• Home
  • About
  • Clinic
  • Training
  • Tenants
  • Landlord Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson

  • Home
  • Posts
  • News & comment
  • Cases
  • Tenants
    • The Renters Guide Website
    • 15 Places for tenant help
  • Clinic
  • Series
    • Analysis
    • should law and justice be free
    • HMO Basics
    • Tenancy Agreements 33 days
    • Airbnb
    • Grounds for Eviction
    • Tips

Five tips to help you avoid nightmare tenants

June 14, 2012 by Tessa J Shepperson

Checking out the tenantsIts a bit of a buyers market in most areas now so you can afford to be choosy about your tenants.  There is no excuse for just taking the first person who comes along because you are worried he may be the ONLY person who comes along!

You want to choose someone who is not going to be troublesome, who will pay regularly and who will look after the property for you.  How can you do that?

Here are some tips:

1. Meet them personally and sum them up

Many landlords develop a sixth sense for picking good tenants.  You will probably get a feeling about them.  Don’t discount this – if you feel uneasy about them, choose someone else.

However this must not take the place of proper checking – remember that Con men can be very persuasive – thats their job!

2. Take references

The normal references are:

  • Bank (to make sure they actually have a bank account)
  • Employer (to make sure they have a job as this will be paying your rent)
  • Former landlord
  • Personal

3. Take some references with a pinch of salt

Of these remember that the former landlord may not want to say anything negative if they are desparate to get rid of them, and the personal referees will probaby be primed to say nice things.

Sometimes it is a good idea to ring up the former landlord and speak to them.  The tone of their voice when they answer ceertain questions and the things that they don’t say, may tell you a lot

4. Double check all contact details

For example a fraudster may give you a false contact telephone number so when you think you are speaking to the employer you may be speaking to his accomplice!

So check as much as you can.  I have read one landlord who takes the view that all details should be considered false until they have been checked!

You can check addresses and phone numbers of employers in Yellow pages or on the internet.    Also consider using the Google street view just to check that the business office is where they say it is!

5. Be sure and do credit referencing

There are many companies that do this now and their prices are usually very reasonable – particuarly when you consider how much money you would lose if you had to evict a non paying tenant!  For example

  • Tenant Verfy, and
  • The letting protection service

If you do these five things, this does not guarantee that all your tenants will be perfect, but they will go a long way towards weeding out the problem ones.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Tips and How to Tagged With: tenants from Hell

Scroll down for the comments

IMPORTANT: Please check the date of the post above - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.

You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.

Notes on comments:

For personal landlord and tenant related problems, please use our >> Blog Clinic.
Note that we do not publish all comments, please >> click here to read our terms of use and comments policy. Comments close after three months.

Keep up with the news on Landlord Law blog!

To get posts sent direct to your email in box click here

About Tessa J Shepperson

Tessa is a specialist landlord & tenant lawyer and the creator of this site! She is a director of Landlord Law Services which runs Landlord Law and Easy Law Training.

« Can my landlord claim this rent from my deposit?
Ben Reeve Lewis Friday Newsround #62 »

“Interesting posts on residential landlord & tenant law and practice - in England & Wales UK”

Subscribe to the Landlord Law Blog by email

Never miss another post!

Sign up to our
>> daily updates

If you are new to the blog >> click here

Get Your Free Ebook:

Click to get your Free Ebook

>> Click Here for Your Free Copy

Featured Post

Tessa Shepperson

Why you need and how to get proper legal advice on landlord and tenant issues

Tessa’s Podcast

The Landlord and Lawyer Podcast

Worried about Insurance?

Landlord Law Insurance Mini-Course

Disclaimer

The purpose of this blog is to provide information, comment and discussion.

Although Tessa, or guest bloggers, may from time to time, give helpful comments to readers' questions, these can only be based on the information given by the reader in his or her comment, which may not contain all material facts.

Any comments or suggestions provided by Tessa or any guest bloggers should not, therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.

Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship (apart from the Fast Track block clinic service - so far as the questioners only are concerned).

Please also note that any opinion expressed by a guest blogger is his or hers alone, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tessa Shepperson, or the other writers on this blog.

Cookies

You can find out more about our use of 'cookies' on this website here.

Associated sites

Landlord Law Services
The Renters Guide
Eco Landlords
Your Law Store

Legal

Landlord Law Blog is © 2006 – 2021 Tessa Shepperson.

Note that Tessa is an introducer for Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and will get a commission from sales made via links on this website.

© 2006–2022 Tessa Shepperson | Rainmaker Platform | Contact Page | Privacy | Log in

This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
I accept