Why Polish Tenants Like UK Landlords

I should add that I house several Eastern Europeans in two different towns, and because I am interested in what attracts people to Britain I have asked these questions many times. The tenants always say that they like the houses - far higher quality and fittings than you'd get in Poland - and that even the low-paid find them so much more affordable than back home.

It strikes me that there are some people in this country who resent paying for things, who always want it cheaper, and who don't like the thought of businesses making money. The Poles, by contrast, think it is good value, essential for decent lives here, and have no such resentment about what we see as 'low pay' and 'high rents'. Not for them, it isn't!

We could do ourselves a big favour by recognising the value of rented housing availability and generally thinking more like the Eastern Europeans.

tax credits is the real reason--good luck but they now know how to milk our system--plus they may sublet!!!!

In many cases those things could be true Terry and I'm not arguing about the whole problem with immigration numbers or the possible intentions of those people who come here.

But I would say, both from personal experience and the stories of others, is that Poles and Lithuanians particularly are clean, well-mannered and generally take great care of their properties. I used to dismiss a fellow landlord when he said he actively recruited east Europeans, but now I do the same. Every single one of them that I've had has been a joy to house.

i have personal experience of one pole who defrauded the local authority, me as landlord, the previous late landlady, and who claimed in court his english was poor--this gave him an extra free month--i had to use bailiffs to remove him and after i got judgement against him for £10000--he managed to have an RTA and suffered whiplash so went on benefits to avoid payment

Understood, they can't all be Angels. But I'm finding over the last 5-8 years that the arrears rate and condition of the property is much better with Poles than with local people. Everyone will have their own experiences, of course, but my initial reluctance to take them on has been proven to be incorrect.

I must say I have impressions similar to James, but I would say it extends to most who have been raised outside these isles (that I've dealt with).
There will always be some bad apples in any community, but there seems to be an appreciation of being treated fairly amongst immigrants, rather than the sense of entitlement from the locally raised, much as it saddens me to admit it. YMMV.

I have tens of Eastern European tenants and many are/were okay but I am noticing more problems.

One couple who are forever late with their rent, are often very open in telling me they've been to visit Poland so have spent all their money on air fares or that their child (who remained in Poland) had their private school fees due or there were invoices to settle on materials for the big house they're building back home.

Fair enough they are making their money here and paying the relevant taxes, but removing the money from our own economy in order to bolster Poland's is not helpful to our collective future.

On top of that, I understand that Child Tax Credit is available (should they qualify), even if the child does not reside in the UK.

very few are paying taxes and many are not working at all--they sign up as self-employed, get a few fake invoices and then screw the tax credits--some are doing it in several eu counties--france germany holland etc--some of it is run by mafioso

NINOs are given out like confetti

I have over a dozen properties let to Eastern Europeans.

I never rent to anybody unless their referencing score comes back sufficiently high for me to purchase rent guarantee insurance.

I have to say, if I categorise my tenants by Country of origin I'd have to say the Eastern Europeans case me the least hassle of all.

As has been said above, there are good a bad in every Nationality but good quality referencing prior to handing the keys over should surely be the answer to that? Prevention is always better than cure!

I also have three very long term British born tenants who now claim LHA due to age related disabilities.

I have agreed to all three of them obtaining grants to have their bathrooms moderated to better facilitate their disabilities.

They have always been incredibly polite people and thank their blessings for having a good landlord. They too are reliable tenants, that didn't suddenly change when they gave up work and started claiming LHA.

Is anybody seriously telling me that I should refuse to rent to them anymore?