Q.
Criminal issues in tenancy. What is the implication of that?
A.
When a prospect calls to book your place, is money the only factor to rent to him?
Many a time, we look at money being the single decision in a tenancy. You don’t want a lousy paymaster, right?
Recently I got a lawyer friend who specialises in criminal law told me that there are syndicates just renting to commit crime. So, as a landlord, we must be careful. For example, if you have not checked, and the tenant indeed uses your house for crime, example prostitution, gambling or drug storage/distribution.
What happens next is you will be called in as witness because your house has become a crime scene. Worse is they thought that you are a partner in crime! So you will be arrested for investigation and be put in a lock-up for a night before you could show them your tenancy agreement! Hence, for renting of your property, tenancy agreement is very important, and best be stamped so that it become legal. If you cannot produce tenancy agreement, sorry sir, you are to be detained and explain later!