Renting our home and finding good tenants?

[atonofwashing]

Hello.
There is a slim chance we may be moving abroad for a few years so would need to rent our home.

We love our home and take care of it. Will soon be putting in a brand new kitchen and damp proof course. So it will be in tip top condition should we go.

I have read a few estate agent's websites and it mentions discriminating against people looking to rent. We would be looking for a family or young professional couple. Do estate agents take the first offer that comes along or would we, the home owners, have the final say about who takes our home?

I have not asked any agents yet for fear of being Pestered. I do appreciate we should not be so emotional about this, but I don't really want to have tenants in who are going to wreck the place. Also appreciate that not everyone wrecks rented.

How can we discriminate without discriminating, IYSWIM. Has anyone dealt with this?

Thanks for any advice.

You can select whomever you wish to rent your house. What you can't do is explicitly state you will not rent to blacks, gays or women (or any other group whose interests are protected in law).

With the best will in the world, even the best tenants can turn bad and wreck a place so perhaps don't leave it spotless, leave it bomb proof.

Queenof, thanks for that.
Yes, bomb proof. That has focused my mind a bit more.

Most people I know who rent out have had good experiences. But you just never know. Of course a good management team will help. I may want to manage the property myself, but being abroad might not be ideal.

Cheers.

In my experience as a tenant it's very much a case of 'first come, first served' these days when you go through a letting agency. In fact, the market is so fluid at the moment that it's common for people to put down deposits on rental properties they haven't even viewed, based on pics/descriptions on Rightmove, etc. The letting agents quite happily take the money without running any kind of checks or references (other than credit checks). We've missed out on a number of houses in our area because we've wanted to view a place before putting down a deposit and been beaten to the chase. I've asked letting agents if this is common and been told that it is.

Unsurprisingly we've seen quite a few of the houses we were looking at a few months ago already back on the rental market due to what I can only assume to be poor tenants.

You could rent privately? You'd save yourself a whole raft of fees. There are lovely, trustworthy tenants out there; we've been in our current place for 11 years now, no problems, never missed a rental payment. People like us do exist!

Good luck!

You don't sound like a strong bet to be a landlord, to be honest - which is understandable; your house is your castle and you take a great deal of pride in it. But once you rent it, it becomes someone else's home to keep (up to a point) how they like and it becomes your business asset.

I rented straight after the owners moved out and it was a pain, they were always banging on about how I was keeping 'their' garden. A friend of mine had a much worse experience culminating in solicitors' letters being exchanged. Of course, not all tenancies are like this but you wouldn't be my first choice of landlord.

Would you need to rent the house out for the money, or just to keep it lived in? I wonder if there might be a better option for you, i.e. maybe a peppercorn rent from a single friend who you know would keep it in top notch condition?

Btw, you are allowed to attach conditions like no children or pets. I wouldn't rent to someone with either if you want the house kept in pristine condition. But I do think you could find this quite a distressing process, so if you can avoid it I would do.

OP are you in the East Midlands? We're desperatly house hunting and getting very frustrated as our credit rating is making it hard. We don't have bad credit - we just haven't ever really used credit so have no history and have lived overseas so no full address history. most landlords are relying on a credit report instead of our excellent references etc. sorry to derail - just wanting to advise that it might be better to meet potential tennants rather than rely on box ticking by an agent?

I have two friends who have let their houses through agents and both had major issues - one had a severely wrecked house ending in eviction, the other had a tenant just disappear without paying anything. The agents did nothing to prevent or monitor these situations so don't assume using one will offer you any protection. Meet your tennants, talk to them and make the decision yourself.

Once you rent out a house you need to lose your emotional attachment to it. It becomes the tenants home, not yours. If you don't think you can cope with this then being a landlord is not for you. In my experience, agents are fairly useless, it pays for them to get someone in as quickly as possible.

Tribpot, thanks for your imput. We want to find the right tenants so that we can in fact leave them in peace to live in the house! Our house is no castle, and has been filled with dogs and kids by ourselves so have no issues with that.
We have rented from friends in the past and it was a disaster. So NOT going down that route, unless of course they are homeless. I fear you have me down as a mousey person with plastic covers on my sofa, couldn't be further from the truth.

