Its all about risk and what level you are prepared to go to. With pending legislation it will be a nightmare for LL and tenants without good references.
As Colin would say, with experience you get a feeling about tenants in this situ which referencing wouldn’t show.
Double check the job positions and whether short , contract and whether the company is doing well.
Good luck
you have to gel with your tenants and like them . This makes it a better choice
Exactly. 99.9% of the time, the locals can afford the rents. The honest truth is that a poor family cannot move from their home country to the UK, and for someone to want to pay a LL 6 months rent in full when they haven’t even arrived the UK is a big deal.
Personally I have been trying to get a decent accommodation from Nigeria but find it difficult when I know that I can pay the rent and even forfeit one month out of 6months so when I arrive in the UK, I will just go straight to the house I have paid for as long as I have done a virtual tour. I do not like stress one bit, and moving up and down in search of accommodation on arrival is another topic. It isn’t just cool. I mean, I’ve got about 3 properties here in Nigeria, so paying rent in the UK is not a thing. Oh well, the LL have their reservations though.
I have rented property out to a Bulgarian couple previously who had no credit, had only been in the UK for 5 months ,but both working. They paid 6 months in advance. I went with my gut feeling, no regrets, they were fab tenants. I have same property rented out to a lovely Romanian couple. They were in a similar situation, I had a choice of many potential tenants, but again Itrusted my gut instinct. They are the perfect tenants in every way.
Same here. I have also had Eastern Europeans and touch wood they have been very easy. My sense is renting to locals would be a different story.
I have never considered charging someone 6 months in advance. Does that mean they then don’t pay rent for 6 months or does it act like a deposit?
I think culturally it is not as accepted elsewhere as in the west. Lots of cultures are very suspicious about debt and are careful not to be ensnared.
6 months cannot be a deposit 6 months RENT is 6 months rent. THen in 6 months time they can pay a month at a time . This has to be clear in the agreement
To ask a silly question, which pending legislation are you referring to?
Nemo "pending legislation " Where have you been the last few months?.. 6 months “acting like a deposit” Are you a landlord . ? If so join the NRLA . for some training… We all have to learn and quick
The current legislation for rental reform going thru the house of commons late summer/ autumn. Big changes re AST, pets, no section 21 and list of reasons for recovery of the property.
wait for labour coming into power later; I bet there will be even more reforms.
I think it’s fair to say that there is no one size fits all!
It’s down to your risk level and how much you trust your gut.
For me personally (I am very new btw), I would NOT rent unless I know I can take a RGI, which means the tenants need to pass the reference checking. Partially because a close friend of mine who had to go through a 18-month eviction process which I didn’t event want to ask how it had cost.
Of course you can get good tenants who failed reference; does that mean it’s always the case? Of course not. It’s simple probability!
If the stock market went up yesterday, does it mean it will also go up today?
Yes you are correct, some, but it’s not true that most foreigners are!
Incidentally there’s 4 eastern countries which are in the top 10 list of credit per capita.
Hi Nemo. They paid 6 months rent in advance, then continued on a monthly basis. They could afford the rent but had no credit history.
That’s interesting as I would never have thought to do that. Is there an advantage to doing that over taking a deposit? It seems that this only provides additional protection over the first 6 months. In a way, the act of budgeting and paying the rent on time every month has its merits as it builds a discipline.
you took 5 weeks deposit as well?
I had Czecks in my property, the passed referencing but turned out to be complete crooks - you name it. Then I took Nigerian and Ghanian students they paid the rent but the damage caused was multiples of the rent I received - if they dont pass referencing you most likely cannot claim on your insurance. I claimed for first set of tenants but not the second set of tenants.
At that point more LL will sell
No. It was one months rent as deposit, deposited with DPS. They then paid me 6 months rent . They asked if they could do that as they had the money saved but had been unsuccessful in securing a rental through estates agents due to their non existent credit rating . Employers refences all fine, but no previous rental history, loans or credit card history. It may not suit everyone, but I trust my personal judgment and impressed with their answers to the my questions and their good attitude.