newbie landlord

cute geoge

I am due to become a landlord and intend letting and managing the house myself .What is the criteria for vetting tenants .What back round information can I look for .Is it acceptable to look for contract of employment or wage slips .I know you look for references from tenants previous landlords ,what about couples renting for the first time without references anything else I am missing?

Caranica

References are so easily faked. You can't ask for contracts as you're not allowed to discriminate against hap tenants.

I would deal with people through email at the start, you can find out a lot from searching for their names and emails. Also check RTB register of cases.

DubCount

Just get an agent. If you need to ask this question, you need an agent. There are just too many mistakes you can make if you dont have the experience.

emeldc

cute geoge wrote: »

I am due to become a landlord and intend letting and managing the house myself .What is the criteria for vetting tenants .What back round information can I look for .Is it acceptable to look for contract of employment or wage slips .I know you look for references from tenants previous landlords ,what about couples renting for the first time without references anything else I am missing?

Just search this forum. It has all the answers you need. You might even change your mind. I’ve been at it for 14 years and I reckon I’ll be lucky to go ‘for sale’ in ‘21 if I can get the tenant to leave. They have the same rights whether they’re paying the rent or not.

dennyk

If you really want to do it right, you'll want a solicitor who can explain the laws to you and help you avoid any expensive pitfalls.

As others have noted, references aren't worth much unless they're from someone you know personally, since they could be the prospective tenant's mates, or even a landlord who's desperate to fob off their over-holding nightmare tenant onto some other sucker just to be rid of them.

Asking for proof of employment is also treading on thin ice, as you can't refuse a tenant for being in receipt of HAP or rent supplement (and the RTB will come down on you for anything that even looks like such discrimination, e.g. ads that say "would suit professionals" or similar wording).

I'd suggest making yourself very familiar with all of the documentation on the RTB's web site, and not just their fluffy online blurbs; you should be downloading and reading every PDF and even the RTA itself in detail and make certain you understand it all clearly. Not understanding and following the law to the letter will turn a long and costly bad tenant issue into a much longer and costlier bad tenant issue.

Being a landlord is not a hands-off investment; it's a proper job and then some, and if you're not prepared to put in the work, you're going to get yourself into trouble. Even if you hire an agent to manage the day-to-day business for you (which isn't cheap), you're still ultimately responsible for ensuring that everything is done properly, and you're the one who's going to pay the price if things go wrong or shortcuts are taken. Don't go into this thing thinking "Ah sure, I'll just sit back and rent out this spare gaff I inherited from ol' Uncle Pat and it'll be some nice easy money for nothing!"