this is why with our sort of experiece of property, new landlords should take notice of our experiences, They can shortcut learn from our experiences
Hi Colin,
Yes this forum is really excellent, so much experience to learn from. Found our tenants on OpenRent but never noticed the forum until recently for some reason. Appreciate all your advise, building and landlord, to us too.
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Well this thread is another good example of why everyone hates Landlords.
Seriously is there any group of more entitled business owners in the UK? Seriously pets, coronavirus/natural disasters etc are all risks you take on when entering the business, most countries do not have blanket pet bans, only hard-right Neoliberal states like the UK, Australia and US where laws already overwhelmingly favour landlords to just extreme levels. Somehow, most countries get along with having the majority rent and oh look, blanket pet bans don’t exist.
“OH NO I MIGHT HAVE TO HIRE A CLEANER TO CLEAN THE PROPERTY AT THE END AND DO MINOR REPAIRS!”
My god get a grip. Guess what, when I make an investment and the investment goes bad, the business loses productivity or goes under due to some unforeseen situation, I don’t go crying and blaming the employees, I accept that was part of the risk of the investment and I lose out. Literally landlordism has to be the only industry where the business owner expects they basically should have no real costs or risk. Seriously in this thread there are Landlords literally crying about people even having made the suggestion that Landlords should take any cut to their profit as part of risk. 
Do you people realise that 90% of businesses don’t even break even for years?
No wonder even Capitalist patron saint Adam Smith called Landlords useless parasites. Petty petite aristocrats honestly, you’re in the business of renting out homes for families to live their lives, guess what, pets are basically a major part of our culture and lives and thus the business. Go open a cheesecake shop or whatever if you don’t want to deal with that.
Hi Cuilesse, thanks for raising Adam Smith! I would love to have more Adam Smith, Henry George, David Ricardo-type discussion on the Community.
As I’ve discussed elsewhere, I think the UK is unusual in two ways that effect the norms on letting to people with pets. Firstly, landlords have a relatively high responsibilities to maintain and repair the property compared to other countries. Secondly, tenancies are comparative short, with high turn over, meaning landlords have to think about re-letting much more often.
These two things combine to make pets less attractive to landlords here than other countries where tenancies last decades and landlords are not required to perform much repair work.
Sam
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Do you feel better now, Ciulesse ?
I allow pets in my properties. I also allow redecoration (within reason), don’t have a fixed pattern of intrusive inspections and am hugely responsive to putting minor and major things right for the comfort of tenants (usually within 24 hours).
Don’t tar all landlords with the same brush. I do my due diligence at the beginning when selecting prospective tenants, that is where I focus most of my risk assessment. After that, I consider my customers are paying for a service and I make sure they get what they are paying for.
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I am not bothered if I have to clean and hoover after a tenant as some have been there years, so inbetween is very infrequent. I had a retail business that did not break even for 2 years but I just kept going and made a lot of money eventually. I know someone with a chesecake shop who makes a good living. Funny how many jealous people are capitalist s . No need to be envious, I once asked a millionaire how he made his money he said “you only have to work half days” I said really he said "yes, and it does not matter which 12 hours of the day you work " Funnily enough I often work a 12 hour day and I am 72 If i say no pets in my property ,then thats my choice ,the tenant can live elsewhere I have invested 100 s of thousands NO ONE will tell me what to do, there are plenty of landlords who take pets
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Sam you hit the nail on the head. You would make a good Joiner
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Thank you for your very aggressive post. We have had to put right lots of damage from tenants and accept it as part of the process. When tenants do this, (and 99.9% don’t look after the property as they would if they had worked a life time for it) more damage caused by pets as well as the people, is simply unsustainable. I would love to allow pets, being an animal lover, but the excess cost of damages whilst trying to keep rents down is not possible. Also, I don’t need the extra arguments, attack and abuse which is clearly visible in your post. Any requests for repairs are sorted immediately minor or major. The majority of landlonds aren’t making a huge profits as you would appear to think, unfortunately.
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The response of many landlords here is the reason why I really hope we can buy a house soon, which is not easy without having parents that chip in a few quid like so many do. I am really struggling not to overreact to the entitled responses of some landlords.
Yes, it’s your property and you can choose to do whatever you like with it. But you also chose to make money from it. In fact, not only will you have to pay only a fraction of the mortgage, you end up with a house that makes profit just for existing and in the end someone paid your mortgage and you have a house. Nobody forces you to let your house.
Let me make this clear, you are running an extremely profitable business compared to bother businesses even if you take into account the odd bad tenant (for this I would suggest to actually go and get to know your tenants personally rather than hiding behind an agency which would literally take anyone in that can pay - I realise that doesn’t necessarily apply to OpenRent).
Even if you can’t see the lucky position you are in yourself, I can assure you that in the UK you have an unbelievable amount of rights. Rather than wallowing in self-pity over your hard lot in life have a look at European countries. I lived in Germany for 25 years of my life, the majority of people rent and the properties are spotless when moving in. In fact every property is freshly painted by the previous tenant - if it isn’t you can withhold the deposit and then the landlord will do it. No arguments over nails in the wall. Many are happy to let with pets (in fact I can choose to find a different landlord as it was suggested here as there are actually enough who allow you to have pets).I don’t agree with Sam’s statement that Landlords in the UK have a higher responsibility for repairs etc . In fact, over here they have the same responsibilities as in most other countries because, of course, it’s their property and that’s why someone else is paying your mortgage. Just that in the UK many still get away with doing the most minimal amount possible. A German or French landlord would only laugh about your moaning - and you know what? If being a landlord in those countries wasn’t profitable they wouldn’t do it - and they charge less. No pictures on the wall? Are you kidding me? I moved into properties with leaking roofs and yet they didn’t want nails in the wall.
And before you ask why a tenant might feel entitled: They are paying your bloody mortgage rather than being able to own their own house - having a roof over your head isn’t some kind of luxury!
I am glad I have a somewhat reasonable landlord but if something breaks (due to just being wear and tear) you can hear the huffing and puffing through the phone line.
We will soon have to move back to look after my husband’s parents . At the moment I can have a cat but after 10 years I would not give her up and you would probably do neither if it was your pet. Many people get some sanity from owning a pet and my landlord can provide references but even that is something many landlords don’t care about!. In fact when a landlord already feels annoyed by just simply being asked for permission (like the lady further up) I really wonder where the real entitlement lies. You run a business, the least you could do is answer reasonable questions
PS: I don’t own mainly because I don’t have the circumstances of many other people. It’s just one of those things and has nothing to do with being a loser in life. Some people also prefer the flexibility of moving.
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No one is paying mortgages on my properties because I do not have any mortgages,.and never had. I bet that irritates you even more… P S if we did not buy properties you would have nowhere to rent !!
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It doesn’t irritate me in the slightest. In fact it shows you are in a way better position than many businesses. Also doesn’t change the fact that plenty of landlords do have their mortgage paid by their tenants. If you did not buy properties the government would be forced to get their finger out, simple. Don’t think you are irreplaceable.
Don’t pretend like you are doing it out of the goodness of your heart
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I never have said its out of the goodness of my heart > I do it for two reasons 1 To make money for myself 2 to leave my children a good inheritance so they will not have to struggle as much as me… I have said for YEARS the goverment is to blame for the housing shortage as they. allowed councils to sell off their housing stock… No one is irreplaceable, not me as a landlord or you as a tenant, … we will all die and my children will replace me
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And I guess that’s my point. It’s lovely of you that you want to leave something to your kids but not everyone is fortunate enough to have a generous daddy. We live in times were many come from disjointed family homes, there is no father often and they were raised by single mums who can’t leave much of an inheritance. These people often can’t afford buying but would like to rent a place that they can call home and not a grubby place where they are expected to hover over to floors and can’t even hang a picture. A little bit of empathy goes a long way. Get to know your tenants before you rent (and their pets). Don’t make them feel they are just a nuisance in your life even if they haven’t done anything wrong and just call up for a dripping tap. Ask for a pet reference from the previous landlord. Ask if they are willing to pay for extra insurance or pay a few quid extra in rent. There are so many ways to meet somewhere in the middle. This is how it works in most European countries (where admittedly supply outstrips demand). The fact is that most landlords act like that not because they are truly right in their opinion but because they can act that way thanks to the amount of power they hold. Yes, there are quite a few bad apples out there but there are warning signs before you let to someone. Being a tenant and holding absolutely no bargaining position is pretty crap.
i have tenants who have been with me 20 years so I know them ok. i have had council inspectors who were surprised how nice the flats were because of the good standard of work and careing tenants who kept it neat ,usually always females. A good tenant does have bargaining power, if they pay up to date and look after a place , that is powerful in my book… I totally agree about one parent families , dealt a rough card usually by a man… that is why the council needs to build houses, then this will support such persons… the sad fact is that its hard to look after a child ,go out to work, get the child to school etc … if the L A paid landlords directly the rent then more would be inclined to rent to those on benefit, till then…
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‘Lucky’ is not the word I would use.
