Guarantee for natural void periods?

Hi Jay Jay,

We have a thread on Property Tribes called

15 questions every landlord should ask prospective tenants

http://www.propertytribes.com/15-questions-every-landlord-should-ask-prospective-tenants-t-7902.html

and

Turning a viewing into a tenancy

http://www.propertytribes.com/turning-a-viewing-into-a-tenancy-t-8579.html

and

Moving in check list for tenants

http://www.propertytribes.com/moving-in-check-list-for-tenants-t-8364.html

I hope you find these threads helpful.

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "20/08/2013 - 15:26":

Thanks Vanessa, they'll be logged for future reference.
Who is behind property tribes?

Hi JJ,

Property Tribes was co-founded by myself and my husband Nick Tadd.

We are full time residential landlords of 10 years.

We founded PT in early 2009 with the intention of making it the fastest interface between a landlord and the information they needed to solve problems, be compliant, and raise their game and levels of success.

The story of Property Tribes can be found here:

http://www.propertytribes.com/landlord-forum-property-investment-advice-t-8228.html

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "20/08/2013 - 15:39":

Thank you, it sounds like a good idea to have a business partner, if for no other reason than to keep one sane as a LL.
I made a start in the 90s as a resident LL, got burned and did not carry on.
Having a business partner (and treating it as business) would have helped.

Thanks

jay

Reply to the comment left by "AC Forscutt" at "20/08/2013 - 15:17":

Welcome to Property118. If there are any inaccuracies in my comments please feel free to correct me.

Are you happy to answer questions from our readers in respect of the Northwoods business model?

Would you mind sharing your first name with us by editing your member profile please? 🙂
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "20/08/2013 - 16:34":

Thank you Mark. Yes I will be happy to answer questions.

Regarding my name, AC is actually the name I go by, both at work and at home!

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "20/08/2013 - 07:50":

My reaction was that you must have some interest too. Better to say so up front then there are no misconceptions.

Hi Puzzler,

On Property Tribes, it is fully transparent as to the forum's relationship with Northwood.

I am not a forum, I am a landlord and therefore did not feel the need to declare an interest. But always happy to clarify anything, if anyone is in any doubt.

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "20/08/2013 - 15:09":

Hi Jay Jay - I think you are referring to the second half of this this comment >>> http://www.property118.com/is-the-section-21-notice-now-a-risk/42430/#comment-26259

Which reads as follows .....

"Obviously prevention is better than cure. Letting to the right tenant in the first place will significantly reduce problems and the need to evict. Some landlords believe that referencing and RGI “Rent Guarantee Insurance” is the only way to go. I disagree!

I would only ever consider referencing a tenant if I had already seen their bank statements, proof of ID, proof of residence and visited their current home. Some would say that’s invasive but I just consider it to be prudent. I advertise my properties at a fair price to attract high demand and I am, therefore, in a position to be picky. I always take the view that if prospective tenants want my property but don’t want me to see their bank statements and/or their current home then they might be hiding something. I appreciate that some people don’t agree to this on principle and that’s fine, they have their principle, I have mine. Some will, some won’t, so what, who’s next!

I will consider pets if the existing property is well cared for. I look for scratch marks on the backs of door, I consider the state of the garden and the smell of the house amongst other things.

Bank statements tell me how they manage their affairs. I don’t care whether they have an overdraft, just so long as all bills are paid on time and they operate their banking within agreed limits.

If I’m satisfied with all of the above I proceed to referencing. If they fail I will consider guarantors.

I do recommend RGI for smaller landlords as they tend to be more relent on rental income and don’t tend to have reserves or the economies of scale to deal with a bad tenant which leads to an eviction. However, I have worked out that the premiums for me are greater than the risk, perhaps due to the way I do business as described above. I reached this decision by adding up the costs of the problems I have encountered over the years and comparing that to the amount I would have spent on RGI insurance. For me, the costs associated with problems came out lower than the cost of RGI which is why I decided to self insure.

I don’t operate in the market for benefits tenants but if I did, I can’t see that I would do much if anything any differently."

Reply to the comment left by "Jay Jay" at "20/08/2013 - 15:32":

Hi Jay Jay

I can vouch for Nick and Vanessa and also the Property Tribes forum. Property118 and Property tribes are to the property world what BBC and ITV are to news, you can decide for yourself which is which. We are good friends and have mutual respect. Like all good friends, we don't always see eye to eye on everything all of the time, makes for very interesting debate of course 😉
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