General (main property discussion here) - Register of problem tenants

Is anyone aware of a register (website?)of problem tenants?

If not surely would be worth creating one?

Stephen

very good suggestion. landlords and middlesbrough council started up a similar project several years in a particular neighbourhood. however it also incorporated bad landlords as well.. it was quite succesful it is now exteneded to all of mbro i believe. landlords can get certain info from the council re tenants for a nominal fee.

Tony,

dD you know if this extended to other county council? Also I heard that it was against data protection and all that.

Very interesting to hear that this does happen. Ill be looking into it so Ill report back.

John

john, i haven't of this project outside of the mbro area. in all honesty i have'nt used the facility. i have tended to interview my tenants and was quite happy with my results. therefore i don't know the exact information the landlord receives. however, i was lead to believe several years ago, when ot was set up, that when a private tenant applied for housing benefit or had any dealings with the LA he signed a declaration which stipulated that certain information may be given to 3rd parties.

hope this helps

tonyw

Hi all,

Don't forget we have Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action, who answers a selection of questions regarding problem tenants.

Just click the Ask an Expert button under the Forum and fire away!

Best regards,

Dan

Try http://www.ticagroup.com/ however im not to sure if its used by many landlords or letting agents.

try http://www.tenantverifier.com too, although it's not quite the same... not a register, so much as a screening.

i dont get much trouble though, i take any tenant and if they give me trouble i know man who has certain techniques to 'help' them out.

he's never failed, he's scarier and more dangerous than half the dss tenants i've had over the years!

Try http://homes4wreck.co.uk/ a Poole based website targeting this and other issues .

We raised this point at a landlords seminar with our local authority and apparently it is illegal ! Thats not to say landlords cannot get together and compare notes !!

Not quite sure why it would be illegal - maybe due to data protection act - but if it is a membership (and probably better to be paid, maybe £5 to help keep the scheme up and running) then it is a private club, and you are ok to share that info.

It may be that you need something on the tenancy agreement that when the tenant signs it, it allows you to upload their details.

Insurance companies do this already (although most folk arent aware of it) - when you sign your ins. docs, you also agree that your info can be shared (this avoids people from claiming for the same insurance claim several times)

The Tica website looks good, but I get the impression it isnt used much in the uk - but someone should set this up defo - we would most certainly use it (we'd do it ourselves but havent the time !)

cheers

Apparently, a national service has just been launched called "Let Check", I picked up a brochure from my letting agent the other day. It’s actually quite innovative. The actual database on which problem tenants are registered is called "Let Alert". Briefly, just before you sign up your tenant, you do a check on line or via the phone and if the tenant does not owe any arrears to a previous tenant, they are registered or what they call, placed on "watch". The tenant then receives notification at the letting address about let check and how they could be blacklisted. They stay blacklisted until all the arrears are paid. But tenants are only blacklisted providing you provide documentary evidence, e.g. eviction, rent arrears or local authority order. Any other way of blacklisting would be illegal. One of the good things about it is that tenants are blacklisted using their National Insurance or Passport numbers, as these never change. It costs £20, but I think its worth it when compared to the hassle of getting a tenant that refuses to pay or vacate, plus they will warn the tenant in advance if they play up. Check it out on http://www.letcheck.co.uk regards John

John Glover

I just used that very service a few days ago here in Brentford, London, using the passport number as ID. I thought long and hard about parting with £20, but it seems silly to even think about such a sum considering that they will be branded for life if they don't settle their arrears, unlike a County Court judgement that is removed after 6 years regardless whether its paid or not, not that it makes any difference as the judgment ends up on your address. Sometimes we Landlords deserve what we get because we skimp on services available that could save us a lot of trouble and money. Landlords like Daniel Lotto, who's worried about paying a fiver!!! God knows what he would do paying £20. Solicitors charge about £30 just to send a preliminary letter. I had trouble getting through to Let Check but when I did they said that their phone lines were being tied up by answering media and general questions from letting agents and Landlords, but that they are increasing the amount of operators. I like it and it’s far better than the TICA system, which can hold the Landlord to defamation of character in this country, but doesn't apply in Australia. Has anybody else used it yet? cheers Rob

So its £20 for annual membership and you can call as often as you need etc?

