Why can’t we have a bad tenant register. Obviously it would be monitored and one couldn’t just sprout off about dirty tenants. But a kind of 1 to 10 list.
How clean were the tenants 1 to 10
Did the tenants violate the tenancy agreement
Did the tenants pay rent on time
Did the tenants notify the landlord or agent of repairs
How did the tenants leave the property at the end of their lease
Even giving a tenant an opportunity to respond, or explain their circumstances
Or you could make it so the tenant could actually register themselves and ask the landlord to comment.
Private landlords dislike dealing with Benefit claimants as we have to wait so long for rent, however we wouldn’t mind waiting if they were good tenants.
As a matter of fact the same would work the other way round
Register for fair landlords
How prompt was the landlord at fixing repairs when notified
etc
Yes Tracey I agree. Landlords are regulated and policed very carefully. Yet, tenants can get away with a whole host of misdemeanours, especially if they “know how to play the game” and a lot do.
90% of a tenancy agreement is about the landlord and most landlords would not even care about repair or are so stingy to even do not bother to refresh a house between tenancy which is both dirty and disgusting so I fail to see the statistics implicitly used to arrive to said conclusions, can you share it with the community?
Yes I have always thought that there should be a ‘bad tenant register’ so landlords can steer clear of bad tenants and save themselves a lot of heartache.
I have thought this for many years and would welcome OR starting a scheme like this. I have several properties where the rent is as little as £400 per month, I have in the passed taken tenants to court who have not pad their rent and left the property. I don’t bother now because the costs involved are greater, £350 for court costs, travel, a day in court etc, The tenant does not turn up to court and whilst the judge may award you all that is owed plus expenses you would not stand a chance of getting a debt collector to chase the money or have anyway of chasing the tenant direct. Whilst references are taken out on the new proposed tenant how much of this can you trust. A call to a number given by the tenant of “the previous landlord” is most likely the number of a relative pretending to be the landlord…
Sandro you maybe right about it being the case in the London market. The damand for property outweights the supply, so a London Landlord maybe doesnt have to clean and maintain their property so well, as they can get a tenant regardless.
For me my property is my investment, to not maintain it, can cause major problems in the future. I dont want to be bothered with endless calls to fix a tap, change a light bulb or unplug the bath of hairs down the plughole. However a water leek, damp, electrical fault could cause major damage to my investment. Not to mention making my tenants unhappy resulting in me having to readverfise, rereference retenancy, really not worth it for me. My life is so much easier if I have a good relationship with my tenants.
Furthermore its funny how when you see slumlandlords on the TV most recent the Duke and Duchess being visable being shocked at the condition of a slum lanlords property. With food and debre being screwn around the place. People fail to realise that although it maybe is the landlords fault that the doors are hanging off and there isnt enough power outlets, it is absolutely not the landlords fault that tenants choose to live in filthy conditions. I cant tell my tenants how to clean or ventilate the property, and if I did they wouldn’t listen, and probably be offended. Often the decore, age and condition of the property reflects the price the landlords applies and the price a tenants is willing and able to pay. But with 80% of under 30is not knowing how to change a plug or bleed a radiator I’m afraid the lanlord is not a fix for sociaties fast food babies.
I think a bad tenant register is the wrong mindset but something like AirBnB where you can rate each other. The demand for this would be high. It’s being used for lots of other things apart from AirBnb, for example, Uber, eBay, Amazon, Facebook. Just a matter of time before something like this takes off.
As someone who’s just left a property valued at £395 pcm. Always paid my rent, reported repairs that were never actually repaired! Paid money out of my own pocket to make the property habitable, reported mould and rising damp to environmental health as landlord and letting agent refused to action or even acknowledge repairs, left the property in better condition than I found it and I’m still waiting for my bond of £550 to be returned 21 days after leaving even though there is no inventory so they cannot claim anything from the bond, and I have images documenting my arrival, during and leaving condition. It’s cost me time, effort, and money to have a statutory declaration because the agent isn’t responding to the DPS request for return. Why can’t there also be a list for band landlords/properties? I now live in a house rented via open rent and my landlord is so much better than the last its great but what if my old landlord took unbridge at being reported to environmental health and having to actually repair his property? Will I then be a bad Tennant on the list because he’s got to put his hand in his pocket?
