UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi there,

I have been on here a couple of times before, and I've found you're really great at helping me answer quite quickly, so I was wondering if anyone could help. I'm in the process of renting out my process, and have found two tenants that I am hoping to rent to. I am running tenant checks, and one of the tenants is fine, but the other tenant has a Chinese visa, and is in the process of getting a working visa as he is being sponsored through his company. he is currently on a student visa, and has all the paper work to show its in the process of being sorted, but it hasn't yet been granted. There are a couple of options I am looking at considering; his friend, who has a clear tenant check, can be the soul person on the contract, as I can get rent cover on her, and then he will have to pay her, until his visa is granted. Is there anything else I could do, or can anyone provide me some advice on the best way to deal with this situation?

Thanks in advance,

Please be careful of advice received from websites (including my own) and always do your own research.
Obviously I cannot understand your full situation from a small blog....

Rebeccafstrong

First thing to get out of the way is to check that your property is not in the area captured by the current trial Right to Rent scheme? If so then that saves a lot of typing.

Second point I'm afraid is that if you pretend that there is only one tenant when in fact there are two then most likely you will be invalidating your landlord insurance which probably requires a written tenancy agreement between you and the tenants residing in the property.  You could risk it and pretend that said chap is merely a guest of the other tenant but I personally wouldn't want to be claiming that if all that was left after a fire was a smouldering set of bricks.

You might be better off coming clean with the rent cover company. The tenants would be jointly and severally liable so legally the tenant with the good check should still hold up, but I fear a "computer says no" moment is about to come your way.

Would the Chinese chap's company consider being a guarantor?

Oh by they way, do be careful how you communicate anything to tenants as the 2010 Equality Act can come into play and you cannot discriminate on the grounds of [add extremely long list of items].

Best of luck

If the Tenants wanting to rent your property are more trouble than they're worth, forget them and wait for someone who is 'easier'. Don't you go jumping through hoops or be considering grey areas of legality because the Tenants have challenges. Unless your property is a complete craphole then you should have your pick of good quality Tenants.