UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello,

Any thoughts on the above?

I've finally got round to letting (delays due to some work required, and some personal reasons).

Planning on the usual 6 week deposit, plus a month upfront.  (And I'll be doing the usual RGI, etc.)

Given the 'typical media mis/information', seems many landlords ask for more than 1 month upfront - up to 6?  That seems a bit unfair... but perhaps some on this forumn are already doing this/think it's wise in the current climate?

I'd be interested to hear any views.

Rgds

I think you need to rethink this. Six weeks rent as a deposit isn't legal, for example.
I've never taken six months rent in advance.

Hi Chris,

I have had 2 tenants who paid 6 months in advance. I just want to make clear I didn't ask for this. The tenants offered this to secure the property. Both these tenants have been good tenants and stopped 3 years each. It was their preferred way of paying they did have the option to pay monthly. For one of the tenants their situation changed after 3 years and being a fair landlord I did refund 2 months and let them go early.

Thanks both for the time as always,

Ahhh, my mistake, I'm sure I'd read somewhere it was 6 weeks' rent for a deposit.  But nope, 5, (unless rent is over 50k, which it certainly wont be).

Re the 6 months in advanace rent, did you then keep it 'rolling' as in they pay a month so they're always 6 months' ahead?  Or did they just 'consume' the 6 months before then doing month-on-month?

I'll likely be using OpenRent's £69 'Rent Now + Ultimate Advertising' package so they handle the DPS registratation, and legal statements such guarantor details, verify IDs etc. etc. (plus any reasonable requests I make re income verification and so on) and I just supply the property details & photos.  Seems the best cost vs benefit option.  Presumably that way my personal 'phone number or email never appears on the adverts - they just foward on to me like a high street agent?

Quote from: Chris S on December 01, 2024, 08:33:34 PMRe the 6 months in advanace rent, did you then keep it 'rolling' as in they pay a month so they're always 6 months' ahead?  Or did they just 'consume' the 6 months before then doing month-on-month?

The second option. The first option is illegal.

I think you need some training (NRLA) or research. This is very basic stuff - taking the wrong option with the upfront rent could cost you 18 month's rent, legal fees and make it next to impossible to evict a tenant. You seem to have decided to become a landlord without really appreciating the job.

-

Woaoh, I've been a landlord now for ca 10 years; no sig tenant issues – and I'm super careful with the paperwork.
Only I've always used highstreets agents for marketing – now I plan on using an online one to save costs, and using 'The Landlord' check forms for viewings/checks etc.

I'm aware you can only take/register 5/6 weeks DEPOSIT with the DPS, and then ask for a month in advance for RENT (at least that what I planned), but then I read about this 6 months' in advance rent thing.  Which would certainly help with cash flow, but seems iffy.  Presumably a tenant could say to a judge 'he's got a large wedge of my cash' – which would screw you over for anything else.

Hence the original question re how it worked.  I've been a tenant myself 8 times, and never been asked it.  As it happened, I had a mate who did it several years ago, because he was unemployed at the time (plus the market was very different back then), and I just wondered how common it was nowadays and how it worked.  But he moved out after 6 anyway.

It's not "iffy," it's just rent in advance. Which is fine, as long as you make it clear that it's six lots of monthly rental payment, not one lot of rent for a six month rental period.

You can't take six months' rent and then demand the tenant start paying the rent in month 2 to keep the other five months in your pocket, which you suggested as a possibility. It's not legal, and it carries a huge potential penalty, so suggesting it as something to be considered is concerning.

And you can't register "5/6 weeks DEPOSIT with the DPS". They won't let you register for more than 5 weeks because 6 weeks would be not legal. 

Yeah, am OK with DPS legalities.  It'll be 5 weeks for me, because, sadly, I'm not renting out a mansion.

As for the rent in advance... (sucks air between teeth), tempting, but could then encourage the tenant to 'forget' to pay when month 7 arises.  Or push out better tenants.  I wasn't suggesting going down any particular route, but not having encountered it before, just wondered how it worked.
 
I read in the usual rags about tenants offering 6 months' upfront in particularly high-demand London boroughs... think I'll stick with asking for the usual 1 month, then just see what happens when viewers turn up.

As you didn't take the opportunity to learn anything during the TEN YEARS you were paying Agents to manage your property/s, what makes you think you're capable now?

Your posts on this thread give the indication you're a brand new landlord - despite having been one for 10 years.