Greetings TS !
Currently .. my house are rented out to those Polytechnic students around my area. At this point of time, I'm also facing some difficulties over with the payment issue as some of them will give reasons for the delay.
I was thinking about charging them penalty for the delay payment .. but not sure whether it sounds practical or not ..

Any suggestion ?

for me, i have bad experiences renting to students and single adults. I think family maybe better, but again depends on luck. Interviewing potential occupant also not much use, he may give you the impression that he is the richest guy in the world, but end of the day, water and electricity bill also never pay .....

Usually major repair would be by owner.
But if we're talking about small small things like changing the starter for a florescent tube, replacing a burned out lights; a good tenant would do that themselves. But than if tenant asked the owner, it would be good for the owner to do it to have a good impression on the tenant too.

Agreed !
Can't really judge them by the way they talk and cover .. only time will tell whether how good tenant are they ...

Hmm ..that's true !
Minor repairs are always bare by the tenant themselves. As for my case here,it will always depend on the scenario. If its really require heavy maintenance or repair .. the cost will be bare 50/50 .. if not the tenant will cover up the cost themselves.

If u know u r interviewing students, how rich can they be when u well know there will at least 6 person sharing your place. Interview does helps, as long as you know to ask the RIGHT questions. Luck in this context is just about managing risk.

Google-up n u'll find plenty of tips on how to interview & qualify your tenant. Good luck

hi nnpjj,

how true is the saying " never judge a book by its cover".
the question of having the ability to pay rent never arises (who on earth will be straight with you that they can't afford to pay rent in the first place?)

but the question on how they earn their income allows more useful insight to their ability to pay rent and perhaps helps you to mitigate risk..

the issue here is risk assessment and there're ways you can assess risk.. and monitor risky situation before it blows up.

assuming u have all the legal documentation in place, plus extras here n there i.e. inventory list, conditions of furnitures n fixtures, etc i feel that the best way to get a good tenant is to educate them to be one early. the moment they default on the rental, like one day after the grace period i'll give them a letter... default 1 month i'll give them an sms to disconnect their water n electricity. i have not actually had to disconnect any of their utilities yet cos usually by this time they'll pay up. (oh n yes its included in the tenancy, with very short notice period)

of course if they have any problems that requires my attention, i make it a point to attend to them fast like in 3 days or less. it works both ways when it comes to things like these. u treat them well n respond fast, n expect for them to do the same. if they're gonna default i'd cut my losses sooner rather than later. max 2 months without rental then off u go. the whole legal approach with notices can be very tedious n time consuming, and more often than not yield nothing at the end of the day. some can even go on up to 6 months or more.

tenants could promise that they'll pay up by when n when, n most of the time landlords would allow them that 'additional grace period' with the hope of recovering their rental. 1 mth, then 2 mth, then 3 mth.... landlords would be thinking like.... i've got too much to lose if i chase them now. n most of the time landlords will only chase their tenant out when the 'nail' becomes too painful for them to bear, that is also, if the tenant have not already taken off....

thats just me..... i did what i did after taking several factors into consideration cos i've seen many cases where defaulters just took off during the whole 'notice' process...... then what you're gonna do? sue them for bankruptcy? get real.....

i'm just sharing my personal approach to handling this kind of tenant, n if you're wondering.... yes i get results better than what i got for my exams. do i recommend this approach to others know yourself n know your tenant. until u understand this best stick to the approach you're comfortable with. i will say that such approach is not recommended for commercial properties cos if you're not careful... the hunter could end up being hunted.

the point here is educate your tenant early. we can go thru all the screening process n have the most detailed tenancy drafted by the best lawyer in town but if it doesn't get them to pay their rent on time, its as good as nothing. its all about results. instead of what i did u could ask a lawyer to issue them a LOD (letter of demand) n charge back the cost of such service to them... (must be specified in your tenancy). n send it the minute they default on their rental.

as far as being friendly or cordial with the tenant i prefer the businesslike approach. friendly but firm. no need to know each other so well. u have a problem i need to solve i'll do it. as for u, just pay your rental on time.

the approach may seem a little drastic and cruel on the surface but it really 'forces' bad tenant to own up n negotiate if they have a problem instead of beating around the bush n hiding. how many landlords out there have had a tenant who 'dissapeared' for certain periods leaving them not sure what to do? with this approach once they own up n negotiate u decide if you r willing to grant them any additional time, n of course be ready for any outcome resulting from that decision.

This post has been edited by speed7791: Jun 10 2008, 05:26 PM

Well, for tenants with unknown background, it is best to get them to issue you post-dated cheques. End of the day, it depends on supply & demand situation with your property. If it is easy to get tenants, you can have it your way. If not, you cannot afford to be picky.

Legal stuffs always is the last resort and quite frankly, for consumer cases, I doubt anyone will go to legal means to settle a dispute. It is simply not wirth the effort.

I would prefer family tenant but also depends on your property location.

Good luck.

Charge it to your tenant credit card !! Like those installment plan..Hehe, if only there's service for this kind of thing, i dont mind paying 100 to the service company to handle all my tenant payment. Probably applicable to rental RM 1k above.

don't ever rent to someone or families that have reasons not to pay the full 2+ 1 deposit and have rented another house before. Most probably they don't have money and have just kena halau by the previous landlord. I experinced this last time when handling the key of my sister's apartment to a family that konon2nya don'have enogh money at that time and want to pay half of the 2 months deposit and 1 months rental first. then, after two weeks, he will pay the balance deposit. it ends up paying nothing after 1 and half months. after lots of sms and phone arguments, they get out of the apartment with few damages.

i think newly married couple is the most suitable, followed by female students.