Questions for landlords

[nonamemummy]

If there’s any landlords reading that rent out homes, I’m curious to know how many of you would accept pets in a rented property, accept people who receive benefits or people who have their income topped up?

We rent out two properties. The first one has had the same tenant for over five years, and he has a cat. The second one is a flat, and the head lease does not allow pets. The last two times it’s been up for rent, we have not excluded people on benefits. In fact we were set to go ahead with someone, but then she pulled out of the process and we had to start again. She was moving from a different borough, and Barbara was introducing universal credit, and she was fearful about how that would end up.

@nonamemummy, you may well be able to paint, it will be in the contract what you can and can't do. I know a lot of LL do not allow tenants to paint. The reason is because if someone is only there for 6 months and paint it dark purple, it is a pain having to repaint over it in white or magnolia after every 6 months.

It depends what property you are renting out and in what state. If it is for people with pets, then you do need a property without expensive carpets etc. You have to pay more when they leave to extra clean. Neighbours could complain. People on benefits, I’m not sure I’ve seen a difference, but there can be a bit of a lack of responsibility for taking care of the property, like keeping the garden, condensation etc. I really try and take care of my tenants (only one property) but because of the area, I find most people do tend to really not take care of the house and I have high repair bills etc. Bit depressing really.

It depends on lots of things. We had one application for two very large dogs in a one bed flat, we said no. Another where the owners were out all day and had no plans for a dog walker or similar, we said no

We currently have a tenant with a cat but will not rent to someone with pets again as we will have to take her deposit to replace the carpet that her cat ripped up at the join. Yes I would consider someone on benefits but we also do credit checks and reference checks on any prospective tenant as my insurance requires.

I do not allow my tenants to decorate. The house is decorated in neutral tones which makes it very easy to touch up between tenants. For example I'm not faffing around trying to get people to repaint or taking money from the deposit to repaint to be honest, it's just too much hassle.

I take pets as long as appropriate to the house. It’s a small house with a small garden so I wouldn’t take 2 big dogs for example.
A small dog, 1-2 cats etc fine.

My insurance does not permit benefits so that’s a No.

Pets yes if they pay a pet deposit.

'Benefits or people who have their income topped up'
Yes, if they can prove they can pay the rent.

Cats yes, dogs no.
Benefits/ income support no but it’s £1000 per month so never been an issue,

My current tenant is in receipt of benefits. She's a wonderful person. And no I would not allow pets. It's a flat and I don't think people in flats should have animals. They need to be free

The problem with taking a tenant on benefits is the risk that that if the tenant is claiming fraudulently, the benefits agency will make the landlord pay the money back. So you can end up thousands of pounds out of pocket and no way to pay your mortgage.

That’s why many landlords won’t take tenants whose only income is from benefits.

I have a tenant whose husband left her and her children so she now gets benefits. I would never have thought she should leave. She has since got a dog. She can do what she likes, it is her home.

No to pets. I was badly stung fairly early on in renting out my property. I allowed a small dog on the promise it was well behaved. They wrecked the place (wee and poo left on carpets 🤮). The tenant did a runner and left all the mess as well as a lot of unpaid bills. I won't risk it again.

Benefits I would accept if everything else about the tenant's checks and references was ok.

@Megan2018

I take pets as long as appropriate to the house. It’s a small house with a small garden so I wouldn’t take 2 big dogs for example. A small dog, 1-2 cats etc fine.

My insurance does not permit benefits so that’s a No.

Your insurance? Or your mortgage provider? It must be more tricky if you don’t actually own the property, but am shocked you don’t shop around for insurance.

No to both. I did allow pets, but that was a mistake. I know some pet owners are responsible, but some are not. Dog wee soaked into floorboards is costly to replace and off putting to new tenants. I don’t like refusing, but it’s my investment I have to protect.

It’s fairly standard for landlord insurance not to cover people on benefits. Mine will cover carers, disabled, and retired tenants, all in receipt of benefits, but not unemployed tenants

I can’t have pets in mine because it’s a leasehold and that’s what my lease says.

Would be happy with benefits etc - as long as they can meet income eligibility threshold the source is not my concern (as long as it’s legitimate and stable).

Wouldn’t accept kids as it’s a tiny one bed London flat suitable for one adult or a couple.

@Costacoffeeplease

It’s fairly standard for landlord insurance not to cover people on benefits. Mine will cover carers, disabled, and retired tenants, all in receipt of benefits, but not unemployed tenants

Is that tied to a mortgage though? I have never had that problem. But I can see that it would be an issue if you don’t actually own the property.

We're looking for a house to rent for up to 6 months after a fire in our own house. The repairs are going to be extensive.
Our house insurance is paying but it's so difficult to find a house that accepts pets, we have a dog. He's very well behaved and it's so frustrating to be told 'no pets.'

Our contract is very strict but our landlords are quite relaxed so would let us do things our contract forbids, we generally just text the landlord directly too as purple bricks are useless and I have no idea why they're still paying them to manage the property.

My favourite restriction in our contract is that we're not allowed to hang any washing out in our garden (big garden, detached house so no obvious reasoning)

I'm perfectly happy for pets in my rental but my agent tells me I'm definitely in a minority in this area. As for the other criteria, I leave that to my agent. If they pass references and the agent advises me so, then they have a tenancy. I never meet my tenants.

Given that the property was suitable I’ve allowed an existing tenant to have 2 kittens, provided a cat flap was properly installed (not a botch job) - I hate the thought of indoor cats.

Decorating - at tenants’ request we’ve paid for it to be done - perfectly reasonable after several years.

Benefits, this has never arisen, but for insurance reasons, probably not, I’m afraid.

benefits etc yes if the insurers are happy.

pet deposit now illegal so that discourages many landlords - well done, Shelter. Cat, possibly if they were perfect tenants in every other way (had one of those and no cat damage at all). Small dog if someone was at home all the time, don't want damage from chewing or neighbours driven nuts by barking. Property not suitable for large dog.

put up pictures etc by all means, just pay to fix it if go through a pipe or cable.

No, no mortgage, our rentals are owned outright

No pets as on second floor and head lease requires consent of other lessees. Also not many tenants really respect the property in the way the owner does so not worth the risk of damage.
Buildings insurance forbids any tenant on any benefit so this could invalidate any insurance claim we made eg fire while a tenant on bens occupied it . I try to keep away from benefits Councils etc