Renting a flat in the UK? Learn from my mistakes!
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- čas přidán 21. 05. 2024
- Here are 9 tips I recommend all renters in England follow! After a few misadventures myself with letting agencies and landlords, I'll be following these tips for the rest of my renting life in England!
Here's my template for a property issues database with a few examples: www.notion.so/5b256d6de0f04a0...
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Hey! I'm Alanna - a twenty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a CZcams video every Tuesday and an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 6:30pm GMT on Twitch.
Alanna x
Munger and Buffett have both achieved an incredible feat with Berkshire. They've turned thousands to billions, and have made a lot of people wealthy in the process. I really saw the potential of the stock market by reading Berkshire's annual letters. I recently sold my $674k apartment in the Bel Air area and I'm hoping to throw it into the stock market. I just don't want to lose everything.
Most people either do not understand the power of compound interest, or are just impatient. For the average Joe, however. I think it is just best to invest in the S&P 500, and just wait, which is reliable, albeit extremely long-lots of years. Or just use a professional analyst and speed up wealth creation. Most people underestimate the power of the latter
You're absolutely right about the power of compound interest and the long-term potential of investing in index funds like the S&P 500. For many, passive investing in broadly diversified funds can be a reliable strategy over time.
I agree with you. I started out with investing on my own, but I lost a lot of money. I was able to pull out about $200k after the 2020 crash I invested the money using an analyst, and in seven months, I raked in almost $673,000
Employing a professional financial analyst or advisor can certainly add value by offering tailored advice, portfolio diversification, risk management, and timely insights. Their expertise can potentially speed up wealth creation and navigate market complexities, but it's important to choose someone reputable and consider their fees, as they can impact your overall returns.
I'm actually interested in this idea of investing through an analyst. Sounds like the most sensible thing to do in the market right now. Could you give me a pointer to who you work with, please?
I find that landlords who rent out places you'd hate to live in are the best ones. They leave you alone as long as you pay your rent on time and stay quiet. They don't really bother with inspections (maybe once every 5 years for insurance purposes) because they don't spend tonnes of cash on doing the place up.
The nicer the place, the more they fret over their tenants IMO.
We had the best landlord in Edinburgh, in 3 years he didn't even mention putting up the rent. He had a nice "niece" as well. We met them one night in a pub early in the tenancy, of course we promised we wouldn't mention meeting them to his wife.
😂 oh my god
Now that's leverage, should've asked for a spa bath🤣
What's wrong with meeting his "niece"? wink
"I'm putting your rent up". "How's your niece?" 🤣
As she said, be sure to take photos...
Of the property, that is.
"If your toilet explodes- because it does happen!!" I feel like there's a story about this.
This happened to my brother last month haha
‘When money is involved people change’ could be the truest thing I have heard in a long time. Alanna’s organisational skills, experience and passion for justice versus unscrupulous landlords. You should win a public service award, well done Alanna.
You're too kind!!
Also, and something you forgot, is make sure you click the Delivery and Read receipts for all your emails. Without it the letting agency can deny ever receiving your message.
Here are the tip time codes for easy reference:
1. 2:48 Read the Tenancy Agreement
2. 5:37 In-depth Inventory
3. 8:02 Make a spreadsheet
4. 10:55 Inspection Reports
5. 11:57 Email
6. 14:15 Go through the Letting Agency
7. 15:30 Be a little bit critical
8. 18:28 Get it clean, dummy!
9. 20:32 Get help
Fantastic video and advice, thank you.
In 2010 my partner died after a two year fight with cancer, we didn't "live together" but as her rented house had stairs she wasn't able to live there, so she came to live with me in my rented flat, I was her carer and this suited us both as she did not want to die in hospital.
After her death I set about emptying her house, it was hard work both physically and mentally, but as you said, lots of photographs were taken (lots of photographs had been taken before she moved in to the property too, thankfully, these were vital).
The estate agent/letting agent, contested dents in the carpets where furniture had been stood, occasionally marks on skirting boards where a shoe had brushed against (especially on the stairs), each carpet dent and paint mark was changed at £50 to "repair", this amounted to around £1000 plus other "problems" listed by the estate agent, I wasn't in a good place mentally and as an executor of her will I had a word with the solicitor, I explained everything and showed her the photographs "before and after", she picked up the phone there and then, she said some legal jargon to the estate agent, emailed the photographs to them, (after a couple of days the dents in the carpets had come out of their own accord, the marks on paintwork were described as wear and tear over the 8 years the house had been rented and the none working grill was accepted as never having worked throughout the tenancy, the costs were all dropped and even a refund was given as an apology in the circumstances.
