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Six Nightmare Tenants To Look Out For

27 12:06:11
Landlords and tenants have never really got on with one and other, either the tenant does not pay or the landlord does not fix what he is supposed to, either way it leaves a bad taste in the mouth usually for the landlord. A recent survey by the National Landlords Association reported that 43% of private landlords in the UK where owed monies by their tenants, when you look at these figures more closely that a massive 400,000 UK landlords, potentially with combined commercial mortgage balances in the hundreds of millions of pounds. Why have people looked to become landlords? In the past year, people are finding it harder and harder to get mortgages, so they have had to turn to letting a property, house prices in real terms have reduced but rent for tenants has increased. We will aim to point you in the right direction on how to avoid the worst type of "Bad Tenant".

The Socialites: First step on this tricky road is to make sure that you draw up a tenancy agreement with the proposed individuals, maximum period to start with say 6 months, after which you can review with them and extend if you are happy with them paying on time and no complaints from your neighbours. In recent years there has been a surge in this type of nightmare tenant, on meeting them it will be hard for you to identify whether or not they are party animals, so be aware that you as the landlord are responsible for noise control, if you do receive complaints from neighbours and you fail to act the local authority can take control and management of the property. Be aware of these types of tenants; get parents to guarantee rent and any damage that may be caused, as you will not be able to get real references as most students will have lived at home until moving to university.

The Professional Bad Tenant: Tenants of these types have only emerged recently within the UK, they will move from one property to another to exploit the legal system in this country. The landlord should start to get wary of this situation when these types of tenants fail to pay their rent on time, what they will be trying to do is live in this property for say a period of 3 months or more then look at moving onto another property in the meantime. The one thing they will try and do is strip the property bare, by removing things like, radiators, carpets, floorboards and even kitchens. By the time the landlord has a chance to visit the property these type of tenant have fled the scene. So what does this mean to the landlord? Well he can look at taking them to get and getting a County Court Judgement (CCJ) put against them, but the chances are they will not get anything back as they do not have any money, so the landlord has to way up whether or not he wishes to pursue this course of action, if he does not then these types of tenant walk away scot free with no black mark against them. The landlord should use a management company to get references on these tenants for a small fee; the tenants would not normally be allowed to move into the property until all references are checked.

The Late Payers: Landlords hate this term because it will put them in jeopardy of losing their property unless they have sufficient capital in the background. Tenants of this type can be the most difficult to pay on time, they come up with excuse after excuse, now there could be a legitimate reason for a one off missed payment but the landlord will have to keep an eye on this situation as before he knows it 6 months could have passed and it could take time to evict these tenants. Landlords have to put there case before the courts for them to make a ruling on an eviction notice.

The animal lovers: Recently shown on ITV a documentary about landlords and their tenants pets, it showed that one of the tenants had racing pigeons in the landlords home, when he came around to the property to check everything was ok, the tenant had abandoned the property and his pigeons had left the home in such a state that the landlord had to get expert cleaners into the property to clear the mess up at his own cost. Most landlords in the UK are now stating that they do not want potential tenants to have pets in their homes, but what is going to stop a tenant from sneaking a pet or two in once moved in? It is down to the landlord or management company to do regular checks on the property at least quarterly, you do have to get permission from the tenant to gain excess, but there are usually tale tale signs that pets are in the home, check the garden and see if any faeces are there, check bins to see if pet food packets or tins are in them, you can usually get a feeling if there are pets in the house.

The extended family: This happens when a potential tenant arranges to meet with the landlord either on their own or with their partner, the landlord is happy with the arrangement he has made with them and all the due diligence is done. All of a sudden neighbours in the surrounding area notice different people entering the property but not leaving, their cars are parked on the drive overnight for example. You as the landlord start to get the jitters as something is not quite right, what emerges from this is that you have done you own research and you have found out that the tenant has allowed family and friends to stay at the property, which as a result your property is starting to show signs of more than normal wear and tear.

The bureaucrat: It always good to get a tenant that understands that the property they are about to rent should be in the same state as when they took it over, but not all tenants understand that they may not get back their full deposit from the Deposit Protection Service, this could be down to something as simple as making sure that both parties agreed to an inventory check list and a Assured Hold Tenancy Agreement prior to taking the property over, the latter is a binding contract and has all the terms and conditions within it, so make sure you understand the small print. This will avoid confusion when the time comes to move on.

How to avoid the nightmare tenant? This sounds like quad mire, but if you do things right at the start you can overcome lots of obstacles. Therefore it is always important that you follow a list of criteria before you say yes to a tenant. Check the individual's life style, their income, their current tenancy (if applicable) and their daily / weekly shopping habits to some extent. A great bit of advice would be to meet with the potential tenant for an informal chat preferably at their current residence, you would get some idea of how they where treating their current accommodation, this way you can get to know the potential tenant and you can observe them in their own environment. Ensure that you obtain references from both their employers and landlord or even their existing mortgage company as they may have sold a property and are moving into rented accommodation for the first time. Finally you could look at taking out some form of rental insurance cover.

Important contact information that may also be of use:Landlord Accreditation Schemes - Are voluntary schemes which are to help landlords to operate a successful business, provide tenants with safe, high quality accommodation and reduce the need for local authorities to get involved. These are available for checks on the individual managing the property, checks on the condition of the property itself. Your local council will have more information on this. Landlord Action - This is a UK organization which is designed to help landlords and property professionals to deal with problem tenants.The Rent Assessment Committee (RAC) - This is an independent legal body that offers a fair way of settling rent disputes without going to court.

All professional landlords will know that during the course of letting out their property, there will be some form of natural wear and tear, always keep and up to date inventory, you will be able from that point on establish basic wear and tear to more serious damage. Finally and most importantly keep in regular contact with the management company who let and manage the property for you as these are your backbone in this advancing market place.