Squatters

[fillyboy]

Students can be reasonably reliable tenants.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

With the latest Electrical requirements I can't see how you can get an older property to pass an inspection.

I suspect there are probably a lot of illegal lets around.

 

[ericmark]

I would say a lot comes down to why some one rents a home, my sister-in-law rents a home in USA because she is only there for a few years and will then return to England where she still has a house, and the home she rents in USA is not a simply 2 up and 2 down, it is a rather nice home. And in the main away workers and their families do not rent homes at the lower end of the market, however we looked at renting our old house, and the rental income for our house was not much better to my sons house which was only 2/3rds of the size.

And it does seem most the houses for rent are rather small and aimed at people who for some reason can't get a mortgage to buy their own house, it does not take much to realise if they can't raise the mortgage then they are not earning much money, or have an unstable job.

We have a few times wondered if we did the right thing buying a house, I have worked around the world, and country, and had we rented then the family could have come with me, however not sure swapping schools would have been good for the children, two years in Algeria did not make me a French speaker so likely neither would the children, and yes we have a national curriculum, but unless you only move in the summer, that does not really help.

So if your renting to people who can't get a mortgage, then must expect a problem getting money from them.

 

[Wayners]

Rented next to me the young lady got mixed up with wrong sort (boyfriend) and he knocked her about so she left. Then him and his mates tore loft boards up for fire. Party all night with many people and kids inside. We thought most worked late 2am as party started at 2.30am every night going quiet about 6am. Police up most nights and this rolled on for months until they were evicted. Then they came back but could not break in but tried several times. I have a dim view of the system as its too slow and with very little powers to stop people that have no rights staying in a property. All on a middle class housing estate houses of 200k and up.. You would think police could throw them out but not

 

[kingandy2nd]

My other half is a landlady, as she rents out the house she owned before we moved in together. Well... I do everything when it comes to renting the place; advertising, viewings, vetting/credit check, tenancy agreement, repairs, etc so she's got it easy.

We rent the house our at 75% of the market rate, which covers the mortgage and the insurances but not much else. As it's my missus' house, she has an emotional attachment to it, so she wants it to be looked after. Our logic re the pricing is that the cheap rent is that if the tenant is getting a good deal, they're more likely to look after the place and not want to move on. (That's the theory). Also, we're in it for the long term, and in 7 years when the mortgage is paid off it then will be an asset that supplements her teacher's pension...we don't need to make a quick quid each month from the tenants.

We've rented that place for 7 years and thankfully only had two sets of tenants. First tenant was a lady took our place for 2 years and then her parents helped her buy somewhere.

Current tenants have been in for 5 years, and have grown from a couple with a baby to a family of 5 and a dog. They treat the place like their own, which in some ways is good but other was its bad. They do look after it (decorating etc), but not our choice of colours and they removed all the plants we'd grown in the back garden (few hundred quids worth)...stuff like that.

While you can't be sure what the future holds and one good or bad experience is no a yardstick for anyone else, I think that if you pick your tenants yourself and look them in the eye you can do a lot to help yourself avoid having problems down the line. That, and insuring yourself well for the property, rent, etc.

 

[fillyboy]

My other half is a landlady, as she rents out the house she owned before we moved in together. Well... I do everything when it comes to renting the place; advertising, viewings, vetting/credit check, tenancy agreement, repairs, etc so she's got it easy.

We rent the house our at 75% of the market rate, which covers the mortgage and the insurances but not much else. As it's my missus' house, she has an emotional attachment to it, so she wants it to be looked after. Our logic re the pricing is that the cheap rent is that if the tenant is getting a good deal, they're more likely to look after the place and not want to move on. (That's the theory). Also, we're in it for the long term, and in 7 years when the mortgage is paid off it then will be an asset that supplements her teacher's pension...we don't need to make a quick quid each month from the tenants.

We've rented that place for 7 years and thankfully only had two sets of tenants. First tenant was a lady took our place for 2 years and then her parents helped her buy somewhere.

Current tenants have been in for 5 years, and have grown from a couple with a baby to a family of 5 and a dog. They treat the place like their own, which in some ways is good but other was its bad. They do look after it (decorating etc), but not our choice of colours and they removed all the plants we'd grown in the back garden (few hundred quids worth)...stuff like that.

While you can't be sure what the future holds and one good or bad experience is no a yardstick for anyone else, I think that if you pick your tenants yourself and look them in the eye you can do a lot to help yourself avoid having problems down the line. That, and insuring yourself well for the property, rent, etc.

Whilst the landlord I did work for had some nightmare experiences, he also had a few very good tenants who looked after the places as if they were their own. He never increased their rent for the several years they were tenants and when one single mother found herself unemployed for a brief period, he helped her out by waiving the rent for a month.
He was and is a genuinely nice guy but his reasoning was that a good tenant is worth keeping.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Whilst the landlord I did work for had some nightmare experiences, he also had a few very good tenants who looked after the places as if they were their own. He never increased their rent for the several years they were tenants and when one single mother found herself unemployed for a brief period, he helped her out by waiving the rent for a month.
He was and is a genuinely nice guy but his reasoning was that a good tenant is worth keeping.

