In all business dealings there has to be some level of professionalism and many Landlords get caught out when setting up / maintaining the client relationship and end up with new best friends instead of clients.

You may think that if you like the prospective Tenant and get on with them, then there will be no problems and everything will be fine

WRONG!!! Naive and very, very wrong!

We are all capable of being taken in by appearances or even a plausible sob story and some inexperienced Landlords would only see an opportunity to get a new Tenant. They rush in blindly offering to help, thinking emotionally instead of rationally. This is exactly what a dodgy prospective Tenant wants as they can look forward to a new home, (to wreck), a fresh start, (to run up enormous bills) and rent they have no intention of paying.

Some Landlords fall for it and can be sucked in completely. They can be strung along for many months with the Tenant giving this reason or that to avoid paying the rent. They end up becoming too close to the Tenant and end up with the moral dilemma of alienating a new found friend or risk being seriously out of pocket.

Don’t leave anything to chance. In order to avoid ending up out of pocket with Tenants from hell, you need to reference and do a credit check on all prospective Tenants.

Landlords need to know exactly who is renting their property in order to avoid getting caught out. It is just like doing your own due diligence when buying a property, except this time you are trying to decide if the prospective Tenant is a realistic and viable business proposition.

As a Landlord the last thing you need is to appear in court for allowing a cannabis factory to be set up in oneof their properties !

A referencing company such as Experian will check the employment history and financial status of all parties wishing to rent your property, request previous addresses and contact previous Landlords. Check the credit history of all parties who will be named on the tenancy agreement or are liable to pay rent. It is their job to provide the landlord with a little peace of mind.

Remember if the prospective Tenant has struggled with credit previously they will struggle again. The level of risk accepted by a Landlord is the Landlords individual choice.

The smart Landlord will have taken out some form of rent and legal insurance to cover poor Tenants or will only accept those with credentials the Landlord feels will be beneficial to the property and their bank balance.

If you are using a Letting Agent then use a reputable one (Download our guide to choosing a reputable agent), they should do this for you. Make sure you are provided with copies of all paperwork they use to perform the reference and ask for a copy of the credit check. Some Agents may get a little twitchy about providing this data but if an Agent doesn’t want to provide the necessary information, you need to wonder why? Do they not have it? Is it unsatisfactory?

Tenants are allowed and even encouraged not to pay rent to private Landlords, the Government, through its Local and Borough Councils, doesn’t see anything wrong with it. They tell Tenants to sit tight and wait for eviction and then they will re-house them for free.