A Landlord’s Guide to Selecting Tenants

Since the recession started the number of people able to save for a mortgage deposit has declined rapidly meaning that a large percentage of the population now choose to rent properties instead of buy.  While this sounds like good news for private landlords at first, the reality is that for each property you let you will probably have a large number of applications.  Choosing the right tenant can therefore be a time consuming process, which is why we looked at some ways to make it easier:

Attend Viewings

One of the best ways to get to know your potential tenants is to attend property viewings as it is during this point that they will have a number of questions to ask and the time for a proper face-to-face conversation.  Meeting someone in person is always preferable to contacting them via phone or email as it means that you can get an accurate impression of what they are like.  During viewings you can also mention your policies when it comes to rent payments, inspections and general rules to gauge the reaction of each tenant.   If they come across negative they may be difficult to deal with in the future!

Do your Research

If you want to avoid a tenant that falls into rent arrears, takes part in anti-social behaviour or disappears with no notice then you need to make sure you reference all potential tenants thoroughly.  A number of companies offer referencing services, however before you buy it is essential that you make sure you have the right product for you.  For example, some companies only perform basic reference checks to ensure that a tenant is not in any financial trouble, while others perform more extensive referencing by looking into a tenant’s employment history and contacting their previous landlords.

Hire Professionals

If you have a large property portfolio or another occupation you may find that you don’t have the time to attend viewings or perform in-depth referencing.  This is why many landlords choose to hire letting agents that perform all these tasks for them and ensure that if problems do occur they are dealt with in a quick and easy manner.  Furthermore, since the government announced that landlords are now also responsible for ensuring all tenants are in the country legally even more landlords have been hiring professionals to protect their livelihoods.  Just remember that even if you do hire a letting agent it’s always polite to make regular contact with your tenants in case they need to discuss anything with you.