Greetings, I Come in Peace

[Luke]

Turbine Terry,

Thank you for that. I've already changed my property searches to give the EPC rating priority. I'll check out Openrent, it sounds excellent.

I have advertised there and it mainly seems to be people who Estate Agents want nothing to do with , unsuitable people trying their luck , dishonest people and people deliberately being fraudulent .
Its the place where scammers go to find naïve new landlords .
I recently had a prospective tenant lie about himself owning a restaurant and then suggest that he moves in after just paying the deposit and signing the AST and then begin paying rent two weeks later because he needed to paint a few things

[royw]

I have advertised there and it mainly seems to be people who Estate Agents want nothing to do with , unsuitable people trying their luck , dishonest people and people deliberately being fraudulent .
Its the place where scammers go to find naïve new landlords .
I recently had a prospective tenant lie about himself owning a restaurant and then suggest that he moves in after just paying the deposit and signing the AST and then begin paying rent two weeks later because he needed to paint a few things

Really? I've been using it for a long time, ever since the EA tenant find service got me the tenant from hell. You do need to check them out throughly though and if you have a bad gut feeling about them choose someone else. The chance to do some digging in the guise of a friendly conversation when they view is invaluable. I find the standard of tenant drops markedly after 2 days when it gets on gumtree. Sadly no way to opt out of gumtree marketing.

[Piffy]

Hello all, I am a prospective landlord. I will be arranging my first mortgage in principle today as a start to my evil buy-to-let empire. As a total newb, what would be the one piece of advice you would give after your years of experience as a landlord?

If I was buying another Buy2Let once a price had been agreed (it comes off sale) I would buy subject to an Electrical Inspection as well as a Gas Safe Certificate. In the last house I bought the owner had messes about with the wiring and had sockets everywhere as he has Train Sets running round the house, also he had fiddled the Gas Meter in that (apparently) 5 years before he had moved from one gas suppler but not started with another. Then ((apparently the meter display failed so the was no reading) So when I bought the house with the intention of renting it out, my Gas Safe Plumber would not give a Gas Safe Certificate as the meter was not working. I bought the house in the August and it was 20 December before the Gas Supplier fitted a new meter. If the house had been fit to rent out I would have lost over 4 months rent.
Good Luck.

[Turbine Terry]

I have advertised there and it mainly seems to be people who Estate Agents want nothing to do with , unsuitable people trying their luck , dishonest people and people deliberately being fraudulent .
Its the place where scammers go to find naïve new landlords .
I recently had a prospective tenant lie about himself owning a restaurant and then suggest that he moves in after just paying the deposit and signing the AST and then begin paying rent two weeks later because he needed to paint a few things

I love Openrent. Saved me a fortune over the years. Yes, you do get all the dishonest people you state above but you also get all the normal people as well - the advert is on Rightmove so you get everyone. A friendly well worded advert stating that you don't accept CCJ's and that employment/income proof, credit checks and past landlord references will be required stops many of the timewasters from even contacting you. You can even state that they need over £x income per year on the advert if you want.

You can also set up an auto-reply so that once they respond to the advert asking for a viewing they automatically receive a list of questions from you to answer first. I have a carefully worded and friendly auto-reply that states that to avoid wasting their time unnecessarily (wasting my time actually, but I don't say that!) I require the list of 8 questions to be answered and that I cannot proceed to a viewing without knowing the answers to all questions. Amongst other things, I ask them to confirm that they do not have any CCJ’s or other adverse credit issues and that they do not have a criminal record. This strategy sorts much of the remaining wheat from the chaff as some do not reply at all to the questions. You still get the odd chancer - but I can spot them a mile off. As demand is so high we can get away with asking probing questions pre-viewing.

If you want long term decent tenants allow pets. I ask if they have pets and I only allow pet breeds/sizes/numbers suitable for the size of the property and you can tell a lot by the type of dog breed that someone has. If they have one of those nasty child killing fighter breed dogs, run a mile, and hope the dog can’t catch you! Flame suit on (but I don’t care; those dogs and owners are dangerous).

[Luke]

Thanks, just gone there and switched that function on

[DPT57]

I agree that its wise to ask questions in advance of a viewing, but I find its better to ring them up and ask them. They're usually not expecting it, so you can often glean much more information. There are a number of Openrent users who have autoreply questions who have reported that they rarely get responses.

[AVJ113]

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/n...andlords-nrla/

Almost one in ten private landlords with Universal Credit claimants have experienced at least one tenant running into difficulties paying their rent.

That's not good odds.

It's out of context. I would need to know the ratio for non-benefit tenants.

[AVJ113]

You are buying the right to occupy that space for the number of years on the lease - nothing more!

Well, yes exactly. In my book that comes under the heading of 'not very much'.

[Turbine Terry]

I agree that its wise to ask questions in advance of a viewing, but I find its better to ring them up and ask them. They're usually not expecting it, so you can often glean much more information. There are a number of Openrent users who have autoreply questions who have reported that they rarely get responses.

If someone is serious about wanting to rent a property they will answer 8 basic questions. People are a lot less likely to lie if they have to reply in writing to my questions. Those that don’t answer at all or don’t answer all my questions know they likely won’t qualify. Those that can’t be bothered to answer aren’t serious. Those that answer with text speak or in an untidy sloppy manner will not be my first choice.

If tenants can’t put in a little effort to reply to 8 basic questions in a tidy and reasonably well written manner then they aren’t going to be near the top of my list for a viewing as it suggests to me they won’t treat me or my property with sufficient respect. I ask 8 numbered questions; is it too much to expect a reply that has 8 numbered responses? To some people it is who answer in partial text speak in one long sentence, missing out some replies hoping I won’t notice.

Maybe I am being overly judgemental, pedantic and harsh, but due to huge demand (I had 97 enquiries for my last Openrent advert) I can afford to be very picky. If demand was not so high I would modify my approach a little, but not much as I would rather have an empty property than a nightmare tenant. When I meet them for a viewing I talk about their written replies to my questions and check that the answers match what they told me in writing (whilst shining a bright light in their eyes, and preparing my waterboard).

[SouthernDave]

Well, yes exactly. In my book that comes under the heading of 'not very much'.

its still a resource for income though. Not to be overlooked, especially if you never plan to sell in your lifetime.

[DoricPixie]

Well, yes exactly. In my book that comes under the heading of 'not very much'.

Much like your tenants then

It depends on your target market and the area you’re buying in. If you want to purchase in a city centre because that would suit your target market than generally means flats which are leasehold in England and Wales.

[boletus]

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/n...andlords-nrla/

Almost one in ten private landlords with Universal Credit claimants have experienced at least one tenant running into difficulties paying their rent.

I would need to know the ratio for non-benefit tenants.

It's less than half that amount.

[AVJ113]

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/n...andlords-nrla/

Almost one in ten private landlords with Universal Credit claimants have experienced at least one tenant running into difficulties paying their rent.



It's less than half that amount.

So a 90% chance of getting a good tenant versus a 95% chance. Not a lot of difference in real terms.

[AVJ113]

If someone is serious about wanting to rent a property they will answer 8 basic questions.

Would you consider disclosing the questions please?

edit: If you got 97 replies, doesn't that suggest you could be charging a higher rent? Also, how many were left on your shortlist after applying your '8 question' rule?

[boletus]

So a 90% chance of getting a good tenant versus a 95% chance. Not a lot of difference in real terms.

Or to put it another way, twice as much chance of a bad tenant. A big difference in real terms.