UK Landlord Forum / Life

I'm just about to take my first baby steps into becoming a landlord, and have found a property with a tenant already in place. It's a little more down market than i was originally looking for but the return on investment looks good.

Anyway, doing my homework, I know I should have a written tenancy agreement, and use a deposit scheme. But my question is - will the tenant be subject to a new agreement, or will I replace the old landlady on the exisiting agreement? And secondly, should the deposit be handed back to the tenants and then on to me, or straight to me from the old landlady?

While I'm here asking inane questions - do you experienced folks think I should get a tenant reference check even though the existing tenants have been there for a few years?

I got offered a property about 2 month's ago with a sitting tenant, it was not a rental, the owner wanted money and to stay in the house.

At the time, it sounded to good to be true, and with me already in the process of buying another house, I decided to pass it buy.  My fear was that once I took over ownership, he was going to present a list of faults that needed doing, of course I would have had an inspection, but things can get missed, and we've all sold something that had a hidden past.

Would you do it again?

Mike

Sitting tenants have the minimum requirements. They are paying rents well below market value just set the valuation office. The government Max Fair Rent Ordering caps and limits any rent increases.

This is not the sort of tenancy a beginner should take on-its fraught with problems. If its so good why is the previous landlord selling? If you want to live a long life-walk away. (from a professional landlord)

owever, along the way of building a small property portfolio I've managed to pick up a few useful tips that could potentially make your buying experience all that more pleasurable.Well, all I can say is good luck house hunting! Browse through this site to set your mind at ease about this important decision.

In the old days, few investor landlords would consider buying a tenanted property because of the problems associated with evicting a sitting tenant. Although such properties seemed cheap, they were usually in a terrible state of disrepair, and the rents were often fixed at ridiculously low levels, such as £10 a week. The idea of buying a property containing an unevictable, low-rent tenant filled most budding landlords with absolute horror, so investors began to insist on only buying properties with "vacant possession".

It will be difficult for sure.
But lets see the results.