As a landlord, how do you ensure a tenant pays their rent?
Well, in a nutshell, you can't! But you can try to protect yourself by taking some basic steps before you hand over the keys to the property.
Credit checks
What is your prospective tenant's financial position? Have they got multiple debts to other creditors? Are there any payment decrees granted against them in court? If so, alarm bells should ring and you should think twice about handing over those keys!
Referencing
Obtain references from their previous landlord and from their employer. If they can't provide them, or are being cagey about obtaining these there's something wrong!
Take a deposit
Legally you can only take a maximum of 2 months rent as a deposit. This protects you against any damage caused by the tenant during the tenancy. If your prospective tenant says they can't afford this at the start of the tenancy, stop and think. If they don't have the deposit, are they really in a financial position to pay you the monthly rent?
To avoid issues make sure:
You set up a Short Assured Tenancy (SAT)
You serve an AT5
The initial period is a minimum of 6 months.? If you don?t,? it can cause difficulties in repossessing the property even if your tenant isn?t paying their rent
Your rent clause is clear
How much is the rent?
When? is it due?
How do you want it paid?
Your rent clause should be clear and unambiguous there should be no doubt whatsoever about what is expected in terms of rental payments from the tenant!
Even if you do all of the above, there will still be situations where the tenant just does't pay their rent. However, a correctly set up SAT means you should be in a position to take swift action to repossess the property. Also, the more information you have about your tenan's employment/financial position the better chance you have of recovering any arrears following court action.
Whatever problems you have with non payment of rent, do not do this!!!
If you're having problems with tenants who aren't paying their rent, and would like some advice on how to resolve as quickly as possible contact our LetLaw team for further advice.
