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It is expected that next year approximately 100,000 people will become landlords, making the rental market even more competitive. This is good for renters, but bad for landlords. Why? With more properties to choose from renters have it good, but it means landlords may have to lower their expectations and standards of renters in order to fill their properties.

This is when landlords encounter difficult renters – those who vandalise properties, disturb neighbours and do not respect policies like pet bans. By far the worst offence is none payment of rent.
Approximately 10% of those people renting are considered bad renters, with over 30,000 renters evicted each year. Evictions can be a long drawn out process and costly with it, and usually come about due to non payment of rent. The court proceedings can take up to six months at an average cost of £800 plus the missing revenue from the property for what could be five months worth.

Should the rent day not be met, in the first instance you should visit the tenant and request the payment. Apply some pressure by visiting and telephoning regularly. If there is no response you can then threaten legal action. You can only proceed to court after eight weeks of rent has been missed.

Avoiding this is by far the best option – so by getting a minimum of one months’ rent as a deposit will help and ensure the tenancy agreement stipulates the terms and conditions clearly for payment dates and the consequences of none payment. Also have a detailed inventory of all the items in the property, to avoid discrepancies later on. Put values next to items if necessary.

Seek professional help when evicting people, as most renters will oppose it and it could get messy. Don’t get too personally attached – even though it is your property, remember it’s a profession you have entered in to.