Everything you said in your video is correct and is excellent advice for anyone renting, take care and I hope things work out for you soon, by the way, my partner was from Frittenden in Kent, beautiful area but very cold in winter :)
Alanna's posting schedule is one of the most reliable things on Earth.
🙏🏻
@@lwaves Alannaday.
Work day, afternoon tea break and new Adventures and Naps vlog watch 15 mins of it back to work.
No doubt organised using Notion probably the best organising software ever created. (That'll be £20 please)
Some people say.........the Greenwich time signal maintains it's accuracy by checking with Alanna's posting schedule. 😄😄
Alanna… we are very very proud of you being a big girl now👩🦳🗽💪😷✌️👍👌🙌🙌🙌👏👏👏👏👏😉😉😉👏👏👏👏🙌🙌🙌🙌
My dad always said to me ‘laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and i’ll give you something to cry about you little bastard’.
Why did he always say that to you?
@@JakeJakeP i was told ‘not to ask questions’
@@Knuckle_Sandwich_Hand_Wraps how come?
😆Good stuff Fight Food...no little bastards here
Had so many issue with renting, I actually went to my local MP in the end to complain about the consistently poor experience with renting. Most of these problems in my experience are caused by the letting agents rather than the landlords. They see renters as second class citizens and seem unable to comprehend that today's renters are the buyers of tomorrow. As such, when I came to sell my first house and later buy another(a year later) I refused to purchase a house through 2 particular estate agents that I'd had such poor rental experiences with over the years. I just wouldn't even look at a house listed by them. Several of our friends have chosen to do the same and black list these agents. Funnily enough both happen to be big chains.
Exactly this
Which agents they are)
@@gulnartahmazova3603 Cj hole and Andrews
Not to forget to mention Tuckergardner. Agents were useless.
Good tips! Nothing wrong with being a little paranoid when protecting yourself
Thank you!
Landlords are great...until you want to move out. I used to go drinking with my landlord and any issues he sorted them straight away. Once I moved out though he nitpicked every scratch, every speck of dust and was just an arse.
Ugh, I feel for you.
Thats a pub landlord.
I have to move and as usual, your advice is wonderful. And it's nice to have someone who understands the pain talk in a chilled way.
Im so sorry about what's happening with your landlord! I hope youre doing ok and that you can get everything sorted! The new place where you're recording looks so nice! And you having the card I sent on your counter is so sweet!!! Thank you so much for making a video about this! Im moving next year and I dont know how this stuff works! But you gave really good advice, and I understand things more now, thank you! Youre so smart, and so nice! You and your videos help me so much! Thank you so much for everything!
Thank you so much Aaron, I really appreciate it!
I'm an Indian who has lived in the Middle East for most of my life and your points are valid for renting in the Middle East too! Thank you for your videos, i somehow enjoy watching them :)
Thanks for watching!!
Good advice for renting in general, not just the U.K. Can't wait for the rant video!
These are all such excellent tips! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and recommendations.
Thank you so much for this video! And I’m so sorry that you have to go through all this. I wish you the best of luck and some peace ❤️
Thank you!
10:15 - Despite not having played the games, I'm totally now picturing Alanna in court going "Objection!" in an Ace Attorney style, and pulling out all her carefully crafted documentation.
What a great, informative (and interesting) video!! So many pointers apply to renting anything, from tools to cars. I always do much of what you’ve outlined (esp the photos) whether a long-term car rental from a dealer or a short period when on holiday. Love the channel, keep up the good work😊
Thanks for watching!!
Really interesting and a common sense set of steps to help. Keep up the good work Alanna!
Thank you so much!
As you demonstrate, you have to remain positive and put these things down to experience. You are taking note and that is very good. I checked out the Notion link. I think a video from you on this for on-lookers would be worthwhile.
An absolutely brilliant video. It's humbling that you had that experience but made the effort to help others when you didn't need to.
When you said "you don't know what you don't know", it reminded me when family were in a similar situation with their landlord, someone said "they thrive on your weakness."
