Can I make myself more desirable to landlords?

[Hulke]

I've been viewing houses recently but seem to be having no luck. I'm moving because landlord is putting the rent up (I don't mention this). I seem to view houses but don't get offered them, they go to someone else, I suspect because I'm a single mother, and others earn more than me (I'm on 34.6k a year so not a low wage but not as much as a couple would ordinarily earn). Is there anything I can say or do to make myself seem more desirable to a landlord? I'm looking for long term as have applied to schools in the area so this might help. But keep getting knocked back. I have good credit and references, always payed rent on time etc. Any advice?

Oh haha! Thanks. To be fair I really am. I love my home so am very sad to have to move...

@Greenfairydust its about risk management though. If you have two applicants - one with a dual income that is well established and another just one income that is easily stopped if they don’t pass their probation, which are you going to pick?

I wouldn't tell them you have a child.

They will assume mess, damage, noise.

Say you are a young professional. If it's 2 bed say you need a separate office.

fyn · Today 16:21
@Greenfairydust its about risk management though. If you have two applicants - one with a dual income that is well established and another just one income that is easily stopped if they don’t pass their probation, which are you going to pick?

But that is just nonsense.

Your two applicants with the dual income could break up/decide to divorce next month for all you know.

People who have been in jobs for 10 years can still be made redundant/lose their jobs like anyone else.

What you are doing in the name of ''risk management'' is openly discriminating against certain people.

By reading this thread it seems that landlords will only let to couples who make £50,000 plus and have no kids.

How many people will fit in this category? not to mention that most of these will probably own their own home rather than want to waste their money on a rental....

''@felulageller · Today 16:27
I wouldn't tell them you have a child.

They will assume mess, damage, noise.

Say you are a young professional. If it's 2 bed say you need a separate office.''

There we go, another one who think having a child should be hidden at all cost. Pathetic.

I'm not going to lie. Think they might notice when they do an inspection and see a child's bedroom...

If it's 2 bed say you need a separate office

Silly advice

I have been house hunting for 19 months its hell my landlord is putting the rent up and I cant afford it long term I am employed self employed 1 child but all the homes we have put in for end up rented to a 2 income family I am screwed basically they all say income needs to be x4 the rent amount used to be x2.5

I'm a landlord (flats) and I have tenants with kids - it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I rent to students too. I would happily accept pets but flat leases don't usually allow pets (annoying).

You sound like a great tenant to me and I would happily rent to you, so I think it would probably help if you could meet the landlord directly. I have someone who meets potential tenants on my behalf, and she goes off who she gets a good feel from which has worked well for several years now.

No one would pass a credit check for a mortgage when they've just started a new job either - this isn't an issue limited to Landlords or the rental sector.

Could you stay in your current property for another six months or so and suck up the extra rent and start looking when you’ve been in your job a bit longer?

Eviction takes ages so don’t worry too much about that immediately

How does the new rent of £1000 compare with the going rate in the area for similar properties? How long have you been in your current place?

The reason I ask is that I'm wondering whether it is really in your best interests to move.

The house I'm looking at is on the same street, better condition and has an extra bedroom and is the same price as this one. The letting agency said they were embarrassed to send me the letter about the rent increase, they advised against it, and I've literally just had an email now to say that they're going to try and help me find somewhere else. Thank the lord.

The reason I ask is that I'm wondering whether it is really in your best interests to move.

I was thinking that, tbh

It's a landlord/ladies game at the minute. Houses have started to appear for sale that were for renting and those that are for going in a day or 2, despite them putting rents up high. There's been a massive shortfall in rental properties in some areas (as in a third of what there was 2 years ago).
So try not to take it personally if a landlord doesn't pick you

Who is buying the houses for sale that are going in a day or two?

We advertised a flat in London. We had 35 applications in 8 hours and had to pull the advert. We had to make a shortlist and immediately rejected all the applications from anybody earning less than £60k.

I'm afraid it's currently a landlord's market, in London, and there's no need to 'take a chance' on applicants.

I hope you find something suitable.

@orchid220

When they removed the ability to deduct interest they removed the incentive for anyone privately to be a landlord. It was applauded at the time because the party line was this would improve affordability. People such as myself who disagreed were told we were evil landlords. That isn’t the case. Lots of rental properties have been sold and are primary residential homes.

The reality is there is a need for a solid rental market. Not everyone can afford to buy a home and not everyone wants to buy a home. I just took a job and moved my family. I’m not buying a home, not because I can’t afford it, but because I don’t know how long I’ll stay here. If I’m here for less than 5 years, it’s better for me to rent something and save what I would have paid in rent, investing carefully (purchased preferred shares with a 7% yield).

