Serving Section8 - dates?

ncooper1974

Hi all.
I have a tenant in place that has been consistently late with rent - usually 1 or 2 weeks. Its now been over 2 months since i received any payment from him at all. He says he has a cash flow problem, and asked if he could pay last months rent this month - which i agreed to - but still no payment. He's tried to claim that his bank take 5 days for funds to clear, and then numerous times he's said he'd run the cash over to me (i live locally).
Well, I'd like to serve a section 8 (citing grounds 8, 10 and 11) but want to make absolutely sure that I have the correct dates.

AST started on 1st Feb 2008 for 12 months with a 6 month break. Rent was due on the 1st of every month thereafter.
The last payment I received from him was on 9th May 2008 (which was for the month of may). Payments for 1st June and 1st July have not been forthcoming.

When can i serve a Section 8, and what are the all important dates that I need to put in? I plan to personally hand deliver the notice tonight after work.

By the way, 1 months deposit has been collected, and has been registered with the TDS within 14 days of start of tenancy

Thanks for any help.

Debt_Free_Chick

You stand a better chance of succeeding if you issue a letter first. The Courts can be unsympathetic if you go straight to Court action. So, write to him first, confirming the arrears and request immediate payment within 7 days.

You can serve the s8 notice once he is two months in arrears - which he is now. In theory, you could have served it on 2nd July when he owed rent for June and July.

Bear in mind that the tenant must also be 2 months in arrears on the day of the Court hearing, so if he pays part of the arrears before then, the Court hearing will fail.

For this reason, why not use the break clause? Surely you can give him notice (2 months?) of reposession at the beginning of August, as the six months expires on 31 July.

I assume you don't want to keep this tenant at any cost? Perhaps he genuinely has some temporary cashflow problems Or he's just carp with money

Be sure there's a good local market before you ditch the tenant. One that's rubbish at paying, but does eventually pay, is better than an empty property.

Oh - and remember that you cannot use the deposit as payment of rent.

ncooper1974

Thanks Debt Free.
I do genuinely believe that he is carp with money, and dont neccessarily want to evict him. Just want to get paid. What i'm hoping is that by serving the section 8 he realises how serious this is, and then he'll pay quicker in future.
What I dont want is to wait until Aug 2nd as then he'll be 3 months in arrears and then I'll be kickign myself that I didn't start this sooner

How many copies of the S8 do i need? obviously 1 for him, and 1 for my records. Anymore?

Debt_Free_Chick

You only need to serve the notice on him. You can do this in person, but you must have a witness. Otherwise, recorded delivery. You then have to wait 2 weeks before applying to the Court. When you apply to the Court you have to explain the steps you've taken to recover the arrears, so it's best to write to him first - and then issue the s8 notice if your letter fails to result in payment of the arrears.

What I meant was .... serve a s21 notice on him on 2nd August. At the moment, you ought to write to him; give him 7 days to pay up; then issue the s8 notice; and wait 2 weeks ... which takes you to 8 August before can apply to the Court. And then you have to wait for a hearing date. If you want him out, giving 2 months notice (assuming that's what the break clause requires) on 2nd August might be the quicker route.

But if you want to keep him, just talk to him again. Could he repay you the arrears in instalments? e.g. over the next four months? Can't he set up a standing order for each months rent? You need to understand his position - and he needs to understand yours. With communication you might be able to sort this out in a way that suits you both.

ncooper1974

I plan to serve notice on him tonight. But if he is not in, can i pop it thru the letter box? I'll have a witness with me, but do they need to sign anything anywhere? or does it need to be documented on the S8 that I had a witness present?

I really can't afford to wait, even 7 days, to send him a letter. He already owes £1750. Besides, I've kept text messages (send and received) that show we've been on contact about this issue and he's promised to pay on at least 3 seperate occasions.

i DO want to keep him as a tenant - house is clean and tidy and i've had no complaints at all - but want to get things moving today.

As a side, i notice on the S8 that I need that i need to give the full text of each ground which i'm citing - can anyone recommend a preferred web site for this so there is no doubt that the text is correct?

Thanks again

tbs624

Join Landlordlaw.co.uk, run by qualified LL & T specialist solicitor Tessa Shepperson (Lawpack agreements are drafted by her & she also writes books on LL&T issues) Annual membership will cost you £70.50 (tax deductible expense) and you then have access to all forms and step by step guidance, plus lots of other useful info & legal guidance. See here for more info http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/page.ihtml?id=300&step=2&page=mem ( I've no commercial interest in recommending her site )

silvercar

I really can't afford to wait, even 7 days, to send him a letter. He already owes £1750.

i DO want to keep him as a tenant - house is clean and tidy and i've had no complaints at all - but want to get things moving today.

So you don't really want to take him to court!

You need to speak to him and write him a formal letter saying you require payment of arrears wthin 7 days.

Debt_Free_Chick

I agree. If you want him to pay, sit down with him and agree something.

A s8 notice is notice of your intention to issue Court proceedings. That, alone, will not get the arrears paid.

Any good lawyer will also suggest that you never threaten action that you have no intention of following through.

ncooper1974

I sent him a text at time i was writing on this forum saying that i needed to speak to him. Didn't know if i was going to go round and serve the notice, or sit down and chat with him.
he's just replied saying that he thought I was coming over last night to collect the money. once again, he offered to run it over to me tonight (now heard this 4 times). I said that i'll come over instead, and he assures me that he will be in.

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow....

ncooper1974

I found the info about citing the full text in the section 8 notice on the following web site:
http://www.netlawman.co.uk/acts/housing-act-1988.php?pageContentID=15971

Ground 8
Both at the date of the service of the notice under section 8 of this Act relating to the proceedings for possession and at the date of the hearing—
(a) if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, at least thirteen weeks' rent is unpaid;
(b) if rent is payable monthly, at least three months' rent is unpaid;
(c) if rent is payable quarterly, at least one quarter's rent is more than three months in arrears; and
(d) if rent is payable yearly, at least three months' rent is more than three months in arrears; and for the purpose of this ground "rent" means rent lawfully due from the tenant.

surely this can't be right? I thought it was only 2 months arrears if paying monthly?

ncooper1974

I spoke with the tenant, briefly.

According to his internet banking, the money has left the account. I handed him a printout of my account showing him all activities from 1st July to now to prove that nothing from him has cleared.
He says he has an appointment with his account manager tomorrow at 9am to sort