And if you get evicted illegally, you could get thousands of pounds in compensation.
I love that you covered keeping things organised. My hubby and I have our own email accounts - but we also have a joint Gmail account - specifically for this purpose. Everything to do with landlord, repairs, utilities, even copies of user's manuals for our appliances and safety certificates are all accessible through that account. We have an email from us to us that is nothing but repair details - we use this because at the moment the online report a repair isn't operational due to covid - everything has to be phoned in, so there's no paper trail indicating they are aware of the issue and what steps are being taken to resolve it. So this 1 email is our own running commentary with all the details, photos, and who took the calls, who made the actual repair, etc. We got burned by a previous landlord and we're never getting into a position like that again. I'll definitely look into Notion, that sounds brilliant.
Great video packed with top notch advice, it’s better to be prepared!
You've reminded me of my construction days. When we were working st level, we photographed the sidewalk because some where down the stretch a goofball from local authorities, would turn up unannounced, look at the side walk and then let us know were are liable because there is cracks and damage we are responsible so you gotta pay. For new side walk.
It’s interesting what you’re used to. I couldn’t get over how informal the rental process is here in Canada. Very rarely will you deal with an agency. It’s usually all done privately.
You reminded me how lucky I am to have a great landlord. I hope it all works out in your favour but good on you both for fighting back regardless of the results because too many people are unable to fight for themselves. I hope you’re enjoying yourself in the new flat and you are going to be very happy there. I hope you and your family stay well, thank you for the video.
Thanks so much!
Great to see you immersing yourself in British culture. I hope you’re having a great time.
Great video Alanna. I'm loving the new background with plant. Can't wait for your 'tell-all' video. Good luck with your issues there.
Thanks so much!
Good tips. Hope it all works out OK for you.
Also if anyone is living alone renting, know that you can claim 25% off your council tax.
Not landlord/agent related, but worth knowing
Our landlord hasn't been inside the property since we moved in 11 years ago. Rent hasn't gone up either
You lucky bugger with the rent or are you renting a henhouse n the Orkney Isle
@@bryansmith1920 Just outside Belfast
@@torros1839 Yes but, a henhouse?
That's not a good thing...you'll find it difficult to leave because all the other rents will have gone up...unless you've saved the money, of course.
Shhhhh
I have been binging your vids on a road trip and I am so happy and obsessed
Yay! Thank you!
Today is great. Today is summer and you, Alanna have just amped it up. Good video 😉📹👍
Thank you! 😃
@@AdventuresAndNaps 😁
Well you guilted me into a comment but...
I have spent a lot of time in rented accommodation in London and have never had a problem but...
Your advice is really good and you don't need to apologise about being paranoid/cynical, landlords are not your friend, letting agencies are not your friend and you need to take care of yourself.
Oh Alanna, how awful to be in a situation that makes you unhappy and or worried. One thing I've learned in life is that I've wasted a LOT of time worrying about things that never actually happened, and also that every situation is a thing you can learn from. Sadly there are people out there who are just waiting to take advantage of the unwary, but hopefully you'll see justice done. Keep your spirits up and keep your eyes on the horizon. And above all, remember that you're not alone, many of us have to deal with bad situations and we understand and we're all, I'm sure, wishing you the best x
Thank you so much!!
Hey Alanna, a very informative video this week.
The cost of buying a house these days and getting the deposit together in the first place puts it out of reach for a lot of people meaning renting for them is the only option.
I've done work for quite a few land lords over the years and most are pretty good but there are some who's behaviour towards their tenants is absolutely shocking and fully live up to the name "Rouge land lord". Your pointers will be very useful for those wanting to rent a place and the pitfalls to look out for.
I hope the issue with your old land lord gets sorted out soon and without too much stress. 🤞
Alanna, you've made it through so much in life and have come so far (no pun intended). Sounds like you're very organised, as usual and I just know you'll make it through this tough situation too. Hope all goes well 🙂
Thanks so much!
Great video, Alanna. Following up phone calls with an email is really good advice in lots of situations, such as getting someone to do work for you. As the saying goes, verbal agreements are not worth the paper they're written on! Good luck with the dispute - firms will often back down when they see you're serious about court. It's generally not worth the time for them to go ahead with it. x
Thank you!!
