DSS Tenants – does this video say it all?

Mick don't worry about disagreeing with me.
I definitely DON'T know it all!
I am very much a BASIC LL!
I don't think I have ever been wrong; but I certainly have my opinions.
Whether such may be considered wrong is very much a matter of opinion!!!
Your strategies of managing your tenant types are clearly at variance to how many LL manage things.
Most don't get involved with the types that you do and consequently could be seen to be a little bit precious about the way we do things.
I think your strategy of bare shell plus all the basics and then allow the tenants to make their own stamp is highly pragmatic.
Let's face it most of these tenant types have time on their hands to carry out decorating works etc!!
As for rubbish removal etc.
I don't see any issues with what you do.
I don't have and NEVER will obtain a Waste Carriers licence.
I find black bags over a period of time gets rid of it via the council rubbish lorries!
The bigger stuff could be broken down and put in black bags.
Larger furniture items are of course a problem.
That is why I used an old van with no sign writing on it.
I shouldn't wonder that you have a van and use it to dispose of large domestic waste.
The whole concept of charging for waste is another EU inspired waste of time.
Waste is waste; it doesn't stop being created just because people charge for it to be stuck in a big hole.
If there were NO charges for waste disposal then there would be no fly-tipping!
Most domestic waste can now be recycled.
Why because you are a LL; domestic waste from your properties should be charged for is beyond me.
Just because a tenant maybe doesn't have facilities to dispose of items left by previous tenant or themselves; if a LL can assist what is the problem!!? Very tenants would be in the position to fly-tip stuff.
Especially hands on LL like yourself usually assist with an old van, the larger items.
The tenants you have seem to require more ongoing management.
I don't believe you will have had any major issues with disposal of waste with either you assisting or the tenants managing most of it.
I do think a old van can be a most useful tool in a LL's armoury.
I used mine for all sorts of waste disposal; not a penny did I pay for some stupid waste licence.
Of course you have to be cute and not just turn up day after day with stuff at the rubbish tip..........................................oh! sorry i meant the 'recycling centre!!'
I like the way you manage your tenant types.
Presently it is not for me but were it so I would follow your methodologies; but I would get myself a van again...............................................................they can be so useful!!
The way you manage things sort of goes with the territory and it would certainly NOT be practical to manage these tenant types like normal tenant!.
you wouldn't have a business if you did.
Your costs would far outweigh any profits you might notionally make.
HB tenants are a breed apart and have to be treated as such.
It is NOT their fault, it is in their nature!

I have had pics like that. . Its not only LHA tenants that do this. They leave all the broken furniture and rubbish. Plus the place is trashed. The questions i ask myself are... where do they get the money from to replace all their trashed furniture? Is it all payday or housing crisis loans? They do exactly the same to the next landlord. If they go into council housing the taxpayer is paying for all the repairs and cleaning in the council house. Were they bought up like that by their parents? One thing is for certain they always tell the council housing that the landlord is bad and rents the places out in that state. The councils excellent way to reference the tenant is by only asking the old landlord if the tenant pays the rent . The savvy tenant knows this and do pay the rent which is wiped out by the damage. When they trash a council house and want another they leave the area and apply to another council in another county. Simples!!!! I think Natasha Chambers has an excellent idea !! Hand it over to council to clean.

Hi Alex
``The councils excellent way to reference the tenant is by only asking the old landlord if the tenant pays the rent ``

Human nature I fear is such that people who want to say goodbye to a bad tenant tend to give them a `satisfactory` reference to get them off their hands. Its wrong of course but it happens in all walks of life for all manner of things. The person to go to ( if there is one and you can hold of them) is the landlord one before the one they are moving from. You will get the true story warts and all from them as to how they conducted their tenancy. If they got stung you will get a real earful in the first minute and that tells you all you need to know!

As for handing over the house to the LA. Some councils offer this service and lease the house from you. I think in 5- 10 years this will be common place for most councils but at the moment its in its infancy. I had Harrow Council wanting to do this with mine in Milton Keynes due to the overspill they were getting because of the benefits caps and 30th percentile. They were offering 3mths LHA payments up front as an incentive.

Long term leases like these prove problematic with the some mortgage companies though who only allow tenancies to be created for a 12 mth max period. Harrow wanted a 5yr lease if i recall as did another housing association ( Orbit) that approached me about a year ago. It shows me the ever increasing lack of council housing that is available. The problem will get worse. The LHA PRS sector will only grow as a result and LHA landlord investors will benefit as demand remains very high

I agree with Vanessa the standard of property should be high for all tenants,
if you provide a good quality product most of the time it will be respected and looked after.
I think the video has done nothing for the reputation of landlords or tenants,
In my time working for letting agents on maintenance of various property I have seen exactly that type of situation but not that often.
I am surprised by Marks reaction considering his efforts with regard to the good landlord campaign.
I do not see how this advances landlord or tenants reputations

Louis, I'm sure Mick's and Jonathan's tenants would prefer to live in nicer properties. Who wouldn't want something nicer? I would very much like the house on the TV program "Two and a Half Men" or Iron Mans place but I can't afford them. What's so different? The basic standard is safe and secure, that's about it. That's all I used to get when I first started going on holiday but as I progressed in life I could afford better. I support good landlords in all markets. If you read the posts from Mick and Jonathan I think you will begin to see that they are GOOD Landlords. I am very grateful to them for sharing an insight into their business models here and I hope it will inspire others to consider the entry level of the market where demand is arguably the highest.

