How can we convince landlords we would make good tenants?

The problem is "repossessed" brings affordability to mind, if you can not afford to KEEP your home how can someone afford to RENT another.. That is the issue most landlords will fail to get their head around

Guarantor will help.
Proof of Employment.
Proof of Income (healthy looking bank statements).

Once you convince one landlord, ensure they provide a RentBook and Reference to show you paid rent on time. The next landlord will look more favourably with evidence of payment.

Also start building Credit back.

Hi Katy

Thank you for the great question, I'm confident that I can help you with this

One of the messages I often share with landlords is that they must be suspicious of tenants offering six months rent up front. This is because so many criminals targeting landlords to turn their properties into cannabis farms do this.

The fact that you are being reposessed would not concern me too much. I would want to get to the bottom of the story and I would insist on the following:-

1) to see copies of your last three months bank statements
2) to visit your current home to see how you lie
3) that you can provide a guarantor who passes all the referencing checks

All three points are very important but point 3 can be the most difficult. You will know somebody who would make a good guarantor but you might be afraid to ask them. However, I can assure you that if you give them the six months rent up front and you only have a six month tenancy agreement they are far more likely to agree to be your guarantors.

I think it's very important that you are totally up-front with any landlords and letting agents you talk to and if you present what I have said above you will be in a far better position to find a nice home.

To sweeten the deal you could also offer to pay for the landlord to buy Rent Guarantee Insurance. This pays out rent if you and your guarantor fail to make payments and also indemnifies the landlord against any costs of eviction. A decent policy costs around £100 and is usually available through the same companies who do professional referencing for landlords and letting agents.

If you want to rent long term don't be afraid to ask your landlord some questions too. For example, when do you plan to sell the property?

Some landlords and letting agents have not heard of a Deed of Assurance because it's quite a new concept. However, if you do want to rent long term it would be in your interests to ask the landlord to read this >>> https://www.property118.com/the-private-rented-sector-evolution-deed-of-assurance/40949/

The last thing you want is a landlord who is only renting a property until it can't be old. Even worse is an amateur landlord who has no money to deal with maintenance issues which are inevitable with any property at some stage. Ideally you will want to be dealing with a landlord who is taking a long term view. These landlords tend to buy properties to supplement their pensions and decent long term tenants are very good news for them. Please bear this in mind.

I hope that helps and I wish you all the best in your search for a new home.
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PS - if your home hasn't been repossessed yet and you would prefer to stay in your own home it may not be too late. There are some special rules which state that your lender cannot refuse to accept that arrears will be paid off over the remaining term of the mortgage. This only applies to homeowners, not landlords. Affordability of payments is obviously taken into consideration by the Courts.

If you do want to save your home I suggest you get in touch with Ben Reeve-Lewis via this website >>> http://www.homesavingexpert.co.uk/
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Hi Katy

Have a look at what we advise landlords to do to find a perfect tenant and then apply this to your own situation. See the link below.

Where are you based as a matter of interest? There may well be landlords reading this forum who would be only too keen to rent a property to you 🙂
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"Even worse is an amateur landlord who has no money to deal with maintenance issues which are inevitable with any property at some stage." Sorry Mark with respect sometimes a landlord simply does not have the funds to carry out maintenance issues, this does not make him/her an amateur landlord but a stressed landlord. It is one of the most stressful careers one could have, especially if their mortgage payments increase.

AA Properties Wales

A rent guarantor (or more than one) is the best assurance you can offer the landlord, but other things include rent in advance and/or a large deposit. Basically, the landlord wants peace of mind, so these things help to provide that. Offering to pay for rent guarantee insurance is also good, as is paying for a deposit warranty. Be honest at all times and explain your situation, and how you got there (lost job etc). Don't have an alcoholic drink before viewing (so many tenants do this!!!!?) as it gives a bad impression. Take your partner with you to view the house.

Stressful at times yes, but their is no chain gang for Landlords we all had a choice, maybe not so in this ladies case?
The question was asked where you are, as we have clients who may even buy your house and rent it back to you, subject to some standard conditions and on AST so no need for Deeds or additional complications
But as Mark points out, this is very time sensitive so action now!

