How to be an excellent landlord

Click here to view the original article ‘How to be an excellent landlord (Christmas sherry not mandatory)’

 

Encouraging good tenants to stay saves you bother and fees, so here are 10 tips to help buy-to-letters be more kind and tolerant.

He’s been at it again. The poster boy for terrible landlords, Fergus Wilson, is being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission for refusing to house and issuing notices to single mothers. This is the man who rejected people of colour as tenants, due to “the curry smell”.

There are, however, many good reasons for more decent people to become landlords – including the sorry state of current pension provision. Given that our society relies on the private sector for housing, we need landlords. But we need good ones. So how, apart from not imitating the foul, sulphurous stench of Wilson’s prejudice, should landlords behave?

Occasionally (and guiltily) friends ask me how to be good, not evil, knowing that I write about renting. Firstly, I steer them away from certain letting agents I know to be problematic. Then, apart from advising against illegal actions that would render them rogue landlords, I advise avoiding common sins such as unscheduled, random inspections, especially when tenants are out. Avoid greedy unwarranted rent rises, because encouraging good tenants to stay saves on bother and fees.

And there are newer landlord sins to be avoided too. One friend, a resident landlord, lets his spare room, but recently shared on Facebook details of his flatmates’ loud sex life (note to Dan: unfollowing Facebook friends is like covering your eyes in the belief they can’t see you). Other irritations include canvassing neighbours. That’s right: visiting the wider locale to seek information on tenants’ conduct and private life, as happened to one person I’ve become aware of.

Not being a bad landlord is actually easy, and boils down to this: being excellent. That is, kind and tolerant. I have some heartwarming tales of generous behaviour by former landlords, some of whom I am still friends with. One arrived uninvited to give us a bottle of booze for Christmas (sherry, but still, it’s the thought that counts). A friend’s landlord was calm when she called in a panic to say her toddler had scrawled on the wall, explaining that he would simply paint over the work of this emerging artist. Another former landlady urgently scheduled a meeting, which left us – her tenants – fearing imminent no-fault eviction. Happily, she explained that she was checking if we needed any repairs, while arranging to pay for cleaning the rambling house, which had been left in a mess, before encouraging us to decorate and saying she would compensate us for it. (She was just lovely, truth be told.)

Landlords: your tenant is paying for your pension. Likely as not they won’t have one themselves. So be good, be kind, be professional. Don’t install a dangerous gas boiler, then refuse to repair it (I have so many stories …). Be like another landlord I recall fondly, who waited tolerantly for his rent while my compromised bank account was sorted out. Apart from accepting that life can be tricky and complicated, my top 10 tips for landlords are:

1. Do repairs promptly.
2. Don’t visit unannounced.
3. Treat letting homes like a business, not as if you are graciously allowing strangers to stay in your home.
4. Be mindful that human beings, not vermin, pay to live in your property.
5. Provide good-quality fittings and furniture.
6. Do not store your own possessions in the property’s precious cupboard space.
7. I shall say it again: let us decorate.
8. If you are tolerant of occasional late payments, for example, tenants may not call at 2am on a Sunday demanding urgent hot water repairs, accepting that it takes a while to summon elusive plumbers.
9. Don’t be creepy, expecting tenants to become mates, like the former landlord who was most put out when we rebuffed his offer to come round for “a smoke”.
10. If you plan on selling up, inform your tenant first, not last, as has happened to myself and several friends.

Above all else, don’t be ridiculously bigoted. See: it’s not that difficult is it?

 

TheGuardian

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