Hi, i have a concern, i have a Nigerian family who arrived in the UK in July 23, and want to rent my property, but no previous rental/landlord references. They both work in care and the children (16, 13, 8) go to school locally. Does anyone have experience of renting to Nigerians.
Nigerian people are not an homogenous group. They wont all display the same characteristics, so how will other landlords experience of renting to them help you?
Do they have a right to rent? Is their income sufficient? What does the referencing report indicate? These are the things you need to focus on.
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Many of the best Nigerians are leaving Nigeria due to various reasons There is a brain drain
No country or culture is homogenous. Think you are missing the point there and isn’t relevant.
However, most people, if not all have the right to rent, otherwise how could they live and work here.
I am talking about culture and how they live, the basis of this question is because they have no previous rental experience, so i can’t ask for landlord referencing, that’s why i am asking the question here.
But i take your point that i need to focus the fundamentals; sufficient income, yes, referencing due back, so will decide, a family, which is good and no pets, another tick, so what more could i ask for.
Thank you, as previous mentioned, i just to focus on the fundamentals and remove any personal worries, otherwise i won’t survive very long as a landlord!
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I think you have much to learn Rachel. Far from everyone having a Right to Rent, the Immigration Act 2014 and later Immigration Act 2016 restricted that right to tenants who are UK nationals or otherwise meet the visa requirements for a fixed or indefinite leave to remain. If you are not aware of these restrictions then I suggest you read about them asap as you could otherwise face a ÂŁ1000 fine and/or up to 10 years in prison for renting to someone without that right.
There is nothing to stop you conducting a full reference check on any tenant to check out their story, verify their identity, employment, credit worthyness and lack of CCJs.
You say that no country or culture is homogenous and then go on to ask how that culture lives their lives. See any contradiction there?
As do we all David, as do we all! Hence why we have forums, like these, with others who give great wisdom and insight, and we can ask questions and not feel we are being talked down to but sincerely given healthy advice. Can’t see any contradiction, just your high opinion, which is starting to out star your need to give healthy advice.
All the best!
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Well if you cant see any contradiction you have even more to learn than I thought. Good luck, but Im out.
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It’s easy to do a right to rent check online on the gov.uk website. The results are back within 2 days. I thought this was a requirement for LL? And would you be able to get a tenant default insurance if they pass the financial and credit checks?
Thank you Anu, that’s helpful. I will have a look. I am just waiting on the references to come back from the letting agent.
I rented my small new 3 bed house to a Nigerian lesbian couple - very nice ladies with one small child . I found some difficulties in them being familiar with how to operate appliances correctly and garden that was beautifully designed was not cared for. Our values seemed at odds a lot of the times so it was somewhat stressful being called out for smallest of things that were very minor. They paid rent on time which was good but after a year I discovered they moved in two teenage boys in as their father moved away without letting me know. The place was really too small for a large family. When they left after 2.5 years I had to totally redecortate. They wallpapered walls with flowery stick on paper, washing machine was obviously overloaded lots as it packed up soon after they left and there was mould on kids bedroom wall. I deducted some money from deposit which didnt really cover the costs but I put it down to experince. I guess some cultural differences are to be expected generally between people irrespective of nationalities. My experince is just that- a stand alone report. If you feel you can have good working relationship with your prospective tenants go ahead with tenancy. Be mindful they may have extended families as I discovered:)
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Hi, Ewa. Do you feel they treated you more like a servant than a LL? I know that having servants is a very common thing in Nigeria because labour is cheap.
There was really no need to criticise David for his excellent answer.
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Hi Tim, I dont think so. I kept it on professional level my end but I got Xmas cards and was always asked about my family whenever i had to visit.
I’m quite offended by this post. As others have stated it’s absolutely nothing to do with where people come from. It’s about the law and affordability. They must have right to rent. They can only get that with proper work visas . It’s also about your gut feelings. It’s your property. But you can not turn someone down because of their race, religion etc. It’s unlawful. Again, you may pick whoever you choose if you are not committing an offence under the law.
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Hi, Amy8.
Your view is very black and white and based on current PC way of thinking. In reality, there’s much more than law and affordability. Cultural differentces (sometimes significant) should never be discarded. Making it discriminatory is in fashion now, as well as taking “quite an offence”. But it’s just a common sense.
OP was not turning down her TT but trying to get some insight about how it is likely to pan out with a possible clash of cultures. Doing one’s homework is every LL responsibility and a common sense. Ewa’s post has been helpful in this respect. We personally try to talk to perspective TT from different cultures and ask a lot of questions.
By the way, if TT are easily offended, like yourself, we don’t rent them for this reason alone. In the long run, it’ll be stress and trouble walking on egg-shells.
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Why do you assume that I’m a tenant? I’m a landlord with lots of experience. I’ve dealt with a lot of court cases as a landlord/freehold, and also as a leaseholder. I agree that the landlord has the absolute right to rent. Whoever they want to. But I also find it offensive for a landlord to ask if anyone has experience with Nigerians. It’s pretty black and white when it comes to racism which does definitely could be used by the tenants if they rejected. Now that it’s out there in the platform.
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I’ll just throw in there as well that I have a visual impairment, and I do everything by voice dictation so sometimes it can be a little abrupt or sometimes the messages don’t quite make sense, but I think everyone’s got the gist of what I said.
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Where did I say that I assume you’re a T? I actually assumed that you’re a LL. Ah, I see. My last sentence. No, I just meant a general attitude. It always makes interaction awkward.
The problem arises when reports in the media highlight certain races as . internet scammers, cash machine scammers. groups of pick pockets,… love scammers, rogue door tarmac knockers and name the race . It then gets into a brain that all are like that. . This is not so of course