There are so many benefits to renting your property out to students. With high demand and longer rental periods, student lettings can produce higher yields. However, some landlords can have particular concerns over letting to international students.With this in mind, Your Move has identified two of these concerns and provided ways landlords can find support to not miss the opportunity of letting to internationals.
The 'Right to Rent' Scheme
The ‘Right to Rent’ scheme, enforced in February 2016, requires that landlords of privately rented accommodation must carry out identity checks on every tenant before they sign a tenancy agreement. A landlord survey carried out by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants found that 42% of landlords were less likely to rent to someone without a British passport. Whilst it may seem time-consuming to check unfamiliar passports, this is no reason to write off letting to internationals as there is support available.
There is a helpline and an online system available (at homeoffice.gov.uk) that can check and confirm whether an individual has the right to be in the UK. Also, here at Your Move, we can handle tenant checks for you, making the process as stress-free as possible.
Guarantors
Another reason landlords may be weary of international tenants is that these applicants may not be able to provide a UK based guarantor (someone who agrees to take responsibility for rent if the tenant fails to do so). If that is the case, you can just ask for their rent to be paid in advance or ask Your Move to manage your property for you. We can take care of the rent collection, and any necessary guarantor checks, making your life easy.
According to research by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for 2015/2016, 19% of students in England and 22% in Scotland are international. This means that shying away from letting to international students not only decreases your number of potential tenants but could be the difference between your property standing empty or it being someone’s new home.
If you are concerned about these issues, then please contact your local branch or call 0845 450 5507^ and we will happily guide you through any concerns about letting to international tenants. Alternatively, you can email landlords@your-move.co.uk
The Your Move Content Marketing Team
