A new survey by buy-to-let specialist Paragon Mortgages has found that a third of UK landlords never run a background check on the tenants that end up renting out their properties.
In failing to carry out these simple checks, property owners are placing their property and their bank balance at risk, especially in the current economic climate, which means that tenants could be more likely to default on their rent.
The National Landlords Association recently reported that three-quarters of calls to its advice line over the last year came from proprietors requesting advice on rental arrears.
As the number of people being made redundant edges ever higher, the number of tenants who are finding it a struggle to meet their rent payments each month is also on the increase.
Obviously background checks cannot predict what will happen over the next few months, but a comprehensive tenant assessment to verify identity, employment status, creditworthiness and financial history can help to reduce the risk of the tenant defaulting on payments or leaving landlord or property in the lurch.
A set of references from previous landlords from whom the prospective tenant has rented may also help to weed out any tenants who are unreliable when it comes to paying rent on time.
The fact that so many landlords don’t think to run background checks before they let tenants move into their property is especially surprising given the high proportion of landlords who have experienced a tenant vacating the property without paying the rent –more than a quarter of those surveyed had suffered this problem.
Fourteen per cent of landlords had also been forced to evict tenants from their properties for failing to pay the rent on more than one occasion.
Paragon Mortgages' Managing Director John Heron said, “Tenants leaving a property without paying rent is a more common occurrence than people think and a large number of landlords will experience this problem at some point.
“We could see a spike in the number of tenants bailing out from a property without paying rent in the current economic environment as unemployment rises and increasing numbers of households struggle with their finances.
“Landlords wouldn't buy a property without making the necessary checks, so why would they let somebody rent a property without carrying out a comprehensive assessment first? “Carrying out a tenant assessment for prospective tenants should be part of a landlord's everyday business plan,” added Mr Heron.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, chaotic singer Amy Winehouse was voted the celebrity that landlords would least like to have renting their property.
In a survey carried out by Halifax, 1,000 UK property owners were asked which celeb they would most like to have as a tenant and, whilst Amy Winehouse and Kerry Katona came bottom of the list, singer Leona Lewis, American President Barack Obama and Daniel ‘James Bond’ Craig nabbed the top spots.
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