Q. I would love to take advantage of the current sales market and buy my first buy to let property for investment since property is that much more affordable right now, however my only concern is that what if I’m unlucky enough to get a tenant that doesn’t pay their rent, I feel comfortable with the odd void period but it does trouble me that I could run into problems if I had a troublesome tenant that fails to pay the rent regularly.
A. Becoming a landlord can be both exciting and rewarding and yet at the same time quite a stressful experience. There are several points you need to consider carefully. First of all make sure that you use a reputable ARLA registered agency to find your tenant, the agent will then be responsible for referencing your tenant, which will obviously eliminate any possible candidates that have historically not paid rent in the past. Make sure that a dilapidation deposit is taken as again, this is at least some security if the tenant fails to meet the rental payments. And finally, if you are that concerned its worth taking out a rent guarantee and legal expenses insurance policy, the advantage of this is that if a problem does arise with non payment legal experts can be bought in at the onset of the problem. This means that matters can be resolved quickly; if necessary, the property can be swiftly re-let and in the meantime, you will have had the benefit of free legal advice, legal action and rental guarantee.