02/10/2010 
Paul Routledge Hello Paul,
I am a landlady in West Yorkshire and I did not see the need for me to join your web site as I only have one property with a good tenant, but the turning point for me was when I was reading the house price crash forum and I always get annoyed at those type of forums when they tar all landlords as slum landlords. If we did that to tenants there would be a national uproar, anyway to my disgust I read one tenant saying they had viewed a property to rent and found that the previous tenant had left slashing the carpets and it had left them with a warm glow. I felt so angry about this that I immediately joined your site. Thinking that that tenant thought like that and was trying to get a home they could destroy with no fear of prosecution made my blood boil.
I am so glad I did because although initially I was sure there would be a catch and that the site would not be free, it turns out it really, really is and I for one will show my support for them by joining. I now understand that the reason the site is free is it is funded by sponsor advertisers. As I am also a book keeper I have decided to get together an advert so that I too can advertise to landlords to help them with their books.
I love the tenant searches that you send out on a regular basis and I feel that it really keeps me and other in touch and makes me feel part of a nationwide network of landlords.
Thank you LRS for being the only people that seem to be organised enough to stop the abuse by Tenants and I hope we all join together and succeed.
Regards,
Vanessa White
Leeds
Bookmark the 
Hi Vanessa,
How true is that I read the same thread and was blown away and was amazed at how many people just talked such rubbish about the site without even understanding what it did, I also read the one on money saving expert where they would not let paul answer any of the remarks or question and just left all the nasty one sided remarks from tenats and stipped his replies out.
I am the same as you with one buy to let but mine nearly got repossessed after the tenant would not pay the rent and it took me 7 months to evict them,
I joined today as well and think the site is great cant wait to see my ex tenants flash up on a alert, I will be the first one to give them a reference I tell you.
Jo
Hastings
Just a warning from my bitter experience from wrongun tenants.
I have suferred unrecoverable losses of over £60000.00 plus loss of future gain(if ever!!); on a repossessed property.
I will never take on LHA claimants, never take on tenants that do not pass the LRS recommended rent guarantee service.
If a tenant/s can’t pass the relevant checks then I don’t wish to lose risking my properties because of them.
For about £100 per year for rent and legal cover I will sleep easy in bed not ever having to worry about losing my properties due to the inadequacies and delays of the County Court system in this country.
Yes there will be hassle in getting rid of wrongun tenants ; but you can put up with a lot if you know your rent is covered by insurance and therefore you’ll have money to pay the mortgage.
This has mortgage companies have absolutely no sympathy with a landlord faced with a wrongun tenant.
Don’t pay the mortgage and they will repossess or take into receivership.
No matter how well a payer you may have been.
Please therefore everybody DO NOT ever take on a tenant who cannot pass the tenant rent insurance guarantee checks.
We are not charities who can afford to lose our properties .
The law is 99% in favour of tenants in this country.
Therefore to guarantee you won’t lose your property due to the inadequacies of the legal system in this country
ALWAYS OBTAIN RENT GUARANTEE INSURANCE ON TENANTS
I have learnt the hard way don’t end up a victim of wrongun tenants like me.
This service is a fantastic idea and hopefully it wall stop wrongun tenants ever renting our properties.
So I have no idea where these wronguns are going to live;;but do I cae!!?
I just wish to provide a godd service to tenants who will pay the the relevant monies for the service that I am providing; which is all any of us really wants; isn’t it!?
I had a very bad experience recently; Tennant moved in having paid deposit and one months rent, passed latting agents ‘checks’. I renceive no further rent for 2 months then received small amounts £ 150 every other month (rent was 875). I immediate contacted a solicitor who specialised in evicting tenants; ii took 3 months to go to Court and eight weeks before the baliffe got in..
Tenant had stolen all white goods and sofas and lots of other small stuff.
I reported theft to local police, who were just not interested; they did contact the tenant (would not give me her new address) and advised they had spoken to the tenant and she denied the theft, ploice advised I had no proof (I fact they seemed to give every respect to tenant, and were abrupt with me).
Yes I had this occur aswell.
I suppose you would have to take the serial nos of goods; difficult if they are built in like my new build flats.
Clearly this is something a landlord would wish to insure against.
As far as I am aware there is no insurance a landlord can take out against the possibility of tenants stealing the white goods; contents etc.
However I wait to be informed this is not the case.
It would be ideal if there was an add on to rent guarantee insurance to cover this risk.
I can’t imagine ther would be many claims for such circumstances but at least it will give us LL’s some peace of mind that we won’t be massively out of pocket should such circumstances actually occur.
LRS
How about arranging some sort of insurance offering in association with RGI to cover this small risk possibility.
Us poor landlords always get the stick. That is the sort of
tenant that none of us want and the way the law goes people are allowed to do
that.I think the courts are going to have to be a bit careful as
the news today is a great many people will always have to rent so landlords are
getting a very important group. If too many of us get fed up (after spending
out money to take a tenant to court and do not get it back) and decided to come
out of the market and put our money elsewhere, are the councils going to be
able to house more people–I think not.
Having been taken to court once because I kept some
deposit money back because the tenant had left it in a terrible state, the
judge said to give a lot of it back as I had not completed the work. The New
people had moved in before I had completed all the work, their choice but of
cause I did complete it. When I said I like to keep the house up to a good
standard he said I had managed to let it anyway. but I want to keep property I
let up to a high standard for both me and the tenant.