The reality is the only piece of legislation needed is for tenants to have the right to renew their lease with a reasonable and justified increase in rent, set as CPI or allow landlords to provide evidence of hardship to increase rents more than this amount.

The Op has rent which is £850 so CPI being 10%, a reasonable increase would be £85, not £150. Why this isn’t standard in every lease is beyond me. I’m a landlord saying this because I know what my tenants want is stability. It’s very expensive to move.

If the property was sold and now is owner occupied, I think that is a good thing. Whilst it does remove a property from the rental market it also removes a potential renter from the market so the net effect could be zero. I. It is ultimately much more economical to own your own property than it is to rent all your life and many people want to buy rather than rent for that reason.
I agree that there is a need for rental properties but one of the reasons in many towns that there aren't enough is because properties are used as Airbnbs/holiday rather than because they are owner occupied. There should be more regulations to reduce that/make it less profitable rather than reducing home ownership.

Landlords switched to Airbnb because of the changes to the regulations. It’s also a sad fact that many rentals have multiple households while a primary owner will most likely be a single household residence.

The lazy solution is to make it less profitable to rent properties. The reality is, a good landlord doesn’t make a huge amount of profit. If I’m committing £350k for a rental property, my cost of capital is £24,500 a year plus I have to cover overheads and ongoing maintenance costs, which in my experience work out to be about £10-12k a year.

The smart solution is to reduce the cost of capital and limit the overheads because you can’t cut maintenance. Energy audits, selective licensing and other such overheads really don’t add much of any value to a tenant. It’s also perfectly valid to ask for what the usage is for normal. Personally I don’t know why utilities can’t provide this type of information to the owner, for them to provide to prospective tenants as necessary.

I do believe all households should be able to deduct interest costs from their property. It would provide a much more equal field and then apply the same capital gain tax on the capital appreciation of the property. Its all about affordability and since the early 2000s the British housing market has been out of balance with unhealthy affordability levels. We also need to build.

I drop in asset values of 30% would do the UK property market the world of good on a long term basis.

Landlords switched to Airbnb because of the changes to the regulations.

And the fact that they could make a lot more money out of it. Of course landlords make a lot of money out of property in the long term. You will eventually own the property and your overheads will decrease massively. You aren't operating some sort of charity out of the kindness of your heart.

I bought my house many years ago and now own it outright so I'm not paying anything to live in it. I had paid rental I would still be doing that and the landlord would own it. We do need some rental properties but should be done via fewer airbnbs and also more properties built. Fewer owner occupied properties and more landlords only benefits landlords.

''@TheTeenageYears

No one would pass a credit check for a mortgage when they've just started a new job either - this isn't an issue limited to Landlords or the rental sector.''

Not true.

I just got a mortgage in principle with one of the main high street lender without any issues and I started a new job 3 months ago.

I don’t do Airbnb because I didn’t see the benefit in terms of income. You get secure short term rental income, but sorting the cleaning is a pain and maintenance is much higher because it’s invariably higher occupancy with people who really don’t watch what they are doing.

Airbnb doesn’t require any of the regulations that a regular tenancy has such as gas certificates, HMO licenses which are a major PITA. No primary residence requires these things. The gas certificate being done annually is a lot. It should be done every 2 years. The costs get put on the tenant pushing rent up.

Just because a house is paid off doesn’t mean I don’t expect an income from my investment. I own shares which pay a dividend which I bought on margin. The dividends and capital gain have over time paid off the margin. Once the shares are fully paid for I can reinvest the dividend or take it as income. It’s exactly the same with rental properties. When it’s shares it’s acceptable but when it’s rental properties it’s frowned upon because it’s easier for the government to make people think the issue is landlords when it’s their ineffective legislation which has resulted in housing being affordable. Divide and conquer is the oldest technique.

Where have I said that you shouldn't expect a profiit? You are the one suggesting that there isn't much profit from being a landlord, not me. As for AirBnB, I can't comment on whether you in particular would make more profit but clearly many people do or there wouldn't be so many short term holiday lets in some parts if the country and a lack of long term lets as a result,

You are missing the point that it’s not about making profit but the amount of regulation. Lower regulation means less time spent managing the property, doing tasks which ultimately tenants don’t derive much value from.

Yield on my rentals is a steady 5%. It’s not a huge return. Most landlords make about this, sometimes 7-9% if they do more of the work themselves. Take a look at yields of investments and it’s an average return at best.