Advice for potential tenants

Tips on improving your chances of being offered housing by a private landlord:

• Rent Guarantor: Most landlords will want to be assured that you will pay your rent and look after the property, so the biggest reassurance you can give is to provide them with a Rent Guarantor. A Rent Guarantor is someone who trusts you enough to guarantee to pay the rent (and damage costs) if you fail to do so. After all, if nobody who knows you, trusts you to pay the rent, then why should a potential landlord trust you? A rent guarantor will ideally be an employed homeowner, e.g. a parent, but it could be a business owner, or another person.

• Cash Deposit/Bond: If you are able to provide a deposit/bond to the landlord that can be used in the event of you failing to pay the rent or causing damage to the property then this may be acceptable to the landlord. The larger the deposit, the less risk to the landlord, and thus the more chance there is of them offering you the tenancy.

• Rent and Deposit insurance: Some landlords may offer you the option of paying extra money (usually in advance) to purchase a warranty (insurance against unpaid rent or damage costs). If the potential landlord does not offer this, it may be worth mentioning it and offering this as an option.

• Rent in advance: It may be possible to offer to pay the landlord the rent in advance for the whole period of the tenancy, e.g. 6 months rent in advance.

• Paper Bond: Some local authorities, housing charities/organisations, or credit unions, offer landlords a bond or guarantee instead of the tenant having to pay a cash deposit/bond. These are not ideal for landlords, and some landlords do not accept them, however, something is better than nothing, and in some circumstances these may be available and could be offered to landlords.

• References: You should always be prepared to offer a potential landlord references (from current and previous landlords) that may show you to be a good tenant.

• Pets: Many landlords do not accept dogs in their properties, and some landlords may not allow other animals, as pets (even if generally well behaved) can cause damage to properties, be a nuisance to neighbours, or even bring in flea infestations. To avoid this barrier to being offered a tenancy, it may be worth considering rehoming your pets elsewhere, or offering the landlord an additional deposit specifically to cover the potential cost of such damage, then if no damage/infestation etc occurs you would get your deposit back at the end of the tenancy but the landlord would be assured that he will not be left "out of pocket" dealing with such an issue if it did occur.

Good advice, but to be honest, most of the things mentioned above are standard expectations in most private rented accommodation.

I would add:

1 Don't smoke or pretend you don't if you do (landlords aren't stupid and will smell stale tobacco on your clothes, even if you cannot). Most LLs do not want smokers in their properties.

2 When you go to look round, be on time and look presentable.

3 Be 100% honest about your income, your ability to pay the rent and who would be living with you at the property.

Incidentally, it is in your interests as a tenant always to ask to see the Energy Performance Certificate for the property before agreeing to a tenancy- signing up for an 'F' rated flat or house could cost you hundreds if not thousands extra a year in fuel bills.

Another tip is don't turn up stinking of alcohol. Like smoke, LLs can smell the booze on your breath/clothes/skin etc (even if you cannot) so don't drink before going to view a property/apply for a property.

---------- Post added 07-10-2013 at 21:41 ----------

If you have someone who will be your rent guarantor, take them with you to the viewing.

Take proof of identity and proof of income/benefits and show it to the landlord.

If you have children and/or a partner who will be living with you, take them to the viewing, it may seem suspicious to a landlord if your partner isn't interested in viewing the place he/she is going to be living!