Gut Instincts.

BoozyBabe

I'm going to try & give accurate info here, from what I know anyway & I would like you to tell me what you honestly think.

I have a Terraced house in a small village outside a small county town in the country.
The house is in immaculate condition. & I'm not just saying that cos it's mine. I've put a lot of effort into having it looking like this.
(By that I don't mean it's designer like something out of a magazine, but all new flooring:- lino & carpet, walls newly painted, new fireplace, new utility room, bathroom completely revamped. It looks really clean, bright & tidy)

There isn't much interest in it at the moment, as is the case I believe around most of the country.

I had thought of living there myself as it is a lovely house & the area is fine too, but the investor head is back on mow, & it doesn't really make financial sense.

I had been hoping for a professional, or professional couple with no pets or children. Simply because they're out of house most of the day & less chance to mess it. (Though I know this isn't always the case)

Anyway, I got approached by a young girl. She's in her early 20's & lives a few doors down from my house.
Now, although I said the area was grand, which it is, the neighbours don't exactly seem all that house proud, though maybe her family is, I'm not sure which house she's from.

She viewed the house & said she was very interested. That she's looking long term & that it's ideal because it's beside her family, & that she'd need rent allowance.
So far all's fine, I think.
She works during the day, so again, isn't a lay-about looking for a free ride or anything, just needs a bit of financial support.
She seems like a nice friendly girl, but I guess you can't really tell for sure.

Issues:- She has no references really. This is a big thing for me. she could get personal references, but what really will that tell me? Obviously she will ask a friend to give her a reference, so you won't get a unbiased story.
She has a one year old child. I don't mean this as something against the woman. But what I mean by that point is:- it still has to go through the potty training / bed wetting phase, the writing on the walls phase, the spilling food & drink on carpets / furniture etc.
Also, it's a 2 storey, so probably she'd want to put up the stair gates. I do not want holes drilled in my walls.

If she stayed 5 years & the house suffered plenty of wear & tear in that time, I'd be perfectly happy. She'd have well earned it.
But if I got the house back after a year & it was in a complete state, I'd be gutted.
All my hard work down the drain.

I don't know if pity is playing a part in my judgement. Her parents house is the exact same as mine, so I know what room herself & her son are staying in. It's a box room. The length of a normal bed is both the length & width of the room, with a small space for opening the door. It is a 3 bedroom house. Her parents sleep in another room & her other 3 siblings sleep in the other available room, so they really need space.

What do you think?
Can I afford to be picky & hold out for a more suitable 'type' of tenant, or do you think the one before me is more than suitable?

threebeards

The biggest problem I see for you is that if you decide not to rent it to her and subsequently advertised and rented it to someone else for the reasons you point out, will you not have to endure grief from her at that stage given that because she lives so close, she can't but see a new tenant moving in?

In general, afaik the rental market is quite strong but then I can only speak for my own area and I don't pretend to know what the market is like in your area. If it's as strong, you might easily get a tenant but at the risk of the wrath of the girl interested.

BoozyBabe

I don't know the girl as I'm not from the area (which is part of the problem), so I myself wouldn't have to deal with her.
It's my right to choose who I want to live in my house, but maybe the neighbours wouldn't take too kindly to the new tenant as one of their own wasn't deemed good enough for it. That would be a concern of mine.

But, again, should I let something like that cloud my judgement.
I couldn't see anything wrong with her. She was friendly & chatty, but not in your face or cheeky. But what does that tell me about how much care she'll take of my house.
Then again, what will that tell me about the care anyone would take of my house...

In one way she's ideal:- she's young & single, don't think there's a bf on the scene, the child keeps her grounded from the wild partying. (Doesn't seem like the big party type), it's right beside her home, so the location couldn't be more ideal. The rent is as cheap as she'll get unless she moves into a small apartment or something, so chances are, she will want to stay along time, which would save me a lot of hassle in the long run, & even if the cleanest person in the world were to stay, after a long time in the house, you'd still redecorate then anyway.

But, what if a few of her siblings decided to move out instead in a few months time & she moved back home & my place was left in a state.....

I suppose if we could tell the future we'd be millionaires!!!!

How Strange

BoozyBabe... the investor head is back on mow,

BoozyBabe, I'd say the investor head is most definitely not on. You are looking at your house as a home owner who has invested personal time and money on improvements.

Wear and tear is a given in a rented house. Of course, there is a danger that the child will write on the walls or whatever and the stair gates are a given but whose to say that a young, nice looking professional couple that move wouldn't wreck the place on you.

The fact that she lives down the road from the house should give you an idea of the family. Do they cause trouble or do they keep themselves to themselves. You could ask some local people if they know her and see what they say.

You'll be getting rent allowance so you are guaranteed the rent.
You can stipulate as part of the lease that you will be taking unnecessary wear and tear into consideration when refunding the deposit if/when she moves out. You can also put a stipulation in that you will inspect the property once a year before negotiating a new lease.

From what you said, I'd give the girl a chance. You haven't mentioned anything dodgy about her character.

That's my 2c worth!

BoozyBabe

Thanks How Strange.
Yes, I agree with you, & yes I haven't seen anything dodgy about her character. It'll be tricky asking people about her, as I don't know anyone there & I'd imagine they're the type to stick up for their own.

I've no idea what her family are like. I am going to try & do a bit of a background check if I can.

& yes, I agree about your professional couple comment. I think I did make that point above somewhere.

I do feel like giving her a chance. She did seem like a nice girl but I'm just afraid of making the wrong decision.

Can I stipulate No Pets in the contract? I think I can, but I doubt if I can stipulate No Smoking, can I?

Oh, & where abouts in the contract would you put such stipulations?

How Strange

BoozyBabe, not sure about where to put them in the lease but I think the lease documents are fairly generic so you can probably add in extra points or delete ones not applicable. I remember a part of a lease I had once which listed every item of furniture so the landlord obviously did that himself.

My dad has a couple of houses and he has had some bad tenants. The worst have tended to be professional couples and men living on their own. He has a girl with a baby at the moment, she is on rent allowance and he never has a problem with them. I think he learned from experience to check the property quite regularly as he made the mistake once of assuming it was being looked after and he found it in a state. But its probably always the ones you least expect it from.

You can definitely say no pets and probably since we became no smoking you may be able to say that too.

You could also just say to her to not let her child run around the house with a marker in his hand decorating all the walls. When you are saying stuff like that its all about how you say it not what you say.

sam34

Re the no smoking- im renting an apartment thru an estate agent and its in the contract that the apts are all no smoking. they told me that the smoke alarms (theres one in every room and 2 in the hall) were really sensitive- dont know if they are as im a nonsmoker. anyway, just trying to say that you can put it in the contract. dunno how you'd actually enforce it though