I’ve had a few people round to view my property and have a few offers.
Now I’m open to peoples differing circumstances however does anyone have any helpful experience they can share renting a property to a Chinese national with a work visa.
Not currently employed but a health care professional so shouldn’t be an issue finding work.
Plenty of funds available and offered to pay a year upfront due to their current situation. The mother will be living with the daughter and both of them will be looking for work.
What are peoples thoughts on this worth doing or just go with the normal sort of applications from British people who might end up trashing the place…
Collins quite right , you do appear to have a preconception of British behaviour l. But just to put your statement in perspective any tenant is capable of trashing a property and any tenant is capable of looking after it. The only insight into a potential tenants behaviour is through checks.
Generally If they conduct themselves and their finances ok I’m reasonably happy. Landlord referencing is useful to read but doesn’t always tell the truth if the previous landlord wants to move a problematic tenant out and onto someone else’s plate.
What is the source of cooking in your property? In my experience, East Asian tenants use a wok for frying and in one instance, where the cooker was an electric hob, they used a camping gas stove to ensure adequate direct heat. I felt this was a dangerous situation but was unsure about where I stood legally. The domestic extractor above the cooking hob was insufficient ventilation and the continual build-up of condensation became a contentious issue because the tenant found leaving a window open was too chilly.
Have you not wondered why, if they have a work visa, they are not in work? Work visas are issued with respect to specific employer positions, the employer requests it for an employee they want. So if that position has now ended, the work visa can also be cancelled. A work visa is not a right to stay in the country to look for work. You better be careful on the right to rent.
right to rent coming back as valid until 2024. I was a little confused that they had right to rent for 3 years if looking for work and had relevant skills to work in the NHS.
Assuming you can verify the source of funds, which is a legal requirement, if they have one year upfront, great and it shouldn’t matter what ethnicity they are. Just do the due diligence on the source of funds as so much money is laundered via real estate in the U.K. and it is a real problem for them as well as you because you would effectively, if the funds are not legally earned, inheritance, proceeds from an investment from a recognised investment firm, you would also be committing a criminal act by receiving them. Any questions, pm me. This is my line of work.
Yes I’ve checked the clients out full right to rent not on basis of having a particular job. No issues in terms of searches and checks other than the obvious from not having current UK address.
Source of funds is all good so i’m pretty comfortable to proceed - thanks for all the guidance
If they don’t have a U.K. address how do they have a U.K. bank account ? If they have no bank account how will they pay utility bills ? All U.K. utility companies require a U.K. bank account I have just gone through this with an international Dr who has a job at a hospital and I know the H.R team and yes he does have a job at the hospital.
It’s chicken and egg .
Why would someone be offering money up front ? It’s aka ways warning bells to me with no job and no U.K. bank account .
If it’s to good to be true it generally is too good to be true .
They have a UK Bank account registered at their current temporary address at a Hotel. its a UK HSBC account so they will have done some basic levels of due diligence.
They offered money upfront to secure the property over other tenants which is fine. They’ve got a UK Bank account and i’ve seen evidence of this so not sure what else I should be concerned about.
Hi Piers
I would be hesitant to accept 1 years rent up front as you may find them unsuitable tenants, not because of their nationality but because of other reasons unknown, which is of course applicable to anyone.
If you wanted to go cautiously, accept the offer but with a break clause of say 4/6 months. Beyond this period, you’ll have a greater understanding of the character of tenant.
Indeed, my wife is Chinese and often bemoans how our sickly British hobs don’t deliver enough heat to cook, so it often looking at creative ways to increase flame power, which I have to stop. I think in the UK the max you can get is a 4KW gas stove in a residential, most restaurants have much more powerful burners but are not allowed in residentials because of ventilation issues. However I seriously doubt this is a big deal for most Chinese people, just those who love to cook restuarant quality food.
Sadly i had a bad experience renting to Chinese person.
The agent put him forward as ready to move in…he had been rejected last min by another landlord.
All started well with him stating he was a chef in a restaurant. Before long it was clear that wasn’t true, Amazon driver.
Then a girlfriend appeared.
Then a son from another relationship appeared
Then the girlfriend had a baby…who then moved her mom in from mainland China to come over ( complete with some bug that loved to eat carpets! ) to help all in a 2 bed flat suddenly had 5 people in. Rice cookers steam delaminating kitchen doors omg the list went on and as he was not earning the money he said he was, heating went off to save money and the mould started!!
Just be strict with them from the start in terms of the number of tenants living in the property…my ones son was sleeping on a mattress in the hallway!!!
This is just what happened to me, i’m only passing on my experience. It was certainly an eye opener.