Dora remembers when she started out in the ‘landlady’ business. It stretched the salary she was making nearly to breaking point when she invested in her first flat, fixed it up, decorated it and then advertised it for rental.
She met each prospective tenant personally, then whittled the list down to three or four possible candidates. She rang each and every one of their references and waited for the results from the credit check service. The winning candidate signed his rental contract, paid his deposit (oh happy day!) and was welcomed at the flat on his move-in date with a bottle of bubbly and a beautiful card.
Nearing the end of the tenant’s first month in the flat, she wrote him a sweet email just to check he was nicely settled in. Her signature file included a heart-warming quote and, in a very small font size, a little reminder that rent was now due — and her bank details.