Avoiding Professional Bad Tenants
This article was written on 20 Feb 2009
Does anyone watch “Inside Out London”, Wednesday nights at 7:30pm? Last nights episode had a section about professional bad tenants. If anyone missed it, you can watch it on the BBC website here- it should remain there for a week or so. For those with short attention spans, don’t worry, it’s only 10mins long.
Professional bad tenants are ruthless fuckers that go from property to property without paying any rent. They do it for a living, consequently leaving a trial of innocent landlords in debt. Unfortunately, it’s becoming common practice, and these professionals seem to be getting away with it.
For those that didn’t watch it, there was one particular case study about this one arrogant shit-for-brains that had been evicted 4 times over 6 years, in which time he had left landlords with a total arrears of 68k. Can you believe that shit? The guy had passed his sell-by-date and looked like a pedophile, so I could have taken him with a swift punch in the throat. POW! People like that deserve to be tortured, slowly.
How did he do it? Simple. He’s become all too familiar with the legal system and knows every trick in the book. Every time a landlord attempts to evict him, he appeals with various excuses E.g. he didn’t pay rent because the property was in bad condition. The problem with that is, every time he appeals the process of eviction is lengthened because the court needs to look into the issue (regardless of how ridiculous it is) before being able to dismiss it. All the claims were eventually dismissed, but by the time each appeal got to court, months and months had passed, leaving the landlord severely out of pocket. The system is pretty fucked up as it stands. Bad tenants have way too much protection from the law, it’s an absolute joke.
After watching that frustrating ass-face on screen, i’ve become more dedicated than ever to help prevent genuine landlords fall under the mercy of those parasites. So here are a few ways to avoid professional bad tenants:
1) Rely on the game of odds
I don’t care what anyone says, but as a landlord you have to believe in the stereotypes- you have to believe that young unemployed tenants on benefits will cause problems. You have to be one assuming son-of-a-bitch and play the game of odds. For example, the odds of getting less trouble off an employed professional worker compared to an unemployed bum seeking benefits are extremely high. Of course, that won’t always be the case, but it’s safer to stick with the better odds.
If you’re desperate to get tenants and consequently accept the first offer without taking into consideration social status, then you’re exposing yourself for an anal-raping from Baba.
Resources
The best and worst tenants
2) Get References
Professional bad tenants have a track record; otherwise they wouldn’t be “professionals”. ALWAYS ask for references of previous landlords and current/previous employers. And don’t just relax contently once you have the references, actually follow them up and get feedback.
Be wary, professionals may use friends and families to provide references- make sure the references are legit.
3) Insist on a guarantor
Don’t agree to take on a tenant unless they can organise a guarantor. A guarantor is someone that is willing to accept responsibility for any rental payments the tenant may miss. If the tenant can’t get a guarantor, then obviously they’re not trusted…or they have no friends and family. In either case, both scenarios are repelling.
Resources
Tenant Guarantor Form
4) Credit checks
There are crap loads of companies out there that will perform credit checks on people for you. It costs about £15, and you’ll get to find out if they’ve been blacklisted or have CCJ’s against them.
Resources
Experian credit check
For those that watched the programme, your thoughts?
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Talk / 5 Comments
And I don't steal.
And you clearly know nothing about deposits. They're handled by protection schemes.
And I'm not a "property developer"
Wow, that's 0 out of 3. Good job.
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Of course you don't think you steal...landlords used to consider it their right to steal an entire deposit and do no works...(landlord bonus scheme!)now they need to falsify documents to pretend the works have been carried out, or charge themselves out at £200 per hour (well worth it for an ill educated, self rightous, cretinous, negative equity drowned rat of a human!).
I pay my rents on time, look after my rabbit hutch and try to respect my landlord (very hard!)...he returns the favour by fucking me at every turn...excellent fellow.
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