Yep, our tenants have never had a rent rise either. If you find decent folk for tenants then it can be a win-win situation.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

One of the worst things they did in Scotland (not sure if it's the same in the other UK nations) was councils started to pay 100% of peoples income support direct to the individual. This was yet another idiotic government scheme intended to give individuals a sense of having more control over their income, taking responsibility for prioritising how their income was spent etc. Fine and honorable in principle. What happened in reality? Many tenants on income support simply stopped paying their rent, which lead to an increased amount of landlords saying 'no DSS.' Whilst many councils offer a workaround (e.g. the tenant can agree for the rental portion of their income support to be paid directly to the landlord as it was historically) it's still more hassle than it's worth.

Of course, it gets better. I think they are pushing for legislation that would mean landlords have to accept any tenant assuming they pass reference and affordability checks. It is suggested stipulating 'no DSS' is discriminating against a portion of society similar to the 'no blacks no Irish' boards put in the windows of rentals decades ago. Again, this is to an extent true, however it'll be a bitter pill for landlords to swallow if they are essentially forced to accept tenants on income support, knowing there's a good chance the rent simply won't be paid. Note, I appreciate there are good and reliable tenants on income support.

Labour wanted to go one better. They were proposing x years ago that legislation should be passed that if a tenant had been in a property for x years and wanted to buy it, assuming they passed the relevant checks, they could ... whether the landlord wanted to sell it to them or not!!! A sort of tenant compulsory buying order if you like.

It is of course right that landlords should be offering properties for rent that are safe, clean and meet required standards. However there do seem to be more and more hoops to jump through, which of course some unscrupulous landlords (those that stay off radar) avoid.

 

[Diver Fred]

Yep, our tenants have never had a rent rise either. If you find decent folk for tenants then it can be a win-win situation.

Bad move - You really must keep up with rent rises. Make sure rent rises are stated in the AST documentation. I learnt - allowed the rent to remain the same for 5 years, then had a very difficult job to increase it by even the very low CPI (under 3% at the time, the AST said a max of 5%). Now have an annual rise of around 5% but I also inform the tenants of what the rise will be next next year included in the notification for this year. So the letter I will give the tenants the year will say (for example) your rent increase will be £5 per month from 1st June 2021, there will be a rent increase of £5.50 from 1st June 2022. Never exceed the % amount quoted in the AST as doing that will cause you issues if you want the property back.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Bad move - You really must keep up with rent rises. Make sure rent rises are stated in the AST documentation. I learnt - allowed the rent to remain the same for 5 years, then had a very difficult job to increase it by even the very low CPI (under 3% at the time, the AST said a max of 5%). Now have an annual rise of around 5% but I also inform the tenants of what the rise will be next next year included in the notification for this year. So the letter I will give the tenants the year will say (for example) your rent increase will be £5 per month from 1st June 2021, there will be a rent increase of £5.50 from 1st June 2022. Never exceed the % amount quoted in the AST as doing that will cause you issues if you want the property back.

I don’t think you have to do that, it will very much depend on how your AST is written.

Ours is silent on the point of rent rises. And we just have ours on a rolling tenancy now anyway.

Sounds like you run yours more as a business, which of course is very sensible if your aim is making money as all businesses should.

For us protecting the asset is more important and keeping the tenants happy and in situ. Us getting an extra £5 a month (for example) means literally nothing (I’m not boasting, I mean we just don’t need it), whereas that’s money is harder to find for our tenants.

While I appreciate the cumulative effect of rent rises will be beneficial to the landlord, they are also detrimental to the tenant by the same measure, especially if the tenant isn’t flush with money to start with...and if they were, in most cases they wouldn’t be renting.

I’m not criticising you in any way, no business is a charity.

But in my situation, we have a moral dilemma that some landlords don’t care about. I feel we are in a situation where people that are less fortunate then ourselves and effectively paying our mortgage and we are benefiting from that...that is the way of the world I know. But I also sleep a little better at night knowing that, on the flip side, that this particular family are enjoying a house/location that otherwise would have been out of their reach.

 

[johnny2007]

Rented next to me the young lady got mixed up with wrong sort (boyfriend) and he knocked her about so she left. Then him and his mates tore loft boards up for fire. Party all night with many people and kids inside. We thought most worked late 2am as party started at 2.30am every night going quiet about 6am. Police up most nights and this rolled on for months until they were evicted. Then they came back but could not break in but tried several times. I have a dim view of the system as its too slow and with very little powers to stop people that have no rights staying in a property. All on a middle class housing estate houses of 200k and up.. You would think police could throw them out but not

This would've not happened in Texas...

 

[mattylad]

Is that because they have no leccy to power the double decks?

Otherwise I'm sure that this happens all over the world, Texas included.

 

[johnny2007]

Is that because they have no leccy to power the double decks?

Otherwise I'm sure that this happens all over the world, Texas included.

I think is more to do with the amendment about bearing arms...
When I briefly worked in Dallas I was warned not to engage in arguments/road rage with strangers because they all carry weapons and they use them...

 

[mattylad]

OK, makes personal note to never argue with a texan octopus

 

[transam]

Some of the tenants in rentals that we have worked for in the past are a total disgrace tbh

I don’t give a wat sit about some one else’s property attitude

stopped getting involved in the social housing rental market it was a total nightmare tbh