Dear Readers,

Would you believe it? Another week has passed. Where does all the time go…? (If anyone knows, please tell me!)

Today, dear Readers, we talk about the pros and cons of various kinds of Tenants. The idea is simple. You have a Property, and you want to give it out to a tenant. Which tenant is best suited to your property? Well, that depends on your property and what you want to achieve from your rental. 

Now, even though there IS such a thing as a good tenant and a not-so-good tenant, we are assuming that everyone in this list is of good heart and good intentions. What we are looking at are the LIKELY outcomes of having various types of tenants.   

Please note that I have not done any scientific research, neither qualitative, nor quantitative, on this. However, I have my own impressions, based on the experiences I’ve had over the years with different kinds of tenants. My intention here is to share the outcomes of my experiences with you, hoping that it’ll be of benefit to you too. 

Different Kinds Of Tenants

When I say “different kinds of tenants”, I mean a broad description of a tenant. For example, I have students, single working men, couples, families and retired couples. There are yet different kinds of tenants, such as DSS tenants (in the UK), lodgers etc, and even yet different kinds of tenants (“even yet”??), such as beautiful tenants, angelic tenants and quiet tenants. I’m not talking about those though… the ones I mean each have a titled paragraph (or two) to their name below.

Now, if you need more information about how to choose a tenant (rather than a type/kind of tenant), click here. If you can’t be bothered to read the whole post (almost 1800 words), you can skip to the summary table below. 

1. Students

Students have traditionally been easy targets as “less than ideal tenants”. Unfortunately, for me at least, it’s easy to understand why. The majority of students are likely to be young adults who are as of yet, uncertain about adulthood, and do not know how to handle many aspects of adulthood (so a bit like me – except that I’m not a young adult anymore). Young male students, for example, are likely to be less clean than the landlord, and are likely not to take great care of the furniture, carpets and walls (e.g. might put up posters with blutack which is likely to stain the wall).

However, there’s always a silver lining! Here too, there are positives! For example, if you have a property where the furniture is not in great shape, the carpets are a little old etc, you’re likely to be able to rent it out to students. Students often have financial support (i.e. student loans and/or financially supportive parents), so are unlikely to leave without paying. However, if that is a concern, students will almost always be able to sort out a guarantor (yup, again the parents!).  A down side for some, is that they are likely to leave the property after a year. However, this also means that if rental prices are going up in your neighbourhood, you can charge the next students more the following year. 

2. The Single Working Man (in his 30s)

Many single working men now will live on their own. I’m not sure why I’m saying “now” since it’s been like this for at least 30 years. Unfortunately, according to my experience, these guys are the most likely to have issues with paying the rent. They can be quite mobile, as they are just one person. And as they are still a little young, they have probably not had the time to acquire lots of material goods (which might make moving a hassle). They are also like to be, for want of a better word, quite ballsier than most! 

However, as always, there are pluses. Though not as tolerant as students with the quality of furniture etc, they are quite likely to accept a property which may be considered below par by others. And though on the one hand, they are likely (under some circumstances) to resist paying rent (e.g. if they are suddenly unemployed), they are also less likely to make a fuss if the rent is raised, as they often have more disposable income (assuming they are not unemployed…).

3. The Single Working Man (4o+)

In my experience, I’ve found that working men in their 40s (or above), can be quite different to those in their 30s. These guys are not so likely to accept a below par environment. And they are not as likely to accept increases in rent. 

However, the above disadvantages are offset by the lower likelihood of their departure, and by extension, the better care they will take of the property. You will not be able to raise the rent as easily, but the property will be in good shape, and they themselves will not want to leave. Slow and steady wins the race is it…? 

4. The Young Couple

The young couple will normally do well for a landlord. When the couple pick the place, it’s often close to his and her work. There’s often two people working here, so there’s plenty of disposable income on the one hand. Additionally, the female influence is likely to ensure that the place stays relatively clean and the posters the young man had on his wall, stay in the cupboard. 

On the other hand though, they can move quite easily (since there are no kids). In fact, they are the most likely to move for various reasons. They may change jobs, they may change their better half, they may buy their own place to name but a few… 

Still, if you’re lucky, they’ll be in for a while, and the place will be taken care of reasonably well. 

5. The Family (e.g. A Couple With Two Kids)

This kind of family will also often do well for a landlord (as with the young couple above). Again, there’s generally the female influence towards stability. Again, the property should stay in relatively good shape, though there may well be a young’un drawing on the walls. The likelihood of a family moving is also relatively low, as kids, schools etc will complicate things. 

Having said that, it’s still possible, especially if the family is planning on expanding and need more space.  Additionally, the family will have less disposable income, and as a result, raising the rent might be tough. Actually, in my experience, families can also have trouble making the rent. If there’s any “forced dilemma”, where the choice is between the kids and the rent, the rent will come in second every time (I know I’d do the same). 

6. Retired Couples 

Retired couples are a bit like young couples. They are generally good tenants for those who want to keep a property in good shape. They generally pay on time. They are less likely to want to leave a property, as it’s not so simple for them to do so (and also, at one point in your life, you become a little averse to change – I’m nowhere near retired, but I’m already averse to change…). 

So, you get your property taken care of, and your rent paid on time. The issues here are that they are more likely to resist price increases, as they will not have the disposable income of younger couples. They are also possibly more likely to complain about different types of issues (e.g. if the neighbours are noisy). I say this (and I’ve lived it too), but I also used to live next to an old couple that didn’t mind my own “loud music”. It turned out both the husband and wife had hearing difficulties…!

And this brings me nicely to this week’s conclusions… after this summary table.

Summary Table (according to my experience only!)

Conclusions

As usual, I’ve said everything I’ve said, putting people into categories the way an insurance company might do. However, that doesn’t mean that we should over-generalise.

(Err.. isn’t that what you’ve done? Getting mixed signals here mate…)

OK, I will try to clarify! For example, I’ve dealt with plenty of students. In my experience, students do leave a property quickly. Now, statistics may show something different (or not!) but that doesn’t mean that every student is the same. The things I am describing are, in my opinion, likely outcomes for different kinds of tenants. We must always though, use common sense. Clearly, if you rent out a property to a retired couple who have hearing difficulties, they will not complain about noisy neighbours! It’s also entirely possible, that you rent out to a single young man, who is not ballsy (I for one, was never ballsy).

So, FINAL conclusions!

1. When you’re renting out your place, spend a little time thinking about the different kinds of tenants out there, to pick the type you want. This will vastly improve the likelihood of your achieving your goals.
2. The above are guidelines only. To be used in conjunction with common sense!

And with that, that’s me done once again dear Readers! Do I want your comments? Of course I do! Please leave them below…!

All the best, 
SJ

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