‘Hard working’ definitely.
Working four or five low paid jobs every hour Gods sends?
You don’t have family to leave you anything?
But your wording would imply you do have family.
Some people do not have any family. Having support must surely enable other opportunities.
As well as working a full time job plus various part time ones, no holidays, no car, no latest iPhone etc. etc.
Our tenants are running two new cars, extended holiday each year, best technology available.
It’s a choice and neither is right or wrong.
As you suggest I don’t make this large profit you speak of. I have spent all weekend two full days dealing with our abusive tenant. With the damage they have caused it’s costing me money to keep them.
Being made dangerously ill with the stress I am now in a position whereby I have realised I may not come out of this alive next time and have no choice but to sell, which will more than likely be at a loss.
Have provided an exceptionally decent, comfortable and warm home which is highly maintained. When trades people are allowed access that is - always after a huge ongoing battle the duration of which is variable.
I just can’t take any more abuse, disappointment, loss and ill health.
I never expected this from a job and in no other work place would it be allowed.
I have never worked so hard for so little.
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I have just replied on this thread but as regards your comments, I am a single parent without family support.
In most cases the rich daddy is a workaholic and very rarely a lottery winner. If some people inherit their parents hard work, it may well be an opportunity into something they want to do, but surely still have to put work in or else it’s not going to last long.
As I have said, we provided a lovely home to a few sets of tenants none of which appreciated it. A home to a higher standard than my own. Perhaps we have just been unlucky.
I always talk on the phone to prospective tenants they are all sweetness and light at first, but then out of nowhere the resentment seems to set in, and have not figured out why. If a new, beautiful home is handed over, maintenance dealt with within minutes of their call, as we want to maintain the property and the capital invested, I don’t understand why people then seem to turn for no apparent reason. The ones we have met, have done anyway.
Great to see some people have faired better though.
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I have previously said that after the mess the current children have made in my property then I can’t see an animal would be any worse and I would consider a tenant with an animal (cat flap is still there). However it’s bad enough to get a really nice property back in the condition it will be in, it adds insult to injury when he is not paying the rent and refusing to communicate. Re your comment about the property being painted by the previous tenant, well I have news for you. It’s the landlord that does that over here and he/she is not allowed to withhold the deposit just for a fresh coat of paint. I have done repairs as and when needed. The only time I huffed and puffed was when the tenant had removed smoke detectors and a CO2 detector and I paid to replace them. I think I had every right to huff and puff.
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I know there was talks in January from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick about overhauling contracts and trying to encourage landlords to accept pets. Otherwise at some point in the future, they may make it legally enforceable for landlords to accept tenants with pets (unless they have a good reason why they can’t accept it).
I can understand why though. On one hand, landlords do have to deal with the mess afterwards (such as stains, fleas, deep cleaning, etc) and that there are people who shouldn’t be in a position to own a pet. After all, pets aren’t objects, they are like children and it is a lifetime responsibility.
On the other hand, there are so many heart breaking stories of pets being abandoned, forced into overpopulated shelters, being euthanised or given up to other people because they moved into a new property where the landlord said no to their pets.
It’s a two way street. Tenants need to look after their pets properly and treat them as if they are their children. Landlords should review it on a case by case basis regardless of whether they have been burnt in the past.
Because if they don’t, the government would probably introduce new legalislation to make it much harder for landlords to implement no pet policies.
For me, I found a great letting agency that allowed me to have pets and all of my cats have been flea’d and wormed. They have scratching posts. I have laid down carpet protector in case they try to scratch the carpet (outside doors or in hallways) and we use carpet cleaner to make sure our carpet smells beautiful. It took me a long time to find a property that allow pets and I rather be in good standing as much as I can, for my pet’s sake
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I have bought a couple of places where when I went in, I could smell the dog instantly . Some people cannot look after their children never mind their animals. Notice I said SOME.
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It’s a shame as think many LL would like to allow pets. From my point of view it’s yet another thing to argue about. The original poster said pet owners are often nicer people and that made me think. I know pet owners who are homeowners and still their houses stink to high heaven so it’s not exclusive to tenants.
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