayed) message service. Or having 24hr plumbers/ tradesmen that can be called- but emergency insurance would achieve the same thing I think...

Something I never thought would apply to me. If you are unemployed you may not be entitled to any benefits even if your property is empty.
Covid means DH is redundant and tenants struggling.

@DustyMaiden so sorry to hear that. That must be very stressful and difficult to manage.

Thanks

Biggest mistake is letting to people through the council housing scheme. The tenants that have top ups but are working at least part time and provide their own deposits have been great but every time I have rented to someone housed by the council and the council providing the deposit the renters have been crappy. They left the places in a terrible state and ran up big debts. I have one currently owing £6k and because of Covid I still cannot take them to court and evict for a few more months at least.

I am speaking as a tenant but keep things simple! the less complicated things are the less can go wrong, and although I am not bothered in hanging pictures think of things people do in places so to save tenants asking put things like picture hooks in sensible places and other things (I have gone blank on what though lol!)

Go with your gut. That is so important when dealing with housing issues. I spent years interviewing people for housing and any time I had doubts but went against it, it went to shit. You don't need a reason to just say no. It's your property, your decision. End of.

@PurpleTrilby

Go with your gut. That is so important when dealing with housing issues. I spent years interviewing people for housing and any time I had doubts but went against it, it went to shit. You don't need a reason to just say no. It's your property, your decision. End of.

I do not disagree with you but is there laws that need to followed ie discrimination etc.?

I agree someone should have to right to say no but do they legally in all cases?

Im not sure on no pets. Ive never had a problem about pets and they've never caused any problems. One lot of tenants had 3 dogs! Absolutely fine, lovely clean people. I offered to take the carpets up when the next ones moved in, and replace them, but they said theyd prefer to pay for their own laminate flooring. Fine by me

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

This is the 2nd place I have moved into with no white goods and to be honest this is so much easier for us, washing machine breaks, its up to me to fix it, I don't have to wait around for the landlord to try and sort it out. The only thing my Ll has to deal with is the boiler and other things such as smoke alarms to check they are working for certificates.

I would also say if you rent to anyone on UC, you can request that they ask you to tell the council to send it directly to you, they might not do it, but over lockdown it meant at least one bill was being paid on time.

On the landlord side, don't rent to anyone you know, or anyone your friends know. It will turn ugly at some point.

Pets I am always in two minds about this, I have pets myself and was lucky to find somewhere to rent that would take us all. But also I understand that it is a pain in the arse for landlords. If its no pets, say no to all pets.

My relative (LL) was dead against cats and dogs said yes to gerbils, was fine till they escaped and found the wiring.

I think you can only go by your experience as well, its a massive learning curve. Make sure everything is in writing judge Rinder

I agree with getting an agency to get your tenants in. If you live near the property, you can manage it yourself, if not get the agency to manage it too.

I've not seen anyone else mention this, but you need a pot of savings for any unforeseen expenses. In one property, someone bypassed the electricity metre leaving us with a bill of £400. Another time, a tenant hit a nail through an electricity cable, £300. It all adds up. Plus, any inbetween tenant tidying.

If you are renting the property long term, you will probably need to refurb the kitchen/bathroom at some point, so again you will need to save for that and the time without a tenant while you are doing it.

As said upthread, I treat tenants fairly. Any issues, I try to get fixed asap and ensure the agency informs them of that.

Agree with everyone else - rent unfurnished.

I think luck is a big part of it. If you use a managing agent, make sure they're a good one (bad ones can be costly when they don't do their job properly - looking at you Foxtons, however, a good one is worth the expense). Be fair. Treat them as you want to be treated. Be on top of the paperwork. Keep a contingency fund for maintenance and repairs.

There are some truly shitty tenants who may cost you thousands and will know how to play the system. Vet vet vet!I've heard some landlords agree to give references in order to move a shitty tenant out quicker, so be careful. Some landlords have lovely tenants and it works out great for both parties for years. Set out boundaries/expectations and trust your gut. There are some really shitty tenants who treat good landlords appallingly (and obviously vice versa). Good luck OP!

If you are going to use a letting agent for any part, e.g. just finding tenants and rent collection rather than management, check the % they charge and for how long. We signed up at too high a rate and didn't understand we can't get out of the contract until the original tenants move out. We thought it was just the initial tenancy period ie 2 years. Good news was they forgot to charge us anything for the first 4 years so overall it's been ok But it irks me every year when I see the large deduction for the very little work they do now!! Our tenants are great though and I doubt they will be leaving anytime soon as we do all repairs and have hardly raised the rent in 8 years so it's very good value compared to others in the area.

Be choosy, its your property to let to whoever you want. The first agent we tried to let through was awful and tried to pressure us into letting to someone with awful credit history because she could pay 6 months up front. Then tried to make us sign a document to say we were taking a risk because of the credit history and they weren't responsible even though he had recommended her! Turned out they were related. They threatened court action, we told them fine, we'd see them there and they never got in touch again.

If you are north east I can hugely recommend Davies and Davies www.daviesdavies.co.uk

Rented with them for 6 years they were excellent. Managed property very well for our landlord who was living overseas. Very prompt with paperwork, efficient etc and didn't charge ridiculous fees (for tenants at least) landlord was very pleased with them too. Hands down one of the best companies I have dealt with in a market where there are a lot of dodgy operators.

Placemarking!

We have a great landlord, but hes been foolhardy in his role as landlord, if we were different people he wouldve strung himself up in just about every way possible.

Take ID, do checks on who they are, credit checks give a decent idea of how people will pay their rent and other Bills.

Make sure you have an inventory so you have some chance of charging for repairs required at the end of the tenancy.

Do inspections periodically if you can. Maybe at the end of the contract before you renew?

Make sure you put the deposit where it needs to be.

Dont forget gas safety checks, smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors.

If they have pets, take a bigger deposit and put it in the contract they'll have to have carpets cleaned before vacating.

These are the mistakes our wonderful landlord has made. They haven't harmed us in any way, but if we were the type to want to destroy the lovely property he let's to us, and get away scot free, we probably could take advantage...luckily were not! And over 4 years weve been here without a problem.

When you take the inventory pictures, make sure they are dated within 24 hours of the tenant moving in. The reason I say this is because back in the day when I was a tenant, the letting agent tried to make out that we’d wrecked the joint. We genuinely hadn’t. Anyway, the adjudicator wasn’t interested in anything either we or the agent had to say or any of the proof we provided. We won purely on the fact that the moving in inventory pictures were taken 3 weeks before we moved in which was an unacceptable period of time as any damage could have happened that wasn’t documented. This was the same letting agent who accused us of spraying coke on the ceiling and the house being filthy just because he found one crisp packet behind a wardrobe!