Good Afternoon
One of the
most important things an agent will do for a landlord is to reference potential
tenants. Tenants fall into 2 different
categories-dishonest and honest. Professional
referencing helps to sort one from the other.
As we go
through life things happen that we cannot always control-if they are financial
we get a bad credit file which can stay with us for many years. When we need to move house either as a tenant
or a buyer we need a good credit file in order to satisfy a potential landlord
or lender. In the letting business I
come across all sorts of oddities. There was the case of the gentleman who had
been through a bad divorce, taken help from the local benefits office
fraudulently then moved area and then wondered why we wouldn’t let to him after
we discovered he had a CCJ against him for £32000.00!
That is an extreme case but we get many cases
where people have had problems with mobile phone companies and similar and
judgements against them for small amounts - often £100 or less. The point is here that if they tell us that
they have had a small problem in the past it is more likely that we can take a lenient view of the
tenant and let them a property (after discussing it with their potential landlord-
all landlords are shown a copy of their future tenants referencing here at
Martin and Co, Weymouth) If that tenant
denies the problem from the beginning we cannot get an accept under any
circumstances. This is typical of
the ‘naïve’ tenant
An informed
tenant will be honest and truthful right from the start and we will work with
them in order to secure them a let.
Private
landlords do not have easy access to referencing and are taking a big risk with
their investment. A previous landlord will
probably send in a glowing report just to get rid of their problem tenant. Tenants will often say they have brought
their references with them. How easy is
it to produce a letter from a fake employer or landlord. As a landlord you have to weigh up all these
points and calculate the risk you are taking putting a poorly referenced tenant
into your property.
We had a
tenant recently whose previous landlord had gone awol. No reference!
So we asked for his bank statements which showed his salary being
regularly paid and his rent going out, it also showed the return of his deposit
which when cross referenced with his previous tenancy showed that the complete
deposit was returned – no deductions. Meaning
of course that he left the property in good condition! Together with his
employers letter showing full employment we were able to prove to the new
landlord that this tenant was a responsible reliable person.
So, the 4
reasons are
1 A credit
check can find issues that may go back years (6) –if we know what they are we
can take a judgement-it can also catch a tenant out.
2 A good
reference proves affordability-do they earn enough? and do they spend more than
they earn?
3 Employment
is checked
4 If the
reference is a little ‘sticky’ we can ask for a guarantor-most people will have
a friend who will stand by them-if they haven’t you would have to ask yourself
‘why?’
One of the
added advantages of having a tenant referenced through Martin and Co Weymouth
is that we can offer all new landlords
a FREE 6 month rent guarantee on every let supported by acceptable
references. This is on the property and
will remain in force even if the tenants change - if you decide to continue
with it after the initial free 6 months
If the tenant don’t pay we will!
Philip
Wakefield 01/05/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment