I have student tenants from Kazakhstan who I believe are being paid a scholarship by their government. They have not paid rent yet this month as apparently their scholarship is late due to Covid lockdown. I’m not sure if this is true so I was wondering if any other landlords have heard this too? I’ve asked for some letter as proof from them but they said that they only know this by speaking to other students. They also feel interrogated by my asking. They have assured me they will pay but at the same I am concerned as I already have one student from this house from the same country who had left months before the end of their contract without paying. I’ve also seen someone post on another forum that their student tenants from the same country have left without paying. I wouldn’t want to tar them with the same brush but it does leave me very very concerned. They are on their last month of the contract so there’s also a possibility that they could leave and hope that the deposit will cover the expenses. I just want to know if there’s any other landlord in the same position and whether they know if the delayed scholarship is true.
I would be extremely cautious about associating particular Nationalities with non payment of rent. I can see your point, but others could take a whole different view. Worth being careful.
If you do know of folk that have had the same experience as yourself, and believe it shows some sort of trend, the decision of who you rents to is entirely your choice. I would just advice caution on how you articulate this.
I know it’s no help to you, but I understand your point and I am not making judgments at all.
By the way, I am a tenant and not from Kazakhstan, an experienced landlord will hopefully chime in and give you more practical advice.
I appreciate your point and my question is referring solely to whether the scholarship of student’s from this country was delayed. I repeated it twice in my post and even mentioned that I dont want to tar them with the same brush. I am not associating particular nationalities with non-payment of rent but if other landlords with student tenants from this country were told of the same then it gives me a little of bit reassurance that their reason for delayed/non-payment is truthful.
Jose, I understood your point completely, I was just advising caution. Problem is that the last thing you need is to be accused of discrimination, a tool that many use.
These days one must be extra careful, people get offended, or make out they are, at the drop of a hat. Anyway, good luck with it all. I would personally not bother renting anything to any particular group I wasn’t sure of.
I am not completely British myself, only half!
I have tenants from Rumania but I don’t take students at all. My tenants have to be working at that point in time and pass Rentguard referencing. They may fail for a past ccj but a fail of any kind rules them out. My way of thinking is if its paid for by someone else and it goes directly to the tenant it will always be unreliable. Student accommodation to me is a speciality like long term DSS. If they cannot pass the reference I will wait for one that does. Foreign students as you say leave the country and that’s that. We cannot afford to take that risk as it is our pension.
The scholarship is called Bolashak. You can find details online and call them yourself or email them. https://bolashak.gov.kz/en/
I was receiving it myself ages ago and never missed a single rent payment, nor did my friends. People are different though and some can try to play the system. Some people are rather nasty and can leave without payment indeed, but that is probably true of any tenant regardless of where they are from.
We’ve personally had both locals and international people running off without giving a proper notice or paying for the last month. And they were working professionals too just not grown ups apparently.
Hope you will get some clarity.
Thank you, that’s very helpful. They seem to be sending the scholarship but not all at the same time. My tenants have started to pay individually as they receive their scholarship.
I hope you also get your issues with your tenants resolved. Somehow most tenants feel it’s fair for landlords not to get paid 