When houses are rented out, there are two sides to every experience. The landlord is putting their trust into the occupant that they will show respect to the property and not damage it and the occupier of course expects the landlord to provide them with a house that is worthy of them.
Looking at new research taken up by Intus Lettings, they have looked into what landlords seek in potential tenants. What they found was that 29% of landlords actually put childless couples at the top of their lists of potential tenants. The least liked are students who come in at a disappointing 1%.
In between those two, there are also the young professional (single) which comes in at around a quarter of landlords. Then comes the families which comes in at a low one in five landlord’s choices.
Looking at the state of housing in the UK at the moment, this isn’t good news for families. This is especially the case when 4.5 million households are rented by private landlords. This is a total of 205 homes in England which, based on the research, are not being aimed at families. Though it should be noted that landlords may begrudgingly take a family, even if it isn’t their preferable option.
Really it should be no surprise that tenants who don’t have kids are easier to cope with. Children have the potential to not only be noisy for the neighbours, but can also be quite damaging on a property because of the nature of being an adventurous person who is always learning what is wrong, and what is right.
We also have to look at the fact that landlords will no doubt have built up their preference based on past experiences. They will know which tenants cause the most problems and just what hassle families can be for them. To help house people who need places to live though, it may be the case that the tenants just have to take customers that are available to them, families or not.
When it comes to the tenants, it is safe to assume that they have little concern for what landlords are looking for in a tenant. They are more focused on getting a home, whether they be a childless couple, single professional, family, or even the dreaded students.
In the end, as long as rent is paid on time and no damage is done to the house, we can be sure that landlords will be happy to rent out their properties to well behaved tenants. Whether that be with children in the property or not, it will come down to just how lucky the landlord is.