Julian

to john and robert

such a system relies on mass uptake to work - has it got this as i would hope so if i have to pay for it?

also does it not contravene the data protection act per earlier threads?

thanks in advance.

tom

It’ featured on the themovechannel.com, that’s where I first heard of it. The website is excellent, especially the Utility mailbox service, once its up and running ! Ok, it’s a different approach, but then again it has to be as we are dealing with “private” tenants.

Julian, its £20 per tenant, expensive I think, but on the whole it's quite good the way it works. Well it works out cheaper if you reclaim the VAT ! Apparantly they take care of all the admin work for County Court judgements and hold all the files relating to the tenant. I agree with you Tom, it needs mass market take up, but then again, no new system will have that. I had a Tenant that paid my Agent the first months rent and then didn't pay sod all for 4 months. All references checked out ok, but I still got done. My appartment was on rent for £750 per month, and the cheeky ---- even knocked me down to £710. I'm chasing him still, but even if I finally get hold of him and reclaim my arrears, you may get him next. So that's £2840 he owes me, so to me £20 is nothing. Thats probally why i'm more keen on it.

The movechannel.com at http://www.themovechannel.com/sitefeatures/news/2004-november/9c.asp

Stephen

Stephen,

Thanks I will take a look a look into it as similar to you I have had to just evict a tenant that owes me £2,600.

The nerve of some tenants is amazing!

Julian

Remember, that had you registered your tenant with Let Check at the time or just before the tenancy, they would send out a notification letter telling them of the consequences if they default or whatever else, then all you would have to do is send the details onto Let Check and they will blacklist the tenant (put him on Let Alert). If your tenant is in arrears and you inform Let Check, they will also send out warning letters by recorded delivery. This way the tenant knows full well the consequences and can’t cry foul or wasn’t aware.

And most important of all, that tenant remains on file for the rest of his life until he pays up. And when he does, he stays on for another 5 years. And if he ever feels like a born again Christian, and wants to pay up, all he has to do is contact Let Check and they will contact you. How do you think after 3 or 4 years anyone’s going to be able to contact you? I think it works by making it difficult for the tenant to move to other rented property, so effectively you block that route for him because he can’t be registered until all his arrears are cleared.

Anyway, talk about Human rights laws, I thought we’d just got rid of them by holding suspects with out charge for years and the Law Lords voted unanimously that it was unlawful. But the state is still holding them. My threat is a rogue tenant, that’s what we should have done with them.

cheers Stephen

Hello fellow landlords

Its been on findaproperty.com as well http://www.findaproperty.com/cgi-bin/story.pl?storyid=6639

I think this website needs to be better informed, considering it’s a “landlord” site, still I suppose this is what the forum is for, so that we can inform each other of new laws, regs and services, so in that sense its working !

The Let Check site is a new way of looking at the “bad tenant” scenario. And best of all, if the tenant is in arrears,then they can’t rent another property. I quite like the website and it is easy to use. There is one loophole that I discovered. If you have rent insurance, and they pay out, then if the tenant decides to pay up, you could end up with double the money! So the insurance company will lose out. I like it even more. I have 25 properties on rent in Oxford and Cambridge, and although by and large most are Tenanted with post grads, or “silicon valley” employees, etc, I’ll still use this to give me peace of mind.

Its not just to get any arrears back but as a way of branding them and getting some satisfaction that I have done something to make their life harder, even if I don’t get any financial reward for doing so.

I like it and will willingly pay £20.(well I’ll add it to the tenants first months rent as an admin charge, so I don’t lose out anyway).

regards Debs Oxford