Tenant referencing is an important task to undertake if you are looking to let your property privately. It doesn’t matter if your property to rent is in Cheshire, Wirral, Liverpool, another area of Merseyside or anywhere else in the UK. You still want to know that the property you are renting out is going to be well looked after by tenants.
So what is tenant referencing?
How can you guarantee that you will get the perfect tenants? There is no 100% guarantee, however by undertaking tenant referencing it will help to reduce the risk of having a tenant that could end up costing you thousands either by not paying rent when due or trashing your investment property. So what exactly is tenant referencing? Well, it’s pretty much the same as when you go for a job interview. Most of the time if you get offered a job it will be conditional on getting good references. In short, they want to know you are the right person for the job. So it is the same approach when letting out your house or flat. You want to be sure you are getting someone who is going to keep the property in good order and pay the rent on time.
If you are using an estate agent to rent out your property part of the fee you pay may cover the tenant referencing checks. It will depend on the agency you are using and the agreement you have in place with them. When letting your property privately then the onus is on you to do your own checking. It really depends whether you wish to do the work yourself or alternatively you can get a company to do it for you on your behalf. There are some great deals on tenant referencing so do shop around! You could do it yourself, but it may be worth getting a company to do it on your behalf.
What sort of tenant referencing checks are carried out?
So what sort of tenant referencing checks should be carried out? Potentially they will include address checks on where you have been living previously, credit checks and there may also be some character references either from previous landlords (if they’ve had any) or their employers. If you opt to get this done by a company on your behalf it will very much depend on the level of service you pay for them to do. This should give you piece of mind and a bit more detail on who your proposed new tenant(s) are and if you are happy with the results of the check.
As a property landlord it’s your choice to undertake tenant referencing
As I said earlier in this blog potentially you could choose to do the tenant checks yourself. This could depend on who was going to be renting your property. If it was someone you know or a friend of the family then you may choose to be more lenient on the type of tenant referencing you choose to undertake. As a property landlord it is your choice as to how much checking you choose to do. Obviously it is a bigger risk if you don’t follow this step through and could potentially cost you thousands of pounds. It’s better to be safe than sorry, but in the end the choice is yours to make.
