UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi
New to this so please bear with me.
I'm in the market for a BTL property, seen a couple with existing tenants in place.
I've done my homework in terms of these are usually a reasonable punt with the following caveats
They keep the property in good repair and order which you can see to an extent on a viewing
They are existing with 2-4 years rental history in that property
The rest is probably as much of a risk as getting a new tenant..however.

Can you realistically expect the current landlord to give details of payment history and references on the tenant as a condition of an offer?
Understand they would need to be re credit checked along with any guarantor...is it good business to pay for this myself to secure a "good start" or reasonable to charge them for it?
Anyone any experience of private, part private part housing benefit in this scenario?
Would me taking over the property require a new 6 month agreement or can you roll the existing agreement over?
If they currently rent at below market rate due to the length of the current tenancy, while I appreciate it would be both silly and greedy to bump it to market rate would an increase to maybe half the difference be reasonable or is it best to run with the current payment ( 10% below what it would realistically achieve)
It's my intent to take out the appropriate insurances including payment cover etc the site recommends homelet are they any others to compare with? Ideally looking for a package that covers as much as possible to £1000 PCM rental ...first timer so being cautious!
Any advice or info gratefully received

Have a think about this from the shoes of the Tenant...

Due to nothing they have done... nothing they are involved with... you think it would be acceptable to them to be credit checked and possibly charged for the privilege, have a new agreement put in front of them and be expected to sign it and then be expected to stump up a rent increase to boot?

I think that would sting a little bit.

If you buy a property with an existing Tenant in place you are said to step into the shoes of the previous Landlord. You can't really expect them to be credit checked again... they're not applying for a new tenancy, after all. You can request that they sign a new agreement, they can refuse. You can't really put up the rent like you plan, I think... you'll certainly have to follow the appropriate process - if within a fixed term then no, but I expect they're not in their fixed term, so via a Section 13.

Of course, you could give notice to the Tenants and start again. Or you could focus on properties with vacant possession. Having a Tenant already in a property is not something I've personally done but I do also know Landlords for who this kind of thing is their primary target. I buy a property and I always end up doing it up, somehow, before letting it out... the person I know never really has to do anything.

What you must do as a new Landlord is formally inform the Tenants of the change in their Landlord (see Landlord and Tenant Act 1985) and ensure you have taken care of their deposit properly. Obviously you'll need to check all the other legalities as well but those are par for the course.

I think you can expect the current Landlord to provide honest information about the Tenant's payment history, this doesn't seem unreasonable to me... I'd leave that to a solicitor to figure out if there's a proper way of doing this or whether it's just a request for them to provide historic transaction details as part of the conveyancing process.

Beware the rent guarantee insurance... I'm not saying they're worthless, but ensure that if you ever need to call on it, you understand when they will actually pay out.

I agree, what you want to know is the date they moved in, was it pre deposit legislation, did the landlord comply with prescribed information, has the tenant accepted that.  You will have to re-issue anyway.

Are they under an AST or are they on Statutory Periodic?

The landlord can show you bank statements to show their income from tenants, they may redact anything private, the landlord themself can give you a reference for the tenant and may have references from previous landlords on file that you could make enquiries to. 

Most tenancies will have an assignment clause in the event of a sale, if it is a AST within a fixed term with no break clause the obligations pass to you,  If it is at Statutory Periodic there have two months from a

I would ask what options are available in the lease for an inspection, then ask to attend one (assuming one has not been done recently), then ask the tenant how they feel about the property, are there any outstanding issues and do they envisage staying for the foreseeable future.

The insurance will have terms that dictate your referencing so probably no be worth the paper they are written on as you can't do it for the reasons stated by H above.