Finding Good Tenants

J

James99

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I am looking for advice. Myself and my wife have a 3 bed semi detached investment property in a quiet residential area and would like advice on how to find good tenants.

Previously we have used daft and an estate agent. However the profile of tenants were not suitable and didn't work out. We had to do repairs to the house after tenants(family with child) and other tenants also had lots of parties which disturbed the neighbours regularly.

Can anybody who has experience of renting out a house, recommend a general profile of good tenants and how to find them?

Yes we are aware that when renting out you take a risk and that's part of the course.
However if anybody has any postive experiences that they can share with us and that we can learn from, we'd love to hear it.
 
It's not easy to find good tenants, however, I do believe that a few factors will influence how the tenants will treat your property.

If at all possible, I try to choose tenants who do not have children and who do not smoke. I'm not anti-children, I have one myself, but they can and do cause significant damage to furnishings and fittings. I also wouldn't use an agency as I'd rather meet the prospective tenants myself - my husband usually gets involved in this part of the process as he's an uncanny judge of character.

It's also important to tell the prospective tenants upfront exactly what you expect from them in terms of cleanliness, rent payments etc. If you're fair with them, more often than not, they will be fair with you. We have a list of issues we go through with them before they sign the lease. The first lease is always for 6 months, just in case we're not happy with them.

When a property is to be re-let, we make sure that it is absolutely spotless and any damaged/soiled furnishings are replaced. If the tenants take on a property in good condition, the hope is that they will maintain it that way. The furnishings are also important in that they should be easy to maintain, eg. wooden/tiled floors, leather suite, etc.

I treat my tenants very well - if there's a problem, I make sure it's sorted to their satisfaction as quickly as possible and do my best to keep them happy.

Our best tenants at the moment are two Polish couples sharing a 3 bed house. Rent is paid bang on time, the house is spotless and the lawn looks better than mine! We're very lucky and value them accordingly.
 
Hi there,I have let my house out for a couple of years,to the type of people described by delgirl above,In other works ,yes they smoked and yes they had children,on top of that they were from the phillipines and one of them was on social welfare.They were the nicest people anyone could possibly hope to meet,clean,carefull,great at paying on time,left everything spotless.no trouble.an absolute pleasure.So I would say one can never think that A would be a good tennant and B would not,you just cannot generalise.Prob get a good deposit and a months rent in advance,get your rent paid by direct debit and check each month to make sure its being paid,be nice to your tennants and good luck.deew
 
Meet them in their current house if at all possible, make some excuse.... saved myself a couple of nervous breakdowns with that one... knew the landlords that did eventualy take them on.... holy moley!!!

Agree with above postings... be nice to your tenants... lay down the rules in the beginning, make sure they are understood, then treat them well...
 
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