There is always something in the news about tenants suffering at the hands of unscrupulous landlords, but what about landlords who suffer from bad tenants?
Studies conducted recently show that landlords are either getting themselves in a mess with paperwork, failing to get the basics of managing a property right – or both! This can often put them on the losing side when disputes happen. As more and more novice landlords appear on the scene driven either by the wish to bolster their pension pots or rent out their homes to escape negative equity, this can leave many facing costly legal battles that could have been prevented.
Go Direct Lettings offers the following 5 tips covering some of the most costly and common landlord mistakes and how to avoid them:
1. Not checking the property before and after the tenancy begins
It’s easy to get distracted by all the form filling and preparing a property for rent, but checking on the condition of your property before and after a tenancy begins is one of the most important tasks for a landlord or their letting agent. Yet damage to property is now the leading causes of landlord disputes with tenants according to research. 58% of landlords surveyed reported damage to property and 50% redecoration and cleaning as the top causes of disputes. It is important to take photographs before and after agreeing a tenancy, indeed get a shot of the tenant if possible and agreeable as the person responsible, this can be used as evidence of condition when getting the property back.
2. Failing to keep on top of rental payments
Rent arrears, according to national debt advice charity Money Advice Trust, are the fastest growing debt problem in the UK. That’s a lot of landlord’s facing uncertainty and the stress of chasing payments or instructing their letting agent to do it for them, they will then need to enter into costly legal disputes to recover the loss and possession of the property. To avoid these costly legal battles, landlords should chase payments as early as possible and importantly in a way that is not seen as harassing their tenant. Ideally a good letting agent should be doing this on behalf of the landlord, but it is still worth checking that processes are in place for identifying and chasing late payments.
3. Failing to fill in paperwork correctly
Don’t you just hate filling in paperwork? If you decide to become a landlord you will have plenty to do and you will need to spend some time on it to get things right, unlike the 62% of landlords who get it wrong.
It might even be worth checking your letting agent’s paperwork just in case they too have made mistakes. Among the 62% of incorrect notices presented to tenants, a proportion of them were actually prepared by agents who should have known better. It can take month’s to evict a bad tenant and getting paperwork in order from the start is the best defence against problems later.
4. Deposit protection.
Landlords who collect deposits have a legal obligation to secure it in one of the Deposit Protection Schemes, failing to do so will leave you open to fines and compensation payments to the tenant. If you are not in a DPS you can register quite easily by going on line and following the instructions. A letting agent will already be registered but always ask what scheme they are in and what is the membership number, which you must keep in the event of any issues later with the agent and you need access. Landlords who forget to secure a deposit within 30 days of a deposit being received simply hand the tenant the right to remain in possession as you also lose your ability to issue a section 21 Notice (The landlords best friend) This can be the result even if you have the tenant from hell.
5. Poor communication with tenants and agents
Successful landlords need tenants and in most cases agents as well. Most of the problems highlighted above could be solved with better communication. This doesn’t mean you should harass your tenants, which can risk committing an offence for harassment under “The Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
In all dealings with the tenant, a landlord should act with common sense and keep the lines of communication open. An agent has a responsibility to make sure tenants are looking after the property and if they are managing it, ensure that they respond to any queries or reasonable requests from the tenant.
Becoming a landlord means that there will be certain responsibilities and the happiest tenant landlord arrangements are the ones where everyone is clear on what those responsibilities are; it is always true to say “a happy tenant means a happy landlord”.
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