UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello everyone!

I am a new landlord and just put my BTL property on the market for rent via a local estate agent (EA). Apparently, the house has attracted lots of interest and had 6 bookings for viewing. However, the estate agent called me 2 days before the actual viewing and said there is a family ( 2 adults + 1 child, one of them work for a large company, stable income with proof of income etc.) that really like the house; they were in the process of relocating and so they planned to rent out their own home and to look to move into the area where my house is. They agreed to pay a holding deposit to secure the property and agreed to complete the credit check/referencing straight ahead. The EA called and said both adults passed the credit check and one person passed the income check while the other adult just signed a consent for the EA to contact the employer; no previous landlord reference as they were homeowners).

After that, the EA talked me into cancelling the arranged viewing as this family already paid a holding deposit, and I agreed ( Have I made a mistake here?).
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I just received a call from the EA and was told that the couple just separated the weekend gone. The person who passed the income and credit check would still want to rent the property and move in with the child (this person's income alone is sufficient to fulfil the income requirement to cover the monthly rent), while the other adult waiting to pass the income check won't be moving in (won't have on the tenancy agreement).
My question is whether it's ok to go ahead? I just felt that it's a bit unusual and got a strange gut feeling... am I just a worrier and think too much? Shall I put any special clause on the tenancy agreement to avoid falling into some traps, e.g. guest policy etc.?

Thank you very much for your help.

You are in the position of being privy to information you'd normally not be, about someone's relationship. If they came along a week or two later and still passed all the checks, would you then be worried? That said, your gut is a good organ... however, your gut is shackled here because you aren't doing everything yourself. My gut is free to do the things it does because I speak to the Tenants on the phone to arrange a viewing, I do the viewing, I am in a position to sound them out... sometimes my gut makes me make decisions I'd not normally... like taking someone on with CCJs... but that's what it's there for... your gut, on the other hand, is acting on second-hand information being passed to it by a known-dodgy source (the Agent).

I don't think you can easily enforce a guest policy... I have written before that a Tenancy Agreement is like a big document of hope that both parties will act as responsible adults, with goodwill... if one side starts breaking the agreement, in practice, I am confident there is very little anyone can really do... what you care about is whether they pay the rent... that will get you off to a good start. If you start backing-out now, it'll create more effort for your Agent and you know one thing Agents don't like? Effort. That's why they'll put anyone in your property... literally anyone.

Could someone explain these special clauses, also gas anyone any unicorns for sale.

Two incomes are more reliable than a single income. Good luck to your decision.