Referencing an existing tennant via openrent RENTAL GUARANTEE

Landlord Discussion
1

Hello,
I have a letting agent in place but want to regain control of my flat. I have an existing tenant in place for a couple of years and has always paid without fail despite 2 years of rent increase.

I want to keep the tenant and set things up via open rent, AND GET RENTAL GUARANTEE CONVER. I wasn’t nervous before, but as my margin is squeezed it makes sense for me to take out rental insurance.

Will open rent accept my existing tenant? What does the reference check exactly?

I think the tenant would be happy as self managing means I can keep the rent the same.

thanks

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2

Someone else will answer the question you’ve asked, but I wanted to ask you to think about whether you know enough about the legal obligations of managing a tenancy to keep yourself from a heavy fine or penalty?

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Hi David, yes while I have had an agent for the past few years, I have been learning and following what I need to do and feel I would be able to.

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  1. Hi they will check their credit history going back 6 years or as long as they have been in the UK.
  2. Affordability, I believe they have to have a household income of at least 2.5 x the rent.
  3. Employment reference confirming income and the type of contract they have i.e. permanent, fixed term etc.
  4. References from previous landlords.
  5. I forgot to mention ID checks including right to rent.
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5

To transfer your tenant to the OR platform, they would need to be prepared to pay a new new holding deposit, new SecurityDeposit etc, as they would need to go through the RentNow process.

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6

Thats good to hear Ricky. Can I suggrst you join a landlord association if youre not already a member of one as it will help keep you up to date with what is likely to be a huge amount of change in the coming year.

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thank you, this is a great suggestion, yes, the changes do not seem too bad off the face of things, though I do wonder what will happen to any existing tenancies in place. Good idea. Do the landlord associations have regular discussions?

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The have regular bulletins and some have local meetings.

9

I had the same issue. In London the agents’ costs were unreasonaby high so I became self managed and everything is absolutely fine. However, in Southampton the agents fee’s are extremely acceptable for what they actually do so this saves me the hassle - when things go wrong they locate and find appropriate services - for the small monthly fee - it’s worth it. So my advice would be based on area, rent, type of tenant, management service provider, state of the property, your knowledge and finally how ‘hands on’ you’ll want to be. Good luck.

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Agent do what suits them not you, I find they all charge to much and do very little. I had an agent on a property, they visited and tried to poach my tenant, sacked them straight off. Its not rocket science being a LL and what you dont know you will learn, nobody knows everything

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Its a good idea, I have dumped my useless Agents and am using OpenRent. Firstly OpenRent keeps you compliant with current regulations, you are prompted to issue all documentation - i.e. not all relevant to you but EICR, Pat Test, Insurance, EPC, Right to rent in UK checks, How to rent guide, Deposit Protection - the list goes on! . They also secure the deposit as an Agent - trying to get a deposit from a scheme yourself is like puling teeth and took months but going thru OR was a dream - I got the money agreed back within days. Rent collection is 10 stg I suggest you use it, they chase the tenants for you. I also suggest you opt for rent guarantee - I think its 212 stg so its money well spent. Credit Ref - you get the list of monthy income proof, you also get the passport / ID copy you need all this and more ie an actual bank statement should anything go wrong and you need to do a MCOL. What you will need in case you dont have it is your own trades - Plumber, Electrician, etc or see if tenant knows someone they trust locally which may well save you money. The new AST, is 49 stg and you can add clauses, so I suggest you run through these chats to see what clauses you need esp w new changes coming up.

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Susan25, you should be aware that the RentNow process, whilst taking care of most of the key requirements of letting a property, doesn’t yet offer a comprehensive package for managing the tenancy thereafter. There are many things that landlords need to know about once the tenant is in place, including how to end a tenancy if necessary. Landlords need to keep abreast of the ever changing laws to avoid fines and penalties as well as keeping the tenant happy.

Incidently, I would not recommend adding clauses to a legal document unless you’re legally trained as it can do more harm than good.

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Not only would I join a landlord association and get invaluable advice, for the price of a phone call, very short courses, for a fee, Forms etc, I would also join an insurance backed deposit protection service, where for a small fee, if you are a member of a particular landlord association, eg about £17.95, you would get to keep the month’s or 5 week’s deposit, which gives one more control, than having to get a Court Order, to get the money out of the deposit scheme.