Simon Dewsberry Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hi All Another suggestion not so much an option to avoid TDS but to "turn the tables a bit" This actually came from one of my tenants this afternoon ! - A tenant who has "lost his bond" in damages unpaid rent etc will have no reason or motivation whatsover to authorize you to "claim" all of their money so we will end up with £millions "locked " or "frozen" with bond bank because the tenant " cant be bothered" or refuses to notify bond bank that they agree to hand it over to the landlord - especially true in cases where the tennant is in arrears with ctax and utilities and don't want to give a forwarding address (you know the ones !) The last thing they will do is notify the bond agent to give their money away and at the same time put them selves at risk of being found and hounded for more bills Even if their logic was to dispute a lost cause, they still wont because of the fear of the above. Twisting this logic a bit and being awkward; one avenue to persue with a tenant - is to inform them that you will dispute the whole bond amount even if the damages/ arrears amount is substantially less. To avoid a pile of admin and lengthy written arguements court etc you could suggest to the tenant that if they pay you the amount in cleared funds for the actual outstanding amount you will immediately inform the bond bank that "due to negotiations with the tenant you no longer will be persuing your claim" There are a lot of tenants out there who need that deposit desperately for the next prop and they will want to expidite matters. It will also save you having to fight for months and wasting time in court over a £20 cleaning bill - the fear of having their bond tied up for so long will i think be negated by the offer above and save us all a lot of the hassle - The biggest problem area i have with tenants is their idea of what "clean" means ! it is certainly not mine! With this in mind i am now overhauling my whole system and looking to include a cleaning bill at the beginning NOT a deposit a FEE for a service! (Say £100??) NOW there is another idea !!! What if we explain to tenants that we charge an outgoing inventory cleaning/ bill within our set up fee - and they are welcome to tender for the job at the end of the tenancy and that further more they will be given preference on selection of cleaning agent used !!! if they dont do a good job then clearly we have to keep enough for someone else to do it properly and dispute their invoice - if they dont like it tell them what they seem to keep telling you "SEE YOU IN COURT !!!""" Yep these ideas are getting silly now !! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_maz Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hi All Another suggestion not so much an option to avoid TDS but to "turn the tables a bit" This actually came from one of my tenants this afternoon ! - A tenant who has "lost his bond" in damages unpaid rent etc will have no reason or motivation whatsover to authorize you to "claim" all of their money so we will end up with £millions "locked " or "frozen" with bond bank because the tenant " cant be bothered" or refuses to notify bond bank that they agree to hand it over to the landlord - especially true in cases where the tennant is in arrears with ctax and utilities and don't want to give a forwarding address (you know the ones !) The last thing they will do is notify the bond agent to give their money away and at the same time put them selves at risk of being found and hounded for more bills Even if their logic was to dispute a lost cause, they still wont because of the fear of the above. Twisting this logic a bit and being awkward; one avenue to persue with a tenant - is to inform them that you will dispute the whole bond amount even if the damages/ arrears amount is substantially less. To avoid a pile of admin and lengthy written arguements court etc you could suggest to the tenant that if they pay you the amount in cleared funds for the actual outstanding amount you will immediately inform the bond bank that "due to negotiations with the tenant you no longer will be persuing your claim" There are a lot of tenants out there who need that deposit desperately for the next prop and they will want to expidite matters. It will also save you having to fight for months and wasting time in court over a £20 cleaning bill - the fear of having their bond tied up for so long will i think be negated by the offer above and save us all a lot of the hassle - The biggest problem area i have with tenants is their idea of what "clean" means ! it is certainly not mine! With this in mind i am now overhauling my whole system and looking to include a cleaning bill at the beginning NOT a deposit a FEE for a service! (Say £100??) NOW there is another idea !!! What if we explain to tenants that we charge an outgoing inventory cleaning/ bill within our set up fee - and they are welcome to tender for the job at the end of the tenancy and that further more they will be given preference on selection of cleaning agent used !!! if they dont do a good job then clearly we have to keep enough for someone else to do it properly and dispute their invoice - if they dont like it tell them what they seem to keep telling you "SEE YOU IN COURT !!!""" Yep these ideas are getting silly now !! Simon Hi I have toyed with the idea of no longer taking a tenancy deposit, but instead increasing the monthly rent. By adding a proportion onto the rent, I can cover the costs of a deposit, and offer a cash back incentive when the tenant vacates, dependant upon the condition of the property. Has anyone else thought of doing this, and are there any reasons why it wouldn't be feasible? Marion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 Hi Marion Yes feasable on paper but to obtain a bond of min 1.5 months rent on a 6mth agreement you would need to raise the rent by 25% - not sure a tenant would go for that !! slightly better on a 12 mth where increase would be only effect a 12.5% rent rise ! Perhaps a combination of all of these ideas may give us something workable - Set up fee- which could be broken down into drawing up the lease fee Inventory fee- Utilty set up fee - check in fee - and any thing ellse you can think of fee. Reference Fee- also monthly inspection fees and finally a admin check out fee This could amount to around half the fig of a normal deposit - then put the rest on the rent Then as before offer a cash back either as an incentive or use the "Accredited Tenant Scheme" ( see topic thread "Deposits- TAKE CONTROL BACK- Loophole" for details It is going to be interesting to see tenants reactions to TDS and the hairbrained Anti TDS that appear over the next few months ! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 Don't agree with Marion's idea. Tenants look at the monthly rent and use this to compare properties. You will be left with an empty house/flat by increasing the rent. This is where lettings agents are clever, they keep the rent keen, but have loads of hidden extra charges, which most tenants don't take into consideration when deciciding on a place to rent. Personally, I am going to ask for 2 months rent in advance and may not have a deposit, or if I do, it will be minimal, around £100. (my properties are all HMO's by the way) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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