Sep 10 2010
Things To Make Sure Of Before Letting Your Property.
When attempting property lettings Norwich or anywhere else yourself you will want to be sure of a few things.
Firstly make sure that your property you are letting is in good condition if you have to spend a few pounds here and there maybe on a carpet or 2 and a splash of paint then do it. Some landlords are under the impression that tenants will trash a house anyway so why should they bother keeping the house in good condition, in my opinion this is the wrong way to look at it and the opposite is true if tenants can see a house has been looked after they are more likely to look after it themselves. However if it’s a dive they will just trash it!
Unfortunately some tenants will trash the proeprty anyway but these bad eggs are few and far between and if you do the other checks mentioned in this article you should avoid the bad ones.
One of the most important factors when letting property is choosing the right tenants. A lot of time and money can be wasted by choosing the wrong tenants if later on you have to get them out. You must meet all of your tenants before letting to them (this may sound obvious but I know people that have let without meeting the tenants) this way you can assess the kind of people they are, are they well presented? Are they keen to let the property and is their body language giving anything away?? All of these things help you to choose the right tenant for your property. As well as giving them the once over you will want to get reference’s from their current landlord as well as a previous one ( the current one is likely to say the sun shines out of their backside if he wants rid of them) also an employment reference with an indication of salary is essential with a landline phone number (and call it to make sure it’s not their mate from down the pub).
You will also want to ask to see recent banks statements you are quite within your rights to ask for 3 months bank statements, all you are looking for on these is regular money going in and out of the account and an indication of whether they can afford the rent (or are used to paying rent at this level).
One of the last things you want to do before handing over the keys when you are letting Norwich property is run a check through one of the credit referencing agencies. A credit check on the tenants will give you information on their credit history and and ccj’s or bankruptcy’s they may have against them. Information such as electoral role and address history can also be found using a credit check. Tenants will most likely not have a perfect credit history, this can be for all sorts of reasons. This alone is not a reason to refuse them point blank more of a tool to put the full picture together on the tenants so you can choose the best ones to put in to your lettings norwich property.