Great video, Alanna, I also rent and it's a damn minefield out there. If I can underline one of your points it's the one about using an established letting agency, they're far more likely to toe the line as far as legal requirements go (I once had a private landlord who moved house and changed his phone number, leaving me high and dry... the only way I could get his attention was by stopping paying rent, he soon got in touch with me after that)...
Oh and yes to your comment about these 'Why don't you just buy a house' type people, the only correct response is 'Sure thing, pal... got a five figure sum lying around that I can use as a deposit?' ;o)
Hey Alanna, I'm moving to the UK this year & it is a harrowing process. Thank you so much for making this video.
I'm so sorry that you're having a rough time and I hope you get it resolved quickly. ❤️
Thank you!
Excellent video. All very sensible advice. In addition take photos whenever works are done. Once our banister fell off, the landlord fixed it badly and then at check out tried to charge us for the mess THEY had made! Luckily we had taken photos at the time and emailed the agent the photos (in a thank you for sorting it all out email 😁
But at the end of the day being a tenant sucks. We had a agent decline to renew our lease because someone who had visited our house bumped a car in the street who then complained to the agent. Nothing to do with us but they could just say, nope leave your home... turned out landlord never knew. It was just that the person whose car was bumped (not damaged in any way) was a friend of the agent 🤷♀️
Also we would always ask the landlord who they use for an end of tendency clean...
As a South African, I´ve been screwed over by landlords soooo many times. These are all great tips.
The renting system and the leasehold system if you buy a flat both need reforming .I agree with you about spreadsheets usefulness. I would also keep a diary of times and names of people you spoke to
Great video! My wife and I hope to spend one year in Great Britain when we retire. Thanks for all your great videos!
Thank you!
Very good tips. When my daughter moved into her student accommodation, I took photos of everything, probably about 100-150. Every scrap, dirty mark, everything. It was telling when the landlord said there would be a fine for leaving the bins overnight because they could be fined by the council on a gated private facility. Yeah! Right. As the saying goes " get your ACE in place" (Arse covering exercise). Hope it all sorts itself our for you soon.
Thank you!
Am all
Over this, the overlap nearly caught us out a few years back, our landlord served notice of 2 months, so we started to look for a property and eventually found one but in the small print we had to give them a months notice when we found somewhere and then round that off to your tenancy start date. So if your notice was the 10th and your original start date was the 14th you owed then a month and 4 days, but if you couldn’t find somewhere almost straight away and it went past the 14th you owed them 2 months, add that to getting together a huge deposit for the new place before you even think about getting your old one back it becomes a very expensive business for a tenant
This is all great advice. Great public service you’re doing! All I’d say is to avoid letting agents at all cost and go with a private landlord if at all possible. I’ve had rented from many private landlords, some wonderful people, some a bit odd, but all could be reasoned with. On the other hand, any interaction I’ve had with a letting agent has been a living nightmare.
Alanna, this has been an incredibly helpful video and very timely for me. Thank you!! Good luck in court, I really hope you get the result that you want.
Thank you so much!!
Hey Alanna
Sorry you've had rental issues. I cringe when I see stories of overseas people renting places unseen. Really, really bad idea and high chance of getting scammed I'm afraid.
The Citizens advice bureau will help you with reading a tenancy agreement. They are s free service that have lawyers available if needed.
Yes Alanna emails trail is vital. I agree. My father was a lawyer do taught me well. Won a court case last year over faulty laptop as I could show all emails to the judge.
Yes there are some scummy landlords and agents. Citizens advice bureau again will advise you. Make sure any deposit is placed in the rental deposit scheme where it'll be held securely.
Good luck
Letting agencies that are reluctant to hand back deposits, which I imagine is the crux of your landlord/letting agency, it usually is.
I know a few people who've had that problem, and one of Cardiffs biggest letting agencies were taken court and lost because of it.
Hey Alanna brilliant advice given, if only someone had given you this great advice before this traumatic issue. Love all your postings. Good luck.
Thank you!
I used Spare room when I was a lodger and looking for a room to rent, I went privately as that was my personal choice. This was in Wales from September 2016 to March 2018 and I lived in a few properties in Cardiff, Wales.
Love your content, and your personality, or maybe it's the accent. I could write a book on the sneaky things landlords do
If the property you are moving into has built in appliances - e.g. oven and/or hob - ask for a manual. It's infuriating when you come to cook something and the appliance doesn't work the way you are used to. Same for the central heating - how is it switched on, where is the thermostat, how is it adjusted. If there are storage heaters instead, then ask how they work. You should do this *before your moving in date*.