Bob Dunn

The tenants that left my house trashed are still a couple and I have since found out they have left have a wake of destruction behind them on every property.
They trashed and left their own house to be repossessed.. And i have since heard from their currant landlord asking 'How can he get rid of them?' The contract is for a couple and 3 children but he told me that there is a lot more adults than stated on the contract living there.
The current landlord did not ask me for a reference. He could have saved himself a lot of pain if he had picked up the phone. Their persona is of a decent married working couple.

Mark is right. There is an important differentiation to be made here between the experience, motivation, professionalism and ability of the landlord themselves as an individual person and the hard, core fabric and physicality of the property they rent out. The two are quite separate entities

If you book into a 3 star hotel you do not get a 5 star standard. The customer choses. Both hotels are perfectly adequate to house you for the night. The 3 star hotel may well get tons of referrals and good customer feedback because the hotel manager himself is a kind affable straightforward guy. The 5 star may have a manager who is a bit curt, offhand and lacks attention to you as an individual. The reverse may well be also true of course

In the last year I have had two customers return to me. One after 5 years , one after 3. They left me to have babies and I couldn`t provide them at the time with upgrades in number of bedrooms they required. Neither got on with there new landlords for a variety of reasons and contacted me to see if they could return to the fold. I was pleased to be able to have rehoused them. They both decorated throughout themselves at their expense to their own taste. Both houses are still physically 3 star not 5. But the professional relationship they have with me is I like to think 5 star.

The reason I often invest in 3 star is because it is priced lower than the 5 star but the rent achieved is often the same. Sometimes I pay 125K for a 5 star and it yields 7.2% . Other times I pay 100K for a 3 star and it yields 9%. My standard of landlording remains exactly the same.

I hope that clarifies my thinking. The LHA model if applied in a businesslike professional manner can ( in certain areas) achieve a far quicker route to financial freedom I believe than some other models.

I remember one of my very young employees coming into the office one day, delighted that she and her boyfriend has just booked their first holiday together in a hotel. Previously they had only been camping and by all accounts to some pretty dodgy camp sites. I won't share her stories about the WC facilities she described at those campsites just in case you've just eaten! The place we've booked even has a star ramting she gleefully exclaimed, it's even got a pool. To my mind it was an absolute dive but to her it was a dream holiday. She loved it by the way but as she progressed in her career she was pleased she could afford better.

Hi, I have been a landlord for 10 years, and it has been hell! BUT when you become a landlord you owe it to your business and family to try and follow the rules. I have over the past few months rehoused 5 homeless people, some couples, one former soldier with issues, one couple who gave out fliers in Ibiza and came back to find their landlord had changed the locks! Everybody has a story. We just cleared out a house full of toys, junk, couches where the father grew cannabis. Like Mick I do not moan about it, but treat it as "next one please". It is NOT easy money, mortgages have to be paid, workers have to be paid, paint has to be paid for. I got a massive sense of satisfaction last weekend when a former homeless mum looked around her new flat and she said "now social services will let my 12 year old son can stay with me", and then the next night I got a text from neighbour saying my tenant had a party!. SO?? Isnt that what we might do, when we unwind?? I always treat the DHSS with respect and give them opportunity, I always speak to housing officers with the same. "WE" are all in this recession together, isn't it time that we share our common goals of respect and humanity? The nightmare tenants will come and go, you have to be firm and friendly from the off, with the consequence that you will sue them in court and their guarantor and take £10 a month for the rest of their lives if they do not pay their rent and do a runner. You can also reduce their rent if they get rid of past tenants stuff, but make them sign that they own the stuff and in that letter state that if they dump anything then they are legally responsible and it is also a breach of their tenancy. Always protect deposits or do not take deposits. Take the losses of rent for voids, and add it to your tax losses, do not kill yourself with stress as you cannot do it all. Magnolia EVERYTHING except feature walls, and ask them to sign off on "good condition" of their new home. Use all government schemes for boilers so your tenants are warm. Love their cats...all 10 of them, and charge the cats rent! Kevin

Stop Press!!!.........................I have just seen a post response by a LA who obtains RGI on HB tenants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How he does this I have NO idea.....................................must be quite a dopey underwriter.
But of course MOST HB tenants are OK
So I suppose as they know HB will be paid in arrears once 2 payments have been missed and they will have quick methods of eviction set up; they would only lose on average 2 moths of rent and then not even that if there are deposit monies to factor into the loss situation.
My private tenant I had a RGI claim on cost the RGI company £10333.00!!!!
So perversely perhaps HB tenants would make a good RGI risk as the HB will normally be paid direct once 2 missed rent payments.
This could be a massive persuader for the PRS to take on HB tenants if it is now possible to obtain RGI on HB tenants from the outset!
Not sure how UC would affect the viability of such RGI?
But it is a very interesting development.
Having RGI on HB tenants would put the LL back in control as a tenant would only have to miss one rent payment and the LL could submit a claim, meaning the tenant would have to leave or be evicted at the RGI company's expense.
LL would need LL insurance; but it seems a nirvana may have been reached where the LL is now in control; tenants will be justifiably terrified of NOT passing on the HB to the LL, if they don't a RGI claim will be made at no cost to the LL!!
Tenant will be booted out and have a damaged credit rating and will be pursued by the RGI company for the rent and costs not paid to the LL.
One thing I don't know; how much would one of these HB RGI policies cost for an annual policy!!??
Be great if it was £99.00 !