What your agent does for you – Part 3 Getting References

In our previous posts we looked at marketing and finding a suitable tenant

We are now going to look into the next step, which is to obtain the references. At this stage we will have already met the tenant and discussed their requirements and their background to ensure it meets your requirements as a landlord. Now we need to formally confirm this and to ensure that the tenant is likely to be able to afford the rent.

Obtaining references

While it could be argued that finding a tenant is relatively easy in London where population levels are high and decent property can soon be let if the landlord will accept the first offer. The agent’s job is to find the right tenant for the property. This is built up from a number of indicators including the impressions the tenant gives when dealing with the agent; their demeanor and attitude; their credit rating; previous landlords’ references and employer’s reference.

We use specialist referencing companies who are able to concentrate on getting financial and employment information quickly. This is an efficient way of building up a tenants profile, plus they can also offer a range of rent guarantee products to our clients. This is an improvement on trying to contact each of the references yourself, chasing people up and trying to speak to the right person all of which can take up valuable time at times that you are trying to work yourself.

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Occasionally tenants do not fit into the boxes that mark out the perfect tenant but with some background digging and gathering other financial information about the tenants it may be possible to satisfy the landlord that the tenant is a genuine case. It is in these cases that a good agent can really earn their keep by using all their experience to rule out poor tenants and include good ones.

Obviously if it turns out that the tenant is not going to be a good risk then we advise the landlord who is likely to then make the decision not to proceed with at tenant. Again this avoids a confrontation for you as landlord as we are used to handling this process in a professional manner – to avoid personal conflict.

Negotiating

We are addressing this out of order as the negotiating is done prior to the reference procedure, but it ties in to the last point about personal confrontation. Many landlords struggle to negotiate a good deal find because they find it stressful as tenants haggle for the best terms they can get. Using an agent imparts an emotional distance to these negotiations and often results in a better deal for the landlord.

In our next post we will look at the legal paperwork surrounding tenancies and how your agent can help you with these.

Part 4 will come out next week.