I also understand this situation to be the most stressful in
anyones life and not something I guess you wish to discuss too openly on open forums, so find my number and email from my members profile or Mark can provide if you think we have time and can help
Good Luck Don

Despite what some might think, Landlords are human beings too, and many of us have suffered along the way, and therefore realise that despite our best efforts, it's possible through bad fortune (Death, divorce, unemployment, etc) that we might find ourselves in a similar predicament at some stage,

This sympathy however, has to be tempered with a good dose of reality, especially where money and humans are involved. I'm sure all Landlords have tales of those tenants we gave the benefit of the doubt, where butter wouldn't have melted in their mouths when meeting them, only to find that the situation came back to bite us on the bum! It's all about risk management.

On the face of it here, why take on a tenant(s) who has unable to look after their financial affairs in the first place? In addition, three children to look after as well is a huge financial burden, An assurance, as stated, that they would now be easily able to afford their rent, would carry little credence with me. In fact, saying this would tend to make me think that they still haven't accepted the reality of their financial situation.

Things would ring truer to me if it was said that things will be a struggle, but we'll do it. Will there be any negative equity on the house once repossessed? That'll need paying off as well.

Let's face it, a Landlord who is mortgaged to the hilt, and has little room for financial leeway, is unlightly to want to take on any such risk, but those who have a more managable mortgage, might be more inclined, subject to the checks others have talked about.

I have recently taken on a tenant, who has an Individual Voluntart Arrangement (IVA) whom others wouldn't touch. It's a risk for me, but as I don't have a mortgage on the property, then I can afford to take that risk. Despite asking for insurance to cover the rent in default, with this person's credit rating, no Insurance company would cover this risk. Why did I do this? Because I know that this person's spouse ran up unsecured debts of £4k in their name, and then wanted a divorce, which they got!

It might be another of those rare situations I come to regret, but the person was upfront and honest as far as I know, and the amout owed for an IVA wasn't huge in my estimation, plus I felt they needed a break. Let's hope that you can convince some Landlord to do the same for you, bearing in mind that if it were me, I would need to look long and hard at your overall situation, and weigh up all of the pro's and cons.

Six months up front for me works every time, as long as I'm in touch with you during that period and beyond, and can see you are not growing cannabis, or breeding dogs. Beyond the six months, I would ask you to pay 3 months in advance (saved for during the initial 6 month period) I have some longer term tenants who pay 3 months in advance every 3 months, and that also works fine. If you can't afford to do this, then you wouldn't be the sort of tenant I am looking for.

Hope this helps, & Good Luck.

I am really sorry to hear about your situation and sadly it in not rare at the moment.

I took a family in the same situation just over two years ago. They came to me and told me the truth, they had lost their home, their furniture was spread around friends garages, their daughter was living with friends and they were in a Travel Lodge.

They had both got full time jobs and showed me wage slips, he showed me his contract, she was a hair dresser with no contract. They showed me bank statements.

As Mark has suggested I asked for a home owning guarantor. They were ashamed to ask one of their friends to do this. They offered me a big deposit - which I refused for the reasons that Mark has explained. I asked them to give me some time to think about it.

Over the next couple of days I could have let that flat to several other people, all with jobs, good credit rating etc. I could not help but thinking that they did not need to tell me the truth, they could have said that they had been abroad etc., as many people with poor credit do. I decided to take a chance because they had been so honest and "there but for fortune..."

They are still with me, they pay their rent, he redecorates (every year!!!) and repairs anything that breaks in the flat. They are a lovely family who just needed someone to give them a chance - I am very happy to be the someone.

On a lighter note shortly after they moved in I asked if everything was going well and a sad voice told me "Yes we are really happy, thank you, its only that my daughter had to leave her little dog with her friends and she misses him so much".. Yes I agreed for them to bring the dog home - the flooring is laminate and the furniture is their own - what the heck... My guess is that I now have some lovely long term tenants so we are all happy.

Be honest with landlords and you will find that they will appreciate it, some landlords may not be in a position to take the risk and Letting Agents can only work on a landlords instructions but I believe that honesty pays and most landlords see through dishonesty.
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t seems we have more cannabis farms in rented properties than in Afghanistan !!!!.