What is a “hob?”
@@sevenninety4893 The top bit of a cooker containing the hot plates (electric) or burners (gas). Where you heat saucepans, for example.
@GreatStuffist Thank you. In America that would typically be called a “stove” or “range” or “range top.”
@@sevenninety4893 I think in America an essentially free standing appliance is more common than in England. We often have the oven and grill built in to one part of the kitchen cabinets and the hob is inset into the worktop in another spot. You can see Alanna's oven in the background.
@Nicky L It's often very difficult to identify the exact appliance you've got. Sometimes there's just a name, and it's fucking nause to look through pages of Google Images trying to see if you can spot the right one.
Nice video as always Alanna, Handy tips and hope you get your situation resolved soon. 🙂
Thank you! 😃
'Follow that up with an email' is good advice in general, I realise the more I think about it, and will add it to my mental list of daily life best practices.. :)
Oh yes, cleaning the apartment upon move out...in my part of the US, it's automatic that the letting agency will do the cleaning and deduct it from the original deposit. I hired a company to clean for me and was charged AGAIN by the agency. It's just a way to not return the entirety of the deposit.
I so appreciate your videos; been watching for ages... and your Twitch stream is really fun as well!
Oh my god, I would have been so annoyed!! But thanks for watching pal, I really appreciate it.
I learned a lot from this. I thought I was an old pro. It turned out I'm not.
Looking forward to the full on rant 👍
Impressive scindapdus behind you 👍👍👍
Good luck with the case
Hi Alanna, great advice! Good luck, and it goes well for you! Hope your new place is working out and your all settled in okay. Thanks for sharing, take care, stay safe! Much love Kathy x (Ontario, Canada)
Thank you so much!
Alanna. One of your finest! Choc full of valuable info. I’m a member of a housing Co-Operative, they’re responsible for ALL exterior fixtures and fittings, ie garden fencing and door/gates, their chosen ‘contractors’ made a shambles of fence n Gates recently. I was straight onto both Co-Op and ‘Con-tractors’. Pics and reports! I’m responsible for the interior, which reminds me, I’d better get decorating.
Brilliant content. I may be using you one day for advice ☺️.
I hope you get sorted without resource to court.
As usual Greetings etc etc. ✌🏼🐝
Thanks for watching!!
@@AdventuresAndNaps Always! May your life be filledwith wonder and joy. ✌️🐝
"people change when there's money involved"
Yup, meet the nicest and well intended people in the world but as soon as you go into any sort of business transaction they will make sure they get the bigger half of the stick. Its human nature.
Great start with number one -reading the tenancy! I used to work in social housing and amazing how many don’t read their agreements at all - I used to refuse to let them sign until they’d read it.
If letting through an agents, they should get you to sign an inventory at moving in - great tip to take your own pics too. I’d be impressed if tenants did that!
Knowing how rubbish agents are when I was a landlord, the notion idea is a great idea - the agents caused at least half the problems I had with nightmare tenants! Actually made it harder to get rid of them!
Letting agents lie to landlords, my agent claimed to do inspections - if they had done hey would have spotted something was wrong - and when I checked they couldn’t provide a report to me for court, so they couldn’t provide it to tenant either.
Get what you say re agents - I felt same as a landlord. Except I used to get bugged by agent every time house sneezed - I was like “I’m paying you to deal with it - just deal with it and get a contractor in for a quote for the problem - I’ll approve once I’ve got it”
I am looking to move soon, and these tips are so helpful! thank you so much!
Thanks for watching!!
Would love to see the pic of the exploding toilet!
Hahaha
Yeah, my girlfriends took lots of photos which basically proved that her place was not properly fixed when they said they would and tried to pit the blame on her!
Ugh, hate to hear that but happy she took photos!!
Absolutely spot on, Alanna! Making a complete inventory and LOTS of pictures when you move in is such a good idea. My daughter was nearly scammed out of much of her deposit for a rented student room when the landlord claimed the mattress was damaged. Fortunately, her photos (which I insisted she take) proved that it was already damaged when she moved in. Getting your one month's deposit back at the end of the tenancy is always difficult - most landlords assume that their tenants will not take it to court and will just write off the £1K or so. And I agree: people like Citizens' Advice are very useful if you need help.
