Member Article

Tenants from hell? Don’t believe the tripe!

North East landlords are “incredibly unlikely” to see their properties filled with filth or smashed to smithereens by tenants from hell – despite what one property expert has called “unsubstantiated scaremongering”.

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks this week claimed that more and more landlords and letting agents are being left with homes which have been “completely trashed” by “bad tenants”.

The claims follow a well-publicised case in Lincolnshire which saw tenants leave behind mountains of rotting waste, £7000 of rent arrears and £8000 of damage after finally being evicted from a home they shared with as many as 14 mastiff dogs.

The AIIC’s claims were disputed by Ajay Jagota of North East property business KIS Lettings, not least as research released this week by the Prudential shows a rise in the number of ex-property owners living in rented houses, including many retirees downsizing from family homes.

Ajay, who manages properties for 700 landlords from branches in Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Welwyn Garden City, said:

“There’s an old cliché that no-one looks after a rented property like they would their own home – but with renting on the rise in Britain more and more people are renting properties for so long they become to all intents and purposes their homes.

“That’s before you consider the 42% of retired renters who are also ex-homeowners, and in all likelihood will look after your property even better than you would!

“Personally I’m keen to see any research the AIIC can offer to substantiate their claims. We’re currently managing close to 1000 tenancies and I’d say that no more than one or two tenants in those homes give us any grief at all. Assuming we’re typical we’re looking at problem tenants in no more than 0.1% of homes, and there’s no indication that figure is rising.

“Renting any property to any person is a risk but it is incredibly unlikely something like what happened in Lincolnshire could happen to you. With a good letting agent who will vet tenants thoroughly and manage their tenancy effectively there really is no need for landlords to lose sleep. At KIS Lettings we’ve even developed a one-one-a-kind landlord insurance policy to make sure our landlords are covered financially for every eventuality.

“I’m not just a landlord or a letting agent, I’m also the trustee of a charity which works with some of the most vulnerable people in society and good quality housing and a little support is often all they need to turn their lives around. Unsubstantiated scaremongering like this doesn’t just lead to landlords losing out on good tenants - it could even deprive people of the chance to improve their lives.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .