Hi, we are new landlords. We referenced the tenants with openrent. Everything seems to be okay except that we didn’t receive a landlord reference yet. The tenants said that they didn’t give notice yet, hence they can’t provide current reference which is fair enough. They can provide it later they said also they have references from previous landlords. We would like to proceed but not sure if it’s safe. Can we still quit the agreement if the current landlord reference comes back as very negative? We need to be safe as we’ll need to pay mortgage and have 2 kids. Also, we were thinking to buy the Openrent insurance for £275 to be safer. Did anyone try it? Thanks very much for you help.
The legislation is about to change
I would advise you to engage a reputable estate agent .
Do NOT proceed with anyone that can’t provide a landlord reference. It’s a massive red flag.
It’s clear you have no idea what your are going , with due respect, and if the tenant has realised the same they are going to take you to the cleaners.
Get an estate agent . No estate agent would accept that as an excuse.
I would have thought its reasonable for tenants to want to secure a property before handing in notice but agree with AA dont proceed without a reference.
A couple of things you can do. You can email tenant to say you will accept tenants application provided acceptable landlord reference is received within x days. I would say 2 days. Alternatively if their current home is local to you could inspect to see how they look after the home and ask for bank statements as evidence rent has been paid.
I’m not a fan of rent guarantee insurance, normally lots of loopholes and if tenant missing a few rent payments would cause you serious issues then being a landlord probably isn’t sensible as there is a lot that can go wrong.
My tenants that are leaving will ask for a reference before handing in notice
It’s odd that they haven’t got a reference sorted
The problematic tenants that pay rent and keep a clean house but may have still had a toxic relationship are the ones to watch for
With the removal of s21 around the corner you don’t want those kind of tenants on a bad day but especially if you are new to this business
Can you visit their current address for a meeting. Perhaps you may be able to assess what kind of tenant they will be, also they will probably need to give one full rental period notice so your property may still be empty with no rental income during that time .
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I’d also ask to see the last 6 months bank statements, so that you can see both income and outgoings, the prospective tenant will be able to show you the existing rent payments etc.
Its extremely important to carry out your own investigation work as well as paying for a basic reference.
Can they provide a former landlord reference instead of current? This holds far more value as a current landlord will want to get rid of bad tenants so they wouldn’t provide negative feedback anyway as this essentially stops them from moving out.
Thanks everyone for your very useful advise. We’ve spoken with one of their previous landlords now and will ask for 6 months (redacted) bank statements.
Just been checking on landord’s insurance and the biggest cost seems to come from covering legal expenses, 6 months lost rent is small change compared to a lawyers fees. Greg (Judit’s husband)
RRB is around the corner
In real terms it will be 16-18 months lost rent
Courts are backed up and the new legislation will not allow you to evict four four months of rent arrears think with circa 12 months in court
You must speak to the current landlord
RRB is being introduced to stop accidental landlords
Please involve an estate agent
The bits you skip now may cost you heavy in the long run