Bless your heart! I hope your situation is resolved soon and to your benefit!
Thank you!
I’ve been a landlord and renter. Both are terrible situations
Both?
@@truth.speaker yes at different times in my life
I completely agree that you need to keep your relationship with your landlords on a strictly professional basis. I have known cases where it drifted onto a more personal basis and then to a falling-out which ended up in court, because both sides had made wrong assumption about what was expected of them. Also, having worked for a property company whose owner was, shall we say, less than scrupulous about matters like having gas appliances serviced and attending to repairs, if you don't defend your rights you can easily be taken for a ride, or worse still, have your health or safety compromised.
You're totally right!
Im a HongKonger and preparing to immigrate to Sunderland, UK. I found your videos very informative and peacful, and now i'm bingeing your videos!!!
Your new place looks lovely. Hope the renting stuff works out without too much stress
Thank you!
Great Advice .... my two tips .... 1 :- Get yourself on the local Council Housing list. 2 :- Join a Housing Trust. Both of these cost nothing and you could find the home of your dreams in an area that you like for a smaller Renting fee and you could even end up as a Permanent Tenant with more Legal Rights than you have now.
Speaking from my personal experience get yourself on the Council housing list, but don't become a council tenant. In recent years council tenants have become a political football. But do become a housing association tenant, they generally treat you better than the council does. I've been living in the same housing association flat in West London for thirty years. It's small and not very grand, but I'm fairly secure here and pay about half as much rent as tenants of commercial landlords do in this area. And now that I have become a pensioner the local council pays my rent and council tax too!
Photos, photos, photos. When moving in and moving out. I feel your pain. Absolute scum bags are letting agents in this country.
thanks for the notion template and the flat advice. We're using notion for our move to the UK.
Also helpful for hiring a car to go to France, check all scratches and especially the spare tyer hasn't got a big gash in it !
Brilliant video. As an ex-renter I totally agree with everything you said, especially getting someone else to do that final clean.
Good luck with your scum bag ex landlord, so looking forward to hearing you had success and a great rant video.
Thank you!!
Don't have a lot of experience with renting, quite naïve on the subject but found this really interesting... I'm not good at confrontation either, got my fingers crossed that you guys manage to sort it out as smoothly as possible 🤞 Also can't wait for the spicy video... name names! lol
Thanks so much Gem!!
Most women are bad with confrontation, and our adversaries know it (which is why they are bullies). We need to get beyond that and learn to be aggressive.
@@heleneg525 Never aggressive, that gives them an excuse to put the phone down on you. But politely, determinedly and forcefully make your point.
Sending good vibes your way 🌟✨🌟✨ The new place looks great! Here's to everything coming to a peaceful ending!
Thank you!! 😊
@@AdventuresAndNaps You're welcome ☺️
Alanna thanks for the week . Have fun ..Hope all goes well with the letting agent. .
Thank you!
Housing Act 1988 is a tenant's best friend when having issues
I haven't rented for 25 years but buying can be worse" I struggled to get on the housing market so I was forced to buy a flat in a block and I ended up in a place with alot of anti-social behaviour" but i couldn't Alford to move so spent 10 years in a nightmare living conditions. i have now got a house mortgage free but had to move to a cheaper area. At least with renting if you don't like a place you can easily move and you can get help with rent from the government if on low income which you don't get buying.
Hi Olena, I’m also Olena 😅 I found your video very useful for me now. And I’m in the middle of nowhere now and I can feel your emotions! Want to support you and say that Olenas always follow their dreams and everything will be fine in our lives❤ take care
This video was super helpful!! Thank you.
I used to rent out rooms in my house. I got screwed over by a tenant once. It happens both ways. Both parties really need to be in 100% clear and nobody should try to be deceptive. Be clear, protect yourself, and deal honestly.
This is what a lot of renters don't realize: the landlord who you think is being a dick has probably been burned hard before and is just being careful.
As an example, imagine you're a home owner and your mortgage is $1500 per month on a rental home. Your income is enough to cover your living expenses etc. but you depend on renting the place out to pay its mortgage. You also need to set aside some money every month so you can spend it when something needs fixing. So you need to rent the home out at $2000, and that's what other comparable homes in the market rent for.