As a freind said “Many judges have been tenants but not
landlords”
Well good luck with your renting and I think when
agents charge you so much just for finding a tenant I think they could be a bit
more supportive when things go wrong!
What is it about the police and THEFT??? We had exactly the same thing happen – tenants cleared out the apartment – white goods, furniture, curtains, poles, I reckon they even tried to take the carpet but it was glued down!! The police said it was a civil matter because we had an AST in place. They refuse to discuss the matter further, despite me giving them an indication of where these villains had gone!
Is there anyway we can protect ourselves against lousy tenants and ineffectual police???
I know it doesn’t help much but the only way I can see that you have enough funds to ensure you can always fund the mortgage is to obtain RGI and you also ensure you have self insured a certain amount to cover thefts etc.
I’d be interested to know what thoughts LL have on how much one should put aside for circumstances not covered by RGI.
I reckon if more LL and prospective LL’s were aware of the potential costs that they could be stung for then they might not enter the market or withdraw.
But then I suppose the more people join LRS the less liklihood is of us LL’s being stung.
I reckon per tenancy you need to put aside about £5000.00 to cover evenualities etc.
What to people think?
I know it is a lot but based on my bitter experiences it would only just be enough.
It just seems so manifestly unfair that providers of accommodation can effectively have their properties trashed,not have rent paid and items in the property stolen.
All that seems to me to be crime.
So why just because somebody has an AST does it become a civil offence.
As Thatcher once said ‘crime is crime is crime!’
There surely has to be criminal offences committed so why won’t the police arrest these wronguns.
Perhaps a LL who is in the legal profession could give us some indication as to what is going on in this country.
The net effect is that as LL you are are tenterhooks as to whether you are going to be ripped off again to some detriment to your bank balance and with generally very little chance of recovery.
From my perspective it seems I have become a social LL as I certainly am not making any money as I have been ripped off several times.
Surely as it has been mentioned before if there are reduced LL who is going to provide the rental accommodation that seems to be in short supply presently.
The law is all on the side of tenants with no real protection for LL.
All a tenant has to do is STOP paying rent and that’s it; as LL you are then faced with an uphill struggle to repossesss your property.
The law needs to change.
It should be 14 days in arrears on a rental payment then the LL can any time after that request the police to remove the tenant/s.
That would concentrate tenants’ minds!!?
I agree, most landlords do the housing economy a great service and if tenants are more than 14 days in arears eviction should be immediate by the local police.
Non payment of rent is theft!!! in my opinon and if the law was change so us landlords didnt have to wait for 2 months of default before a section 8 can be issued im sure tenants would not default so easy.
Another point to consider is i bet no defaulting tenants ever defaults on the mobile phone bills or thier car HP loans. One has to think why. Maybe it has something to do with how easy a car can be repoed and how easly a mobile can be cut off unitl the bill is paid.
I rental properties should be like pre paid utility meters, pay the rent and only then the front door will open. Dont pay the rent and kip in the nearest cardboard box!!!!
i totally agree with pauls comment, at present i have a tenant who is nearly £700 in arrears with just top up rent, when after 18months of working with her i and trying to collect £10/20 per week i gave her notice she went to our worst solicitor in town that only acts on behalf of tenants on benefits! and is trying to sue me for £5250 for disrepair WHY would she live in a house in disrepair for nearly three years and then moan when given a section 21?
Just a quick note for Harry you do not have to wait 2 calendar months before a section 8 notice may be issued.
If the tenant pays in advance; say on 1st monthly then on the 2nd day of the 2ned month the tenant is 2 months in arrears and you can issue Section 8.
This under Section 151 of the Housing act
Nowhere does it say 2 calendar months before Section 8 may be issued; it says 2 months of arrears; well on the 2nd day of the 2nd month the tenant would be 2 months in arrears!!
Forgot to say Section 8 only applies for an AST.
If the tenant is on a Statutory Periodic Tenancy then you use the Section 21 notice protocol.
Omn that the 1st day after the 1st missed rent payment you can issue Section 21 and you do not have to give any reason why.
2 months later you may commence possession proceeding under the accelerated procedure.
That is why I always issue a Section 21 at the commencement of the AST so that when the AST comes to an end you may commence legal proceeding immediately has the tenant has had the 2 months notice required.
Mind you by the time the court has assigned a hearing date and then potentially an evictin date 3 months could have elapsed.
That is why this service is so important and why really we ll should all obtain RGI.
How many of us have the odd £6000 kicking around to cover anon rent paying tenants.
Who is going to pay the mortgage before the property might be repossessed!!!?
A tenant deliberatly trashed one of my properties. The police up to Chief Inspector insisted that as the tenant had an AST this was a civil matter between the landlord and tenant. The police are incorrect and should know better. One only has to read the first page of the Criminal Damage Act to appreciate that, for instance, even smashing your own property, a piece of pottery perhaps, is criminal damage and you can be prosecuted for such an act. The police still failed to act.
If a driver slashed the seats on a hire car would this be a civil matter just because there is a contract in place?
The law regarding tenants will probably not be changed until housing reaches crisis point but meanwhile LandlordReferencing is doing something to redress the balance.