Any landlords about? I need some advice...

[Intransige]

We are planning an extension. As it will involve remodelling most of the interior of the house, we plan to move out for (probably) six months while we do it and rent nearby.

Obviously a six month tenancy isn't great from a landlord's perspective, with reletting fees, risk / cost of vacant weeks etc etc. And on top of that we have a pet and young children!

The local rental market isn't scarily competitive, but good places do move fast and we have a relatively small search area as we want to be close to home to keep an eye on the build.

What would be reasonable to offer in order to make us appealing prospective tenants? I don't want to pay extra unnecessarily, of course, but I also want to be fair to the landlord.

Obviously we will be upfront about our plans, but I'm worried that will mean we can't find a rental at all

So, if you are a landlord what would you ask for in our situation?

I would be perfectly happy if a tenant offered six months' rent up front if they were very obviously a family with young children.

I would suggest that you offer the landlord an extra deposit for the pets (they can decline if they wish but it shows willing) plus offer to have it written into the contract that you will have the carpets professsionally cleaned on exit and make good any pet damage.

My friend was in a similar situation & looked around locally at what wasn't shifting on the local sales market. She then contacted the agents & asked if they would consider a short lease, with agreed viewings once a week. Worth a try?

I also didn't think that six months upfront indicated trouble. Never again - while it didn't start off bad it didn't take long. Of course it doesn't always mean a dealer!

Just seen witwoos post. This isn't what happened to me, but the tactic now is that the family with young kids and the six months up front are not the ones who actually live there after a couple of weeks. There is no defence against this beyond frequent visits, which a landlord can't do as it is harrassment.

Again, absolutely no suggestion this is the op, but that is why there may be suspicion.

Yes I did wonder about the issue of a "front"! The rent upfront is definitely something to tread carefully on, from the sound of it. Perhaps one to agree to if suggested, rather than offer.

Prosecco that's a good idea; something I will investigate.

Have a look for rentals any way you can other than through agents. You usually find that dealing direct with landlords leads to much more flexibilty. So Gumtree, local paper, etc.

Could pets possibly stay elsewhere for the 6 months? Would give you many more options

I've never done rents of longer than 6 months and trusted the agency to vet the clients. The only time I ever took all the money up front was due to someone having a county court judgement against them and bad credit and rhe agency held the money and paid it monthly. I then took the decision on whether to renew as the six months came to the end. All our tenants stayed for a year at least.

Even though I'm a pet owner myself, i wouldn't have rented to uou because of your pet. I'm sorry.

Hope you're getting somewhere op. We're struggling here, landlords holding out for (and getting) 12m tenancies, plus I think agents too busy with student lets at this time of year.

We're still in the strategising stage, savage, we've not yet started the search in earnest. That's not good that it's proving so hard though We hope to tender in the next month or so for builders so it will be us soon. Fingers crossed and good luck on your search!

Bluntness, fair enough re the pet. I think that's how it goes, either landlords accept pets or they don't.

Those are some good ideas ICan. I had forgotten about gumtree. The pet has to be with us unfortunately. Nowhere for him to go without paying for it, and in any case he's a member of the family

I think we've found somewhere! Fingers crossed, waiting the referencing etc from the estate agent.

Fingers crossed! Did you end up offering any extra incentives?

Luckily not - it's a new refurbishment of an old derelict house, and the landlord has several apartments he needs to let asap to start getting a return on investment. We did offer to take it unfurnished, which may have helped (it was furnished or unfurnished) but unfurnished suits us as we need to move some of our stuff out while the works are ongoing anyway.

We were going to do this but ended up buying a static caravan, having it low-loaded/towed onto the front drive and living in that for 8 months.

The static cost us less than £1k (and then we sold it on) and the moving of it about £1k too. Do you have space for this?

Slapped, DH keeps suggesting a caravan. We might be able to squeeze a small one in, but with two small children and two quite introverted adults who both like their space I worry that we wouldn't survive it

I'm very happy to take six months rent upfront on a six month lease, so long as a person's references are very satisfactory and they don't look like drug dealers or madams.
A six month assured shorthold tenancy could convert into a periodic tenancy so long as the landlord was in agreement to this, which means you'd just give one month's notice when you want to leave.
Personally, I like to avoid animals in my properties if possible, but it would not be a complete deal breaker if other factors were right.
Essentially, I want to be assured that my properties will be returned in a good state at the end of the tenancy, and that the rent will be paid in full when it's due.

Just to add, I actually prefer to start with a six month tenancy agreement, so I get a measure of the tenants, then I'm happy to go onto a longer fixed term.

savage, how did it go? Did you get the place?