The ideal tenant....

I was chatting to Nigel an old mate in the pub last week about his landlording days. We started on the topic of who makes the ideal tenant?

Many landlords would say a young professional lady in her early twenties perhaps?

The reasoning behind this assertion is that being female they are bound to be tidy, home loving individuals that potter about at the weekend with their idea of a wild party being having a few girlie friends to watch the latest video of 'sex in the city'.

Well not necessarily so. Some girls party hard. They also are quite likely to be bringing their bevvy of boyfriends to stay, stopover, or quite likely stay on a semi permanent basis. Not quite subletting but near as dam it.

The other thing is that being young professionals, these tenants will 'know their rights'. If there is ever a minor problem with a noisy fridge, a light that flickers or a kitchen door that doesn't close correctly. Woe betide you as a landlord. You could well end up having the riot act read at you.

Equally, being young and ambitious and also on the hunt for Mr Right; it wont be long before they are looking to move out to make their way up the property ladder so don't expect a long let.

The perfect tenant

Actually in many ways the perfect tenant is a single bloke in his forties. Why's that?

Several reasons. Firstly, the chances are that their partying days are over. They are more likely to go down the pub for a couple of pints but not want to turn your prized buy-to-let into party central. Middle age blokes are often a solitary breed. This means chances are they are not going to have gangs of mates stopping over potentially trashing the joint. Forty something blokes could well be in the sad bachelor category. This means the chances of them 'pulling' & then moving out by the time they get to 40 is a likely as finding a poor solicitor. Blokes are more tolerant of the odd maintenance issue and are much more likely to tolerate it and if you are lucky even fix the odd minor impairment.

So all in all in my opinion and my mate Nigel, a single man in their 40s is ideal.

They might not be the most communicative of individuals or the most attractive to look at but if you want to keep your property let for the long-term with the least amount of hassle a single bloke in his forties could well be your ideal tenant.

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