letting agent offering guaranteed rent

[theartfullodger]

Hi Erica,

Most of the genuine guaranteed rent schemes offered by agents are quite a good option ....................

What evidence - from an unbiased source based on real research - have you got for that bold statement?? £10 to an agreed charity if you have any such real & unbiased evidence...

In the opinion of some fair-minded persons the only way they are a "good option" is an a cunning wheeze for the agents to get a huge mark-up from what they give LL to what they charge punter...

Cheers!

[D Denby]

Hi,

You are, by your own admission, a novice landlord, who wants to move away. I've been a landlord for 15 years and had tenants of varying degrees of cleanliness, but nothing too terrible, and no missed payments at all. I've always rented to private tenants. Decent lettings agents stipulate 'No DSS' for very good reasons. Anything that is a Housing Association/DSS/Council or subsidised housing by any other name should be avoided at all costs. I've seen some true horrors. The other posts warning you about druggies, and total refurbs at the end of every tenancy may sound a bit Daily Mail, but they are just the sage words of experienced landlords. Nothing is certain, but going for private tenants through a reputable agent will massively increase your chances of having a pleasant letting. Whatever happens, if you are letting a house that was your home, it will be emotionally difficult. Tenants of any kind will not regard your home as you do, and will be less careful. Good luck.

[platforminc]

Ok, I have read this post with great interest. Now in my case, I have dealt with 4 categories of clients in the past and I will summarise.


Long term council leasing: This particular council are very well organised. They have a team of professional people who come to view the property, tell you what you need to do to bring it to their standards (magnolia paint, British gas service contract, windows with keys, clean, no damp, no leaks etc). They always pay on a specific date agreed, in fact earlier sometimes if it falls on a weekend etc. They used to cover repairs to an unlimited amount 7 years ago, but now limit it to £500 in each year. They are very professional and efficient, in Council terms. The rent is kind of fair considering that landlord doesn’t manage, the only call you get them in a year is to tell you to do a gas check etc or if there are serious repairs needed i.e electrical re-writing or electrical certificates, the flat gets decorated after every tenant and Landlord doesn’t even know. They put people who are on LHA, but are thoroughly checked, as they tell them that any misbehaviors and they would literally render themselves homeless. One negative I have with them is that they can be ridiculously bureaucratic sometimes, and a L may well think, I don’t have time for all this cr** especially if they know they can get a working T easily on the streets. But once you are up and running, you wouldn’t look back. The other problem is that rent is fixed for a 3 year period, so whilst you hear of rising rent, same isn’t applicable to you, however you have good peace of mind and don’t need to manage the property. Lastly, rent would be about LHA – 10 - 15%. You can also try some reputable housing associations, they tend to be strict with the kind of T they accept.


Council DIY: This is effectively a scheme where you get the full LHA allowance but they just introduce you to T, so you get to pick and choose who you want. This kind of system is hit/miss, the problem is that they wouldn’t easily pass a credit check, nor have a job etc. So they are more likely to stay at home, and put the house under pressure etc with daily use. Because you have control of who you want, it’s good to some extent, however you can ask for things like guarantors who own a property etc. That may scare them to behaving well etc. You will also manage the property yourself, which can be a good/bad thing, depending on how you see it.


Private tenant: I don’t need to say much here, I guess you already know the drill.


Agent with guaranteed rent: I have fallen into this trap before, they pay 10-20% below LHA, and you have to understand that they are running a business to make profits as well, so they will literally do anything to put anybody in your property, if it’s also a small unit property you may find that it will be used as temporary place before people get moved on, I signed onto a similar scheme, worked well for about a year, in that time I had about 2-3 people and I wasn’t particularly happy, one woman used to put her buggy by the communal door as she found it too tedious to walk up the stairs with her baby, another chap used to disturb other neighbors with his guitar. And this was the final nail in the coffin, they put a chap in who used to terrorize other neighbors with his dogs, was a drug dealer (police broke the doors numerous times), all these things were happening without my knowledge and the Agent didn’t seem to care. When it was brought to my attention by the freeholders, I began a 2-3 months battle to regain possession, they started quoting me all sorts of clauses saying they can still hold on to the flat etc, I started writing emails to the council head of housing and even the mayor that they are being hypocritical, as they wouldn’t like a ASBO tenant, so why should they put a known one in my flat.
It wasn’t until I got dirty with them, that they gave me back my flat, the place was broken left right and centre, and I reported them to the council, called loads of times and because I was being a nuisance, they told the Agent to repair my flat, which credit to them, they fixed damages to the walls, doors, other repairs and painted the whole flat and then gave it back to me.
So in a nutshell, my advice is to avoid these so called agents, if you going to take a risk with council high risk tenants, its better to do so by getting as much rent as you can, get guarantees from the council and be up front with them by telling them the kind of person you want, and also manage it yourself, that way you stay in control of things, there is nothing worse than an agent charging you for management, not doing f*** all and pulling a wool over your eyes and lying to you all the time, in my case it got so bad that when I said I wanted to have a meeting with the Director of the Estate Agents, he would book a time with me, and then on the day when I turned up, they would say he has just popped out, this happened twice.
Although, I am not here to bash agents, as I know not all of them are like this. However I’m only sharing my experience.

[erica-65]

This is my final post in the near future. I cannot now rent my property after a very bad experience with the house I was going to purchase. The owner had carried out structural alterations within the last 6 months and had no regulatory paperwork to show that it had been carried out properly. To be frank I have had enough of working with property developers (my vendor). estate agents (they lie through their teeth)and lawyers (the letter he had written to the vendors solicitor to raise my concerns was worded poorly and unprofessionally). It appears as I have been ultra unlucky as I am sure not all of the above are as bad as my experience shows. Or, as I like to now see it ' it is a blessing in disguise'. I probably would have lost money renting my house out anyway!!!!!

However - this forum was very useful and I am glad such things exist for novices like me to gain some knowledge from. Thank you each and all who contributed to my initial question.
Thank you all.