How can I present us as brilliant tenants?

[RelocatorRelocator]

Seen a house we really want to rent in the place we're relocating to.

Ticks lots of boxes for us: plenty of room, nice neutral decor, on a lovely road near the dcs' new schools. Good price too. Not surprisingly, we're not the only ones interested!

So we need to write to the estate agent expressing our interest by tomorrow morning. How can I make us stand out as the tenants the landlord will really want to have? Unfortunately I can't sell the dcs but what else will the landlord be looking for?

Is any of this worth saying?

Dh is a company director, I work from home.
We are flexible with moving dates.
We are prepared to pay the first six months' rent up front.
We have experience of letting out our own property and we understand that this is your home as well as a business transaction. We will take good care of it.
I also didn't know whether to say something about it being a lovely family home for us to start our new life in X? Is that too cheesy?

That all sounds great, but how bloody depressing that you need to do this for a rental place. Housing market is nuts. Your third point will probably be the most persuasive so I'd put it first.

Funnily enough my landlord just told me that the things they look for is someone who pays their rent on time, cares about the property, will pay attention and tell them straight away if there's anything wrong e.g. damp, etc.

I wouldn't mention working from home - possible red flag about the kind of business you'll run from home - not suggesting it's an issue for you, but maybe not necessary? Out of interest, why were you thinking that was something that would be good to mention?

MissMystic I just mentioned it as it means I will be around and not leaving the property empty loads. But you're right it might sound dodgy. Wonder if I can reword it? Would it sound better if I said I am the Finance Manager for a X kind of company and work from home? I'm only doing emails and admin.

I also think the working from home would be problematic, because it's not just being used for residential purposes. Could affect insurance for landlord.

If I had several people interested in my property I would be thinking that the rent was too low so I expect they will be looking at you to offer to pay more to secure it. Having said that our landlord rejected a higher offer in our favour because we were corporate tenants and agreed a two year lease.

OK I'll not mention working from home (although current tenant is clearly running a business from the front room and noone seems very bothered lol) - I'll just say I'm a Finance Manager. That sounds very dependable and unlikely to trash the place, doesn't it?

If it makes a difference, the landlords are letting the house out as they are working abroad at the moment. Hence me mentioning looking after the place.

Estate agent just said register your interest but we'll speak to him in the morning and see if anyone has offered more money.

I would not offer rent up front unless you can guarantee to pay the next six months up front too. More likely other interested parties will offer rent above the asking price to secure the property, and if you are keen long term could enquire about long lease or no break clause for a year.

Ah x post.

EA said landlords want 6 month initial contract then rolling from then on. Which suits us as we'd like to buy somewhere once we're settled. So I assume the question of another 6 months upfront wouldn't apply as we'd switch to the rolling contract? Or have I misunderstood?

Thanks for all the advice, it's been a long time since we've rented!

Right, so they are only away for six months or may not know how much longer than six months they will be gone for? If this suits you and you need a contract to get a school place go for it.

I think they are going to be away longer - they told the EA they ideally want someone who will stay longer than the current tenants, who've only been there 6 months.

It's not the end of the world if we don't get it, I'm sure something else will turn up. It's the nicest thing that's come on the rental market while I've been looking though.

Mention no pets we'll if you have none. It's a big thing for me when renting yo tenants.

Do you know why the currant tenants are leaving after just 6 months?

holidays unfortunately (from a renting perspective!) we have a cat which we've already mentioned and they were fine with it as long as we cleaned the carpets before we leave.

quint dh met the current tenants today when viewing - they were only ever renting temporarily while their house is being renovated.

you do need to mention that you work from home, because what you do needs to match the insurance. (both yours and theirs) If it is a normal 'sit at a computer and type' thing it will be no problem. Keeping huge heaps of building materials and having customers visit might be.

if they are fine with the cat, no worries.

good tenants report any problems, don't let kids scribble on walls, don't let them use bath crayons and keep the garden under control. But it will be YOUR home and you treat it as such.

If you just do emails and work in a computer that does not qualify as running business from home. If you used it as a registered address and had clients coming in, it would be different.

I was told that by home insurer.

Don't offer to pay six months rent up front. Someone offered us that and we chose other tenants because we were suspicious about why they were doing that. We didn't need the money up front and were worried they wouldn't pay the rent after the first six months. The things that would make us choose someone is them being ready to move immediately (no vacant period), offering higher rent per month, wanting a longer term tenancy and not asking for additional stuff to be supplied or removed. I'd offer to sign a 12 month contract in your position.

We offered a year's rent up front and to sign a two year contract instead of one year, and got the property we wanted.

We also did the whole 'love the house, longterm family home for us' thing. I don't know for sure whether that helped, but they seemed to react well to it.

six months up front may be needed for those with no credit history (e.g. been abroad for a while) or the self-employed who are cash rich but have unstable income.

doesn't necessarily mean a dodgy tenant.

landlords should have rent guarantee insurance if at all possible; any tenant can hit financial problems, or you may get one of the tiny percentage of rogues who just decides to stop paying.

"six months up front may be needed for those with no credit history or the self-employed who are cash rich but have unstable income. doesn't necessarily mean a dodgy tenant."

I would disagree, all the above are red flags to a landlord, I just want a 'normal' longer term employed 9-5 type tenant. I have accepted 6 months rent up front 3 times, each time month 7 rent has not appeared!

let's hope that isn't what is about to happen -although I have the rent guarantee and legal cover if it does.

the tenant who stopped paying the rent was 'normally' employed.

there's no absolutes in this.