Just sell it or leave it empty, perhaps with a trusted housesitter. Property prices are flat and you are just exposing yourself to pain and that’s before the impact of the Renters Reform bill hits us. More landlords are selling up rather than buying, including myself.
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I have a buyer for a place in two flats . Mother and daughter buying to live in themselves One each > I chose them over a landlord as I wanted to take it out of the rental system as a small protest against goverment policy and help first time buyers
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Hi
I accepted 6 months in advance and a guarantor for a young couple just starting work after Uni…they stayed 2 years… never had an issue …when they saved enough for their own house they left…no local LL even let them view because of their age…my kids are the same age.
I did all the reference checks as normal and the inpections.
Maybe I was lucky…my only nightmare tenant was an army captain who lie long, did t want to payd about pwts and left an iron on my brand new carpets…he didnt last didnt want to pay either until I threatened him with his senior officer … unpaid debts = a charge
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Why red flag? I have a great credit score, references from my two previous estate agents, 6 months in advance and working part-time topped up with universal credit because I was unwell and unable to work full-time and no landlord would accept me. With my salary and universal credit and housing benefit, I was getting £1,200 per month and the flats I was applying for were around £550-600. They wouldn’t say it, but it was always, the landlord has gone with someone else. I’m 56 years old, never been in trouble in my life, I respect the properties where I have lived and each time have l left of my own accord and in good terms with the landlord/estate agent. Thankfully now I’m back on the road to recovery and back on full-time work and I bet I’d be a landlord’s dream even though I could lose my job 6 months down the line and struggle to find another one, so respectfully your comment seem a little ridiculous to do me.
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Look I think it’s wise to be cautious when you’re renting out your property to anyone both for financial reasons and to ensure your property is respected. However, whether someone has a job or not doesn’t really give you security on either cases. You could get your dream tenant on paper and they can become unemployed down the line or thrash your property. I’m a tenant, but I can also see the landlords side. At the end of the day you should go with your gut based on the information you got on paper. There are some landlords here that have had bad experiences with tenants, so they tarnish all of us with the same brush. That’s lack of intelligence, so please be intelligent. At the end of the day, no matter what anyone says, it’s your decision. Doing things in a hurry hardly ever ends well, so take your time.
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No, not always. If referencing is done thoroughly and correctly, taking 6 months rent in advance is not a problem. I’ve done it before with self employed tenants who have little UK financial footprint. If everything checks out, no reason to not take them on. I’ve never had an issue (touch wood).
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Why? Because if you applied for one of our properties with a great credit score, references from two estate agents and enough income to show you could afford the property plus a track record via bank statements that you could manage money, offering me six months in advance would “seem a little ridiculous to me”. You more than qualify without having to do that.
So, if you did… it would make me think, “Oh… I thought they were fine, what makes them think they don’t qualify… is there something they’re not telling me?”
Maybe a “belt and braces” approach, trying to make sure after having heard how competitive things are now for renters?
I do understand the apprehension though, could appear desperate. So difficult for renters to know what to do.
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Hi Emma. Advance rent is not necessarily a red flag, it just a security measure from a tenant who, after all, need a home. People can have financial issues as we have seen post Covid, and I understand why a six month lease could be a stress for you, but consider this, what if it was you or your child in need of a home, with some cash saved will to place effectively 7.1 months rent upfront and there were no recent issues on the credit file? I’d consider issues less than 3 years to be a point if they are simply renewed CCJs not new ones. If in three years they have obtained credit, have full time work and are out of the probation period, then I’d do it. I was a landlord in the US when I moved overseas to Germany and rented to a young couple with a child who were over the moon to have a nice house in a great neighbourhood to live in. They also had bad credit, or one did who was the main earner. They had good tenant references as well. The company they work for gave a guarantee for rent and they stayed and bought my house when I sold it. They just needed a chance. We are not defined purely by a credit report.
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Sometimes the offer of 6 months in advance is nothing sinister, more of a desperation because you’re competing with some many people, so giving 6 months in advance could give the landlord more of an incentive to chose you… by the sound of it, it just makes you suspicious. You live and learn.
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What happens if your dream tenants become ill or lose their jobs for whatever reason and have not savings? These are things that can happen to anyone! You’re basically making a judgment based on things you can’t control!
I agree that this is the primary motivation, but as a very experienced LL, I’m never going to be swayed by offers of money. Far, far more important to me is that you are going to faithfully pay the rent each month and treat the property well. No amount of money up front is going to prove that to me or any other savvy LL so it seems a needless offer to me. It would be far better from an applicant’s POV to think about how you can prove that you are a faithful T through references, a track record of rent payments… maybe even copies of clear checkout reports on request from previous LLs. These are the kinds of things that are far more valuable to me than cash.
I’m also someone who knows that Ts can fall on hard times. If that happens to my Ts, I appreciate knowing the fact that they keep their savings in their bank account (not mine) to tide them over. Thus, I prefer them to keep their money, earn their own interest off it and keep it for a rainy day.
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