An applicant approaches on January 1st. You need to rent, because every month it sits empty you have to somehow come up with $1500 out of your own pocket, and who just has an extra $1500 laying around? Best choice is to do a background check, in case this person is real trouble. But you don't see anything on the background check, so you rent to them. They pay their first month rent of $2k and a refundable deposit of $2k.
Next month, February, they ghost you and don't pay rent. You call and email, no response. A professional landlord will serve the legal notice asking them to pay rent or move out, but if you don't know what you're doing maybe you just try to work with them for a couple weeks which delays the process.
You get to end of February and they still haven't paid, and you get a court date for eviction. They show up and beg the judge for leniency, and you offer a stipulation: they have to pay the back rent of $2k over the course of the next 4 months, and they have to keep up with their upcoming rent payment in March. Everyone goes home.
March 1st comes, and they don't pay their $500 stip, and they haven't paid March rent. Because they broke the terms of the stip you can immediately move to the end of the eviction process, which takes a little while longer. The sheriff doesn't come out to physically evict them until mid-March.
When the physical eviction happens, you go in and are absolutely horrified. They had a dog which was forbidden by the lease. The dog tore up the baseboard, the carpets, the blinds, chewed on the doors, and thoroughly soiled the carpet throughout. Scratches all over the vinyl in the kitchen. The appliances are all damaged and filthy. All the faucets are janky and worn-out. Burn marks, stains, and scratches on the countertops. They had dropped something on the middle of the tub and broke through, but didn't tell you so you could fix it, and decided to keep using the shower so there's massive water damage and mold all underneath. They smoked heavily and the place reeks and the paint is stained with weird yellow wax. All their junk and old furniture is still in there, and the place is completely filthy.
(This is not a hypothetical, I saw an apartment exactly like this).
Carpet, with new pad and pet seal: $1600
Vinyl: $800
Mold remediation and carpentry work under tub: $1500
Tub replacement: $800
Drywall repairs: $700
Full paint: $400 labor + $150 materials
Resurface countertops: $400
Fixtures: $400
Doors: $600
Blinds: $300
Range: $500
Fridge: $700
Dishwasher: $300
Moving and storage of their "possessions": $200
Professional cleaning: $500 (normally wouldn't be this much but they spent a lot of person-hours on this one)
(This is not a hypothetical, it's how much we spent on the turn).
So our little homeowner can keep the $2k refundable deposit, leaving $7130 to pay out of pocket before the unit can be re-rented. The work takes a little time, assuming the money is somehow available (probably a loan or something), and the unit can't be re-rented until mid-April. You finally get someone to a move-in date on May 1st.
At this point the owner has had to somehow come up with $4500 in mortgage payments and over $7k in repairs. The evicted household gets a bad mark on their credit score, and the amount goes to a collection agency, but they'll never pay. Landlord is looking forward to HOPEFULLY this next renter not being an absolute disaster!
The kicker: the court and tenant advocates work really hard to get the eviction expunged, to make it hard to deny applicants based on rental history and owing prior landlords, which enables a bad tenant like this to keep doing it!
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Now of course you also have the "professional tenant" who knows all the appeals and delays that he can use to stay in the unit as long as possible. This can drag out an eviction to nearly a whole year. So even if he leaves the unit in pristine condition, that's still a massive amount of mortgage payments the owner has to somehow scrape together. And during the pandemic, of course evictions are all but impossible and certainly not for nonpayment of rent. I recall a pair of news stories, one guy who floated around California basically taking over people's houses and terrorizing them, and a woman and daughter in New York who basically went around manipulating and destroying everyone. Can't find the articles now though! Too much material out there and horror stories about professional tenants. Basically there's a small chance that a tenant who moves in will totally destroy you and you'll lose the property.
Not conducive to a whole lot of trust from a landlord, right?!
Of course, most people are just fine, and a lot of people are great. Always run those background checks.
@@googiegress7459 Not seeing a lot of sympathy pouring in here guys. :) You, as landlords are essentially gambling. The prize if you win is a house that someone else pays the mortgage on. Because if your tenants pay the rent for the length of the mortgage, you get to keep the house having paid nothing for it. If your tenants don't pay the rent, you lose and you get burned. You lost dude.
