Referencing help please!

[Rcraigs]

I am in the process of advertising my 4bed HMO. I would like to reference my potential tenants, could anyone give me any good advice in doing so?

[jax2503]

Hi Rcraigs,

What type of HMO will it be, is it student or homeless or professional?

Jax

[Rcraigs]

Hi Jax,

Its a proffessional HMO but there could be a possibility of 1 or 2 students taking residence. I am a member of RLA who do offer a credit/check service at a cost of £10, i dont know how effective this is?

[Editor]

Read this:

http://www.tenantverify.co.uk/tenant_screening.htm

[Rcraigs]

Yes, I understand the importance of it, hence why I am asking does anybody use a specific company or refrencing agency which you pay to screen tenants? Or is it just a question of personal judgement?

[Matthew Moody]

Hi,

I have used a few in my time but haven't found any that have really proved to be worth the money.

I normally get 3 months bank statements from them which pretty much identifies any issues that might arise plus I get a full application form completed with pertinent details (based off the application forms from Landlord zone) together with form of id and address verification.

hope this helps
Matthew

[Rcraigs]

Thankyou Mathew, thats exactly the sort of answer I was looking for..cant seem to find those forms you reffered to though? Also in regards to an inventory, how do you go about this, ie room by room or leave it out altogether? Rob

[mind the gap]

Thankyou Mathew, thats exactly the sort of answer I was looking for..cant seem to find those forms you reffered to though? Also in regards to an inventory, how do you go about this, ie room by room or leave it out altogether? Rob

Two golden rules :

1 If you are letting to students, insist on an England or Wales based guarantor for each one and get the paperwork absolutely correct.

1 If you 'leave out' the inventory (are you mad?!), do not expect to be able to make any deductions from tenants' deposits - even if they trash the place or leave it disgustingly dirty when they leave. Do it properly - you sound as if you could benefit from using an inventory clerk!

[jax2503]

Hi Rcraigs,

PM me your email address and i'll send you over an application form for the tenant and also a guarantors agreement.

Please note dont post your email address on the forum, you will be spammed.

Jax

[Matthew Moody]

Hi Rcraigs

Sorry I can send you the form if you pm me, had it ages so not sure where I got it from - TenantVerify I think.

On inventory, I do it for each room but for the communal areas, I have never really bothered - are you really going to count each fork everytime a new tenant moves in? By getting a complete room inventory and checking this, I find that this works well for me and I've never had any problems - in fact the only tenants that caused damage paid up.

I think its different if you are renting to students because there is an entry and exit period but for professional/key worker lets, I can't really think of a good way to keep a handle on inventory.

rgds
Matthew