As first time buyer enquiries continue to fall, many homeowners are being forced to rent out their properties for the very first time. Now Belvoir Sheffield, the leading lettings agent in Sheffield is warning ‘reluctant landlords’ that without professional guidance, they could be faced with a rental nightmare!
Non paying tenants, damage to the fixtures and fittings and a huge cleaning bill are a common cause for concern for ‘accidental landlord’, but according to active property investor and rental expert, Rick Flay, director at Belvoir Sheffield, these scenarios could be the very least of your problems if you opt for DIY property management.
Rick from the leading letting agency in Sheffield, said: “Over the last five years, I have heard from landlords who have mastered the art of letting out a property, and those who have suffered at the hands of their tenants, resulting in damaged properties or lengthy disputes. This is often caused by a lack of experience and knowledge on their part.
“During my time as a landlord I have discovered that typical tenant horror stories come in around five different categories, which include, animal mishaps, unexplained goings on, damage control stories, bizarre items left after a tenancy agreement has run out and dispute dramas.
“In the early days of opening the Belvoir Sheffield franchise, we were about to let out a property to a woman who had passed all of our credit checks and the referencing process with flying colours, and we had agreed that she could keep one dog outside the property. Right at the eleventh hour we found out that she had secretly arranged to move in not one dog, but 56 dog’s altogether! (although there was a big garden!) I can only guess what state the property would have been in if she had of successfully fooled us! It just goes to show how important local knowledge really is, added Rick.”
Belvoir Sheffield references all tenants to ensure that they choose the right sorts of people in the first instance. A tenant checking procedure should be extremely thorough and at Belvoir Sheffield, it follows a ten stage process, which is conducted in house and not outsourced.
Rick, whose office on Campo Lane specialises in property to rent in Sheffield, added: “Sourcing the right tenant is central to your success as a landlord, and as the saying goes, you never really know someone until you move in with them! In the case of the DIY landlord, you never really know someone until they move into your property!
“We once rented out a large five-bedroomed house just outside the centre of Sheffield to a group of students, all seemed genuine and after referencing them, we agreed to give them a tenancy agreement. All was going well until a few days after ‘move in day’ we received an ‘urgent’ call from our new tenants. I took the call personally and assumed that maybe they couldn’t work out the hot water system or needed some local information- no such luck!
“They had called to tell me that the property was just not adequate because there was not enough room for their boat on the driveway! I still wonder to this day why they needed a boat in the centre of Sheffield- the mind boggles! The tenants wanted the lease voided and stated that they had taken their own legal advice, however, where a private landlord may have buckled under what was quite intense pressure, we ensured that the lease terms were fulfilled.”
“Another bizarre situation that many landlords are faced with is the raft of strange items left after a tenancy agreement has run out. You may think that tenants are more likely to take pretty much everything they can upon leaving a property- but in my experience this really isn’t the case.
“One of our franchise directors found an antique dentist’s chair fully equipped with extraction tools after a tenant had left, but others reported finding a Christmas tree beautifully decorated in the middle of August that featured a glass eye as one of the decorations, a fish tank with two very bemused gold fish, left in the middle of the dining room floor, a montage of page three models that covered the entire upstairs of a property, a stuffed sparrow hawk mounted on a plinth, two surf boards used as ‘saloon style’ doors to the kitchen, a box of 24 out of date Castlemaine lager with a fishing rod, a kite and a false breast, an external door that had been mounted on bricks and used as a coffee table and even a wardrobe full of brand new women’s clothes, shoes, jewellery and makeup.”
Disputes over property damage often fall in favour of the tenant because landlords fail to compile adequate inventories which prove what state the property was in before the tenant arrived. Using a reputable lettings agent will ensure that if a tenant did decide to drive a motorbike into the living room or remove all of the carpets, you are covered financially.
Rick continued: “Prior to a tenant moving in, Belvoir Sheffield would run thorough credit checks and get references for all parties who intend to move into the property. This should ensure that from day one, you are moving the right tenants into the property and are selecting only those who will respect their surroundings and return everything as they found it at the end of their agreement.”
I would also advise any landlord to source adequate landlords insurance at the very first opportunity. Lettings agents can sometimes offer discounts on such cover, but it is essential that you take out a policy just in case your tenants ‘turn bad’.
Belvoir Lettings Agents Sheffield is the One Stop Specialists for Lettings including Property Management, Tenant Find, Investment and Wealth Management Advice, Fit-outs and Renovations, Furniture Packs and Investment Property Insurances
For more information, please visit www.belvoir.co.uk/sheffield
