Lesson learned: likeable would-be tenants cause a cautious landlord to reduce the rent — but they weren't being totally honest

After years of vetting tenants, I thought I was a pretty good judge of character, but one young woman almost managed to pull the wool over my eyes.

She seemed so sweet when she and her husband viewed my flat that even though she admitted their combined income was a little shy of the amount needed to pass the credit check, I really wanted her to have the place.

Moved by her story of how she’d been desperately saving to afford a home for her family, I agreed to reduce the rent. To be honest, it wasn’t entirely altruistic on my part. I was struggling to let the flat and I thought it better to take a lower rent than leave it empty any longer.

The woman also agreed the owner of the restaurant where her husband was a chef would guarantee the rent payments. I think she said he was her uncle, or cousin or something.

Several days later, while I was still waiting for her to fill out the forms for a credit check, she contacted me to say her guarantor wanted to see the flat before signing the paperwork. No guarantor has ever asked to see any of my properties, but it wasn’t a problem for me to show him round so I agreed to meet him that evening.

When he arrived, he strolled into the living room and indicated that I should sit on the sofa. How nice, I thought, to be invited to sit in my own flat. He sat on the chair opposite, pressed his fingertips together and nodded silently at me. I felt like I’d been hauled before a headmaster but didn’t know what I’d done wrong.

Breaking the awkward silence, he told me that the flat was lovely, the couple would make excellent tenants, but they couldn’t afford the rent. He more or less instructed me to knock another £100 a month off the price.

I forced a smile, told him I had already agreed the rent with the tenants but if it was still too high, they should find somewhere else.

“Fine, fine,” he said, “so let’s sign the contract now. There’s no need for you to do any credit check, we’re all good people.”

When someone tells you there’s no need for a credit check, you know they’re hiding something, so of course I insisted on it. Surprise, surprise, they found the couple’s income was a third of what they had claimed. They didn’t earn enough to cover the rent, let alone the bills.

When I called the woman to explain that I would have to reject their application, she told me she was looking for a better-paid job, that they would manage somehow and her guarantor would step in if they fell behind with the payments.

While it was true that her husband’s boss would have been liable for the rent if the couple didn’t pay, I’d got the distinct impression from our brief meeting that he would try to wriggle out of it.

Most importantly, I didn’t want to let a property to someone who I knew was dishonest.

This woman had the face of an angel, but she was a liar and I could no longer trust her. Not only that, but it seemed irresponsible to take a tenant knowing that they would struggle to pay the rent. It would be heart-breaking to evict a young couple with a child, so I decided I would have to keep looking for a tenant.

Victoria Whitlock lets four properties in south London. To contact Victoria with your ideas and views, tweet @vicwhitlock.