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Do they have rights if they have been in permanent arrears despite agreement saying pay in advance?0
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You can ask them to pay the deposit. They can, and probably will, refuse.Ideally I want the rent arrears and retrospective deposit as security in case they do a runner.
If that is not possible then eviction seems the only option
You can take legal action via moneyclaimonline for the arrears. It's unlikely you will lose. If they have sense they will pay before it goes to court to avoid court costs. Or do a runner. If it goes to court and they lose, court costs will be added. If they have no money the court may order them to pay off at eg £5 per week.
You can evict via a Section 8 Notice for rent arrears. Either Ground 8 if the arrears are greater than 2 months rent, or ground 10 and/or 11 if not. Ground 8 is mandatory, whereas grounds 10 & 11 are at the discretion of the court. You can claim the arrears at the same time as claiming possession of the property.0 -
Do they have rights if they have been in permanent arrears despite agreement saying pay in advance?
Please read the links already provided and then ask yourself that question again.0 -
money and friends shouldn't mix, now you know how it is when money enters the equation"It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
You are currently receiving rent in arrears but are they up to date with that - do they owe anything other than the past month ? The problem could be that as soon as you issue a S21 they stop paying all together. The deposit boat has long sailed.0
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Considering your lack of experience and understanding of the responsibility of being a tenant, it is probably a blessing that they never gave you a deposit in the first place. At least you can't be sued by them for not having dealt with it properly.
You can issue a S21, although do seek advice on how to do this properly. There are requirements to make it legal that you will need to make sure you've enacted. Whether you'll ever see the money they owe you, that's another matter, most likely you will require to take that to court, so will have to decide whether it is worth the time and stress.0 -
Reality check time
if both those agreements state a £ monetary amount for a deposit do you have proof that it was never paid by your tenant and that you have asked them to do so?Thanks for the replies! I had a 12 month agreement with them initially which spells out deposit and rent in advance, we then signed an extension November 16 which has now run out so presumably is now a periodic tenancy.
the agreement has a deposit amount, fact.
if they claim they paid it to you, potentially they could sue you for you failing to protect it
how would you defend against that?
forget about the deposit and hope the legal advice the tenants have received does not encourage them to make such a false claim as you will incur court fees in defending it.
read the links and inform yourselfThe mistake i obviously made is making allowances for friends. The council pay every 2 weeks so it was like pay as you go which was ok when the council paid the lot. The rent is 1250 per month, the council now only pays 2 payments of c.185 and the tenant is responsible for c.850.
When one tenant got the job I was sympathetic to their problems with regard to getting to a point of paying in advance but 13 months down the line we have moved no further.
Am I right in presuming that if they seek legal advice they will be advised they don't have a leg to stand on?
consider this....
when you finally decide to evict, (and when you have learned to fill out the forms correctly after a doubtless false start and rejection by the court), you will win an eviction award in court as at the end of the day the section 21 route is indefensible
winning an eviction will not get your arrears paid. The court does not pay you any money owed, the person you sued does. If that person does not have enough cash of their own then you will need to pay for court appointed bailiffs to seize goods from the tenants and sell those goods in the hope they earn enough to cover the money you are owed. All that will cost you extra fees which will have to be paid before you get what is left.
when you take your action for the arrears (which will be a separate case to the eviction case) the court may, as G_M has warned, decide that the tenant has little spare money of their own (council benefit does not count) and so award the case to you but order them to pay you at £stupid amount per week . They may or may not make those payments, for example if in 3 years time they have stopped paying you your £5 per week you will need to go back to court (fees) and start again, this time probably going for a bailiff route.
in conclusion:
a) you need to evict, don't expect to get your money back. They are not friends anymore, don't repeat the experience.0 -
In September I carried out a flat inspection
....................
replaced dishwasher and fridge as soon as they reported they were broken, and have just spent £2k on replacing windows.
Apart from paying at the end of the month and not paying a deposit have they been OK as tenants, paying up regularly, keeping the place OK.
they do seem to have bad luck with some stuff as it broke but what sort of condition were they in when they moved in. windows sounds like an enhancement.
Not ideal to have no deposit and effectively be one month behind on rent(£1250) which is around £20 years lost interest.
If they are otherwise OK and the rent is around market levels might be better to back off and keep them till they decide they want to leave.0 -
Asking for a deposit now, having not previously done so, is in effect insisting on renegotiating a term of the tenancy, as is the tenants' deciding to pay in arrears. If you don't get what you want from a negotiation you have to be prepared to walk, which in this case means giving them notice to quit.0
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If it's any consolation I made worse, more serious, more limiting, mistakes when I started.
Evict tenants, get educated as a landlord, credit & reference check future tenants, never ever rent to friends, family or friends of either.
Once evicted pursue them for however long it takes at whatever cost for what they owe. Crooks & cheats - be they Landlord, agent, tenant, MP - should pay the price. And get a CCJ if they don't pay promptly.
Marry Xmas to all decent forum members. Bah, humbug! ��0
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