It is really not surprising with the state the economy is in and the number of people being made redundant, but it has been reported this week that two thirds of landlords claim that there has been a sharp rise in people defaulting on their rent over the last six months.
Unemployment is now at its highest level in this country since 1995 and is predicted to rise even further, all of this is going to contribute to tenants having difficulties meeting their responsibilities, including paying the rent.
It is easy to be sympathetic towards people that suddenly find themselves in serious financial difficulties, but the truth is that landlords need to avoid joining them in the mire by stepping up their tenant vetting procedures. It should be a matter of course that you run a comprehensive credit check on prospective tenants but in this era it is probably best if you extend that to checking past landlord and employer references as well.
It is a good thing to remember that if you are using an agency, they should be offering you all of these services as well as a rent guarantee and, if they already do, now is the time to check what the guarantee actually covers you for.
Ideally you should be looking at loss of rent plus legal costs being covered whatever the reason for default.
These are certainly hard times for a lot of people but you should try to protect yourself against rent difficulties at all costs; it is a sad fact that no matter how hard times get, it is not up to private landlords to provide free or subsidised places to live for the needy. We pay our taxes so that others can take care of that.