Hi Peter, thanks for your reply and discussion on this subject. You are right in saying it shows a CCJ against their name however in my experience when you do get access to your property from the judge you find that the tenant has never paid any rates, water rates and the list goes on so they have probably more than one CCJ against them. This brings me back to the original posting, if there were some kind of database specifically about their previous renting record it would help make a formed decision whether to take them on. The last tenant I had that defaulted on the rent and left the house in a terrible mess had a CCJ at the time of referencing. On further questioning he claimed it was for a £50 overdue electricity bill which he was unaware of as he had moved on to another city so never received the notice or bills or court order.
Firstly Samantha I am glad you have found a better property and landlord, hopefully this gives you some comfort that all landlords aren’t bad. I do agree with you, the tenant should be able to respond to any untrue claims and if you are able to show photos even better. This database should work both ways improving the rental market for the tenant and the landlord. As for you getting your deposit back, if its with the DPS then this is another topic for discussion and improvement for both parties. I waited 3 months for the DPS to return a deposit which was a small contribution towards repairs, replacements and cleaning. I too had to pay a JP £80 to sign the claim form even though the deposit was paid by OR on my behalf and had all the evidential records of who I am and my bank details.
I dont see why a register shouldn’t work both ways. Although I am speaking from a landlords point of view, I am not so short sighted that I cant see that there are slum landlords. However I do feel that slum landlords are often catering for supply and demand. If finances are tight and your only choice is to share a room for £50 a week, then thats what you have to do. When the council come along and shut it down, where do we think these people go, not to the holiday, on the streets or equally unfit accommodation.
Of course no landlord likes a tenant that constantly complains, landlords with a handful of properties can often be on call day and night. But hey thats my job, I’m not complaining.
You wouldnt believe the things I’ve been called out for. I once had a grown man demanding I call out an electrician. I talked him through the fuse box, then unplugging everything etc but to no avail. Eventually I went round and through a process of elimination, it turned out to be his slow cooker tripping the electric. That would have been my £100 down the drain.
I just wanted to chime in with something Samantha raised.
I think everyone agrees that good, professional behaviour from tenants and landlords ought to be rewarded (and bad behaviour discouraged!).
But whether a peer-reviewing system is the best way to do this is tricky. There’s a lot of pros which some of you have pointed out.
But as Samantha says, when is the right point in the process to leave the review?
Is it after the first few months? At the end of the tenancy? When the deposit has been returned? When the new tenants move in and are sure they haven’t found any damage?
If the right time to leave a review is the end of a tenancy, then landlords/tenants who have long tenancies (usually a sign of a happy tenancy) will have fewer reviews, so will appear worse. And what happens if there is 7 years of happy tenancy, and then a few disputes in the month before the end, and the landlord decides to review the tenant 1 out of 5?
With, e.g. eBay, it’s easier because there are a high frequency of transactions, and as soon as the money has been paid and the product safely delivered, both parties’ obligations to each other end, so it’s a suitable time to leave a review.
And the stakes are a lot higher with renting, so we have to get it right.
It would be awful if a landlord can’t find tenants because a tenant has unfairly given them a bad review, and awful if a tenant couldn’t find a home for the same reason.
Hi Tracey3, Perhaps think about upgrading your referencing company. When I advertise my properties I write that bank, work, previous landlord references will be taken up. This puts off the people I want to put off. The messy, the late payers. If the tenant doesn’t want to go through this process, then that says a lot. The referencing company take previous landlords references. A comprehensive questionnaire is sent to the landlord with the questions you’re interested in. They also ask for work references, 6 months bank statements to show rent going out and income going in, national insurance number, Right To Rent info, passport ID, check CCJs, and a background check. In 15 years I have never had a bad tenant. Since I use this company life has been much easier for me. Knock on wood.
By the way, you can always ask these questions of previous landlord by email. Keep a standard email to send. I’d answer honestly. I’m amazed that other landlords don’t ask. Sometimes its a quick phone call from an agent and they don’t ask relevant questions. Do keep in mind the current landlord doesn’t know what the property will look like until they actually leave. So a email after they leave enquiring about departure state of the flat is a good idea. So is a cleaning deposit for an end-of-tenancy clean.
Yes a register of Landlords, scarey isn’t it even if you think you’re a good landlord with lovely well maintained properties, which I do. It’s all a learning curve isn’t it. Good luck to you!
Happy London Landlady.
Samantha Hi you make some valid points I had a tenant that could not get a good reference out of her former landlord unless she paid him £100!! She had emails on her computer to show he would not do any repairs. Having seen all the e mails I let the place to her. She is a great tenant and always on time with rent