@@grahamlive Landlords are the method that exists for people to borrow the use of a living space. Not everyone wants to buy a house and have to take care of it, and not everyone can afford to. Would you say that farmers are gambling on whether their crops will fail or fetch too low a price at market, so fuck them if they lose everything? A nurse goes to work in a hospital to trade their labor for wages, so if they catch a terrible disease then fuck them for gambling on employment?
If things get hard enough on landlords from a regulatory perspective, they'll pull their capital and do something else with it. Private homebuyers who want a house will buy them up, but save a little money because the price decreases. But it won't get cheap enough to enable people who can't afford to buy. So now they're still priced out of the market for buying, but as available rentals decrease the renters become even more priced out of the market for rentals. Of course that leads some people to be willing to cash in and become landlords, but then of course regulation increases all the time and pushes back against them wanting to be landlords.
I know what the tenants' rights advocates want. They keep trying to create some mix of nationalized and co-op residential real estate, making rentals illegal. But that's insane, and they can't get people on board. So instead they're pushing to make it legally impossible to be a landlord, and then they hope to step in with their solution after they have destroyed everything. And like any zealot, they rationalize that the ends justify the terrible means they're inflicting.
But no tenant is going to believe that the problems they're facing are not caused by some thick cabal of villainous landlords meeting in secret to figure out how to evict everyone. Because that's the poison tenants' rights advocates have been dripping in their ears all this time. Nobody recognizes that the problems with housing are largely due to housing price, which is driven by speculators and huge investment firms foreign and domestic, and local controls which make new development overly difficult and expensive. It's supply and demand, and we've had a lock on understanding this for centuries.
A renter is a person you've given your home over to so they have a place to live, and you have a mutual agreement in writing. When a crap tenant, and yes some people in this world are just crappy, violates that and destroys your home, that's a criminal attacking you. And it's worse than say a carjacking, because the amount of money is so much higher, and because it's a breach of trust.
When you make your "ranting" video, maybe you can provide comparisons between renting in the UK versus Canada and the US. Is one process better than the other? More transparent? More protective of tenant rights? Or are they all just as bad? Lastly, great video; very helpful to many prospective renters.
Thank you!
One can't talk about renting in the US because renting is chaotic because the federal government has no roll. Rentin not only varies from state to state, but it can vary from city to city with a state.
Very helpful Alana!@. Thank you! Oh, yes, a video on Notion please!
You got it!
wow, what a teaser for an upcoming episode, I guess we could be in for a bit of a wait, best of luck with it all.
Thank you!
@@AdventuresAndNaps of course, if it involves an NDA we might never know.
What a tantalising intro! I'm already a tingle with anticipation for the upcoming renters/agents/legal action video... But watch how you go, I'd really miss your vids if you get sent to the 'big house' :)
Good job on shaming those people who say renting is dead money. Renting is paying for a place to live. A mortgage is paying a bank for where you live. The funny thing is nobody owns their house until they get the deed when their mortgage is finally finished. It's actually just the perception of ownership because they let you do what you want with it whilst you rent it off the bank. The word mortgage is just a euphemism for a bank loan LOL I wonder why they didn't just call it a bank loan hmmm... Renting has great advantages like the flexibility to move wherever you want at a very low cost and quickly!
Great job, thanks for sharing this info!
I watch your videos chiefly for the entertainment value. You are a joy to watch. And sometimes you teach me useful tips ... except when you're cooking. 😉
Alanna: "in England (or in the UK)" - actually, another beware. I'm no expert (I don't even live in Scotland), but Scottish Law is often different from English Law, and renting a house is just the kind of area where it's likely to be very different. Don't assume anything!
I used to get confused renting in Glasgow, as a two apartment to me meant 2 bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen. but there often it was one bedroom and that was partly in the kitchen, a bathroom and a livingroom
Keep your chin up cherub, it will all be better tomorrow...
Thinking about renting soon so this was very helpful, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I only rented from council for a year or so, but that was also interesting. No central heating & it took weeks to get it sorted. There had been a fire in the property previously and it was supposed to be cleaned & painted. Floors were filthy, windows & sills were covered in soot & interior of all cupboards were black. Then the immersion heater over-heated and the safety cut-off didn't work. We came back to a flat full of steam & everything was dripping. The council told us not to use any electrics until they checked everything & it took six weeks to get them to come out & check. Six weeks of no hot water at all & not supposed to use lights etc. Not sure if it's any better now. Buying was also a pain, but for different reasons.