A cautionary tale that all landlords should read…..
How well do you REALLY know who you are letting out your property to? How do you know that the people you meet are the people they say they are, and not illegal sub-letters? Would you knowingly want to be involved with shady tenants, or would you rather be protected from them?
What if your tenants trash the place, rip off doors and radiators, kick holes in the walls or run a cannabis factory from home? Where do you stand – not in a great place, that’s for sure. We have reports of these horror stories (and worse!) even from some of our seasoned landlords, who all had enough experience to cope with such matters – or so they thought. Can you imagine the stress and financial burden this would put on a novice landlord or new investor?
The common denominator here is people – well, specifically tenants. Property investors often forget this is a PEOPLE business, it’s all about how you deal with tenants and how they interact with you, how you pick the good from the bad in the first place, and how do you know who to trust? Well if you don’t do thorough due diligence on your new tenants then the truth is you don’t. Would you honestly spend, for example, a quarter of a million pounds on a typical 3 bed semi and then effectively hand it over to strangers? Some landlords, and even agents, stress that they want (and will get) a tenant living in an empty property before the week is out. Now let’s think about this – I don’t know you, you want to potentially be entrusted with what is in effect a LOT OF MY MONEY tied up in the value of my property, not to mention that I will effectively be offering you credit to the value of 6 months’ rent – well I certainly want to know all I can about you my friend! First I want to take up references from your current and previous addresses, I also want to contact your employer to confirm not just your salary but also that you DO HAVE a permanent position there for a period covering your initial tenancy. Got any CCJs or financial defaults? If so then I want to know, because as I don’t know you, it tells me you are a financial risk that I could do without.
Obviously, anyone’s situation can change, so I’d like to pop around every 3 months just to keep an eye on my property. Sorry, what’s that - you don’t think that’s fair? Well there are currently 97 other agents listed locally on Rightmove, perhaps they could accommodate you. You see, our landlords get the protection from all of the above in the detailed level of service and tenant referencing we offer. What we want our landlords to understand is that we DO know our applicants even before they become our tenants, and that’s one of the things you pay your monthly fee towards. Think about this properly for a moment, would you really gamble your £250k asset for a saving of around £16 per month on your fee? If so, there are 97 phone calls you could be making. If not, just the one call to us is all you need to make.
If you are thinking of getting into the buy to let property rental market as a new investor and don't know where to start, or you would like some impartial advice and guidance to get the best return on your investment, call me now on 01908 373580 or pop along and speak to me in person at our new offices in Central Bletchley.
No comments:
Post a Comment