How to Make a Good First Impression On your Landlord

Have you found your ideal rental home and now need to meet your potential new landlord? Making a great first impression is vital! To help you secure your ideal rental property, we have highlighted four top tips for making an excellent first impression with your landlord. Good luck!

1.    Realistic Budgets

Before you meet your new landlord, it helps to try and be as realistic as possible with your budget. This means calculating your monthly budget to see whether you can realistically afford the rent in addition to your existing expenses. Make sure that the rental home is within your price range as you will need to provide the landlord with information about your income and prove that you can cover the rent each month. An essential quality that many landlords look for in a tenant is for them to be able to pay the rent on time and in full. The MoneyHelper online Budget Planner provided by the government and the Money and Pensions Service is a useful tool which can be used to help with budgets and budget planning. You may also want to work out if you can afford to pay any rent upfront, 2, 3 or 6 months, as this could be used as leverage if you are in competition with others. If you need guarantors, ensure you have made all necessary communications and they are ready to receive communications to confirm their support of you.

2.    Preparation

Preparation, preparation, preparation. When looking for a rental home, ensure you have all your documentation needed such as proof of identity (passport, driving license), proof of salary, and employment and previous tenancy references if requested. By preparing your documentation well before you meet your landlord, you are ensuring you have everything ready and can confidently submit your application with ease and in good time. This could make all the difference in a competitive market when the landlord will be receiving multiple applications! To fully prepare, it is useful to read the detailed guide the government have put together on preparing to rent a property, which includes lots of useful information and explanations, including everything to check when preparing to rent a property.

3.    Be on Time

Punctuality is key. When it comes to meeting your landlord for the first time, make sure you arrive on time as they will most likely have scheduled in other time slots to meet others interested in renting the property. By arriving late for your appointment, you may miss your allocated time slot, resulting in you either missing out on securing the property or making a bad impression with your landlord if you do secure it. Making a good impression by being on time communicates to your landlord that you will be as timely with other aspects of your relationship. Make your first impression count! Giving yourself plenty of time also means that you have more time to ask questions you hadn’t anticipated, have a thorough look the property instead of rushing around it, get to know your landlord to establish a positive connection, and even put down a deposit on the spot - if you feel it’s the one! 

4.    Be Responsive

If you have found your ideal rental home, met the landlord, viewed the property, and provided all the required documentation needed, you do not want to then miss out on the property by missing a few important calls or emails. If you are interested in the property, you should be proactive in letting the landlord know as soon as possible as there could be others also interested in renting the property. In addition, keep your phone on loud and vibrate, be responsive, follow up with your landlord, and call to check in after you have seen the property so that you are kept up to date with the progress of your rental application.

Lastly….

When it comes to making a positive impact on your potential new landlord, first impressions count. Hopefully by following our four top tips it can help move you a step closer to securing your ideal rental home. At Beaconsfield Estate Agents, our agents have over forty years of experience working within the property sector. Contact us today to see our selection of rental properties available, or view those on our website here.

Beaconsfield Estate Agents:
01494 68 11 68 or at hello@beaconsfield.co.uk

Beaconsfield Country Estate Agents:
01753 888 222 or at hello@beaconsfieldcountry.co.uk