rent arrears
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Features
Troublesome tenants
You’ve met the prospective tenant and they seemed polite. They passed the credit check and are in gainful employment. Most importantly, their references came back with the green light, so it comes as a shock to find a trashed property during the mid-term inspection or receive complaints about heavy metal music being played beyond midnight, every night. Tenants can be the master of disguise, they may lose their way during a let or invite cohabitants with less than desirable characteristics, jeopardising the property and exposing the agent to unsavoury situations. Here, we discuss the most common bad tenant behaviours and offer advice on the courses of action that can be taken. Sub-letting behind closed doors Sub-letting is a real scourge. From the trivial, such as a tenant allowing a friend to crash on their sofa and using spareroom.com to fill a bed, to ‘professional’ sub-letters and sophisticated holiday lets via Airbnb – all sub letting is illegal unless a landlord has granted permission and the tenancy agreement reflects this. An agent working on behalf of a landlord can start legal proceedings as soon as sub letting has been identified – often when an inspection is carried out or when a…
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Features
In The Red
When a tenant doesn’t pay the rent, is it really the letting agent’s fault? Not necessarily, says Katrine Sporle, The Property Ombudsman.
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Features
Student lets can be a minefield, tread carefully
All letting agents will want to ensure that, when instructed by a landlord, they comply with the applicable legal requirements and the obligations set out in the TPO Code of Practice. However there are particular issues that are unique to student lets. It is important, when instructed by a landlord who wishes to let a property to students, to establish if a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) will be created. www.gov.uk defines a HMO as follows: A property is a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply: at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household each tenant shares toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants The property is a large HMO if all of the following apply: it is at least three storeys high at least five tenants live there, forming more than one household each tenant shares toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants. A household is either a single person or members of the same family who live together. A family includes people who are: married or living together – including people in same-sex relationships relatives or half-relatives, e.g. grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings step-parents and step-children. Three or more…
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Features
How to manage rent arrears
We ask the experts how to deal with troublesome tenants on housing allowance.
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