Sorry Dinny, too used to landlords being selfless heroes and tenants being feckless layabouts in internet conversations
Landlords and property investors
Re: Landlords and property investors
An absolute unit
Re: Landlords and property investors
No worries...
Landlord 3 was the weirdest - the Landlord on the lease was a women but we only dealt with her husband. She didn't speak a word of English (By looks, I'd say she was South American) and he was a Captain with BA - came to the house with the fridge in Uniform
But the wider family owned a company that built bespoke one off Lamborghinis. We sought legal advice at the time but in the end, given it was likely going to take up 3 or 4 years of our life for what was about £1,500, we let it go.
Among other odd details, their home address, the one on the lease was a random house in Bedford with a ratty caravan and two abandoned cars on the drive - not where you'd expect a BA Captain and his glamorous Latina wife to be living. Not long after we let it go, the entire family business dissolved in the UK and went back to Italy. The whole situation was very weird
Shame as it was a lovely place to live - right up in the woods in Aspley Heath - Woburn etc
Landlord 3 was the weirdest - the Landlord on the lease was a women but we only dealt with her husband. She didn't speak a word of English (By looks, I'd say she was South American) and he was a Captain with BA - came to the house with the fridge in Uniform
But the wider family owned a company that built bespoke one off Lamborghinis. We sought legal advice at the time but in the end, given it was likely going to take up 3 or 4 years of our life for what was about £1,500, we let it go.
Among other odd details, their home address, the one on the lease was a random house in Bedford with a ratty caravan and two abandoned cars on the drive - not where you'd expect a BA Captain and his glamorous Latina wife to be living. Not long after we let it go, the entire family business dissolved in the UK and went back to Italy. The whole situation was very weird
Shame as it was a lovely place to live - right up in the woods in Aspley Heath - Woburn etc
Re: Landlords and property investors
Well, I'd like to think there is at least *one* in Edinburgh.ZedLeg wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2024 10:33 pm Every landlord thinks they’re a good one but in 25 years of renting I’ve never seen anything to suggest that good ones exist.
My repair standard is same day for most things (my toolbox lives by the front door, all flats are within 2 mins walk), or next day for any bigger jobs. Thanks to recent and current legislation, my rents are 20-40% below market rates. I've only once ever made a deduction from a deposit (and that was by mutual agreement). In selecting tenants, I positively discriminate towards those who I know struggle with agency selection processes (e.g. foreign workers on short term contracts). I go above and beyond landlord duties in terms of fighting tenants corner with utility companies, council, residency application etc.
I really don't know why "landlords" as a whole get tarred with this brush. Sure there are bad ones out there, and there are definitely unscrupulous agencies who hide behind corporate anonymity. But how do people justify the rhetoric of "just sitting there letting someone else pay the mortgage for you". It's a simple transaction - I front the capital, maintain the property and behave like a decent human being, you pay the rent, get somewhere nice to live without having to stump up £200k+ you don't have, and get to just walk away responsibility free when you fancy a change, get a new job etc etc
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough"
Re: Landlords and property investors
Probably the same way that all talk of tenants is about shit filled shower cubicles and rent arrears.
People only talk about the bad ones.
My current landlord was good when the washing machine broke, replaced next day.
I’m not sure how that sits in the scale against coming into the flat unannounced and arguing with me for two days over repairing the toilet until I ended up doing it myself.
People only talk about the bad ones.
My current landlord was good when the washing machine broke, replaced next day.
I’m not sure how that sits in the scale against coming into the flat unannounced and arguing with me for two days over repairing the toilet until I ended up doing it myself.
An absolute unit
Re: Landlords and property investors
Agencies do have a part to play in my experience.
In the case of Landlord 3, the agent didn't correct us a number of times when I referred to "Full Service Agent Lease" - they didn't outright state this but they also didn't explain it was Landlord managed when they had the option to on more than 1 occasion. We only discovered this when we first contacted them for help on a few things. (and yes, I know I should have paid more attention to the lease wording but at the point of signing, based on conversations, i had had multiple discussions about it and was sure it was as we thought it to be)
And Landlord 4 must have known the building work was due as the owner would have said we only want 1 tenant for 6 months only etc.
I recalled there was a landlord 6 - House had an alarm but wasn't in use. After a power cut, it started to go off and wouldn't stop. Contacted the agents - they didn't know the code. A neighbour had the Landlord's number and gave it to me to call him (this was 21:30 on a Sunday night). All he was interested in was "How did you get this number - I don't talk to you , call the agency etc". Had to bypass the alarm in the fuse box.
In the case of Landlord 3, the agent didn't correct us a number of times when I referred to "Full Service Agent Lease" - they didn't outright state this but they also didn't explain it was Landlord managed when they had the option to on more than 1 occasion. We only discovered this when we first contacted them for help on a few things. (and yes, I know I should have paid more attention to the lease wording but at the point of signing, based on conversations, i had had multiple discussions about it and was sure it was as we thought it to be)
And Landlord 4 must have known the building work was due as the owner would have said we only want 1 tenant for 6 months only etc.
I recalled there was a landlord 6 - House had an alarm but wasn't in use. After a power cut, it started to go off and wouldn't stop. Contacted the agents - they didn't know the code. A neighbour had the Landlord's number and gave it to me to call him (this was 21:30 on a Sunday night). All he was interested in was "How did you get this number - I don't talk to you , call the agency etc". Had to bypass the alarm in the fuse box.