Skippers, I have heard that too, and that not how I wish to operate. I wish to meet all prospective tenants. Yes, I would manage the tenants myself, but only worried that living abroad might be tricky. We do, however have lovely neighbours.

English, sorry no, we are in the South east of England. You are right tho, finding the right agent is vital, also.

Thanks all for your input.

Both my girls rent privately from the same landlady. They simply could not afford the deposits, fees etc demanded by Letting Agents. They are good tenants, always pay the rent and have redecorated when agreed with LL. In fact Landlady was concerned last week when my DD had her back yard gate fixed quickly because of an attempted break-in and did not bother her to do the job. She says the girls must tell her if anything is wrong.

But a word of warning. She is also a grateful landlady because they actually pay. She has had a string of tenants who chose not to pay her and one was a member of her own family!

I don't think any amount of interviewing and references can guarantee you the perfect tenant. Perhaps you are better off with the imperfect, but willing tenant, like my daughters.

My friends worst tenants ever were the Police. My cousins were the navy who not only managed to write off the sofas, but also the kitchen. Their dogs and walkies on the sandy beach also put paid to the carpets.

Ooh, whereabouts in SE? We're still looking...baby on the way, need bigger house!

ElsieMc - yes, lots of horror stories. I have a few myself. But it's true, paying tenants helps!
I would try and avoid family and friends. Not nice when things go wrong. Family friends of ours rented out their holiday home, and lads from the forces took it for a while. They were into their motorbikes and I recall them telling us they found the kitchen cabinets filled with bike parts! Yikes. They have not rented it out since.

Skippers, we are in SW London.

Ah well, we're quite a bit further south than you. Good luck with whatever you decide anyway! And I'm very envious of your move abroad.

Skippers, thanks. Haven't had the all clear from DHs boss yet, but could be exciting should we go.

Good luck with the new baby, it's all go, isn't it!

I'm a lovely tenant! I always pay my rent on time, never missed a payment. Repair anything that needs repairing, careful, treat the property with respect. I much much prefer private landlords though as estate agents are fee-happy rip off merchants. We are looking at London again soon. What part of SW London are you?

Thisfence - Wandsworth

Ooh. Wandsworth is lovely! How many bedrooms?

3 beds, 2 baths.
Old 2 up 2 down with new loft conversion.

Sounds lovely! Think of me if you do end up renting it out!

Will do! Thanks for the interest.

Do you need to go to an agent? We rent to a family we know through work. Could you advertise amongst your acquaintances?

Basically, get an agent, get references, get (and protect) your deposit and yes you can specify that you want professionals, or a family etc.
What you CANT specify is race/gender/nationality/sexuality etc.

No, don't necessarily need an agent. Yes, could try acquaintances, want to avoid friends. Just in case.

Deposits have to be handed over to a new body, can't remember the name. I don't think in England you can just hold a deposit. In Scotland there is Deposit Scotland, and landlords are legally required to use it. Pretty sure it's the same in England. Need to check that out.

Members of my family who rent property used to hold deposits, and then Return the deposit with interest accrued. Nice little bonus. Now that's changed and no interest can be added to the deposit being returned.

Thanks, all.

I think the key thing to ensuring a good tenant are the references. You said you wanted to meet them personally. That's a good idea. Do the AST for six months and then review. That way if you are not happy, you are only stuck with them for six months.

Thisfence, that's good advice. Thanks.

If you're going to be living abroad and your tenants contract comes to an end, who is going to do the check-out, meet new potential tenants etc.?

We were in a similar position but ended up still living close to the house. Our main thing was to break even and keep our house intact rather than make profit.

We tried agents and then used open rent and have found tenants who seem perfect. We rejected some just on feel, which obviously is not possible if agents are doing it all.

I don't really see how to manage a property whilst abroad - little niggly things do come up and we've had to pop round a few times.

If you go ahead, it's helpful to build up contacts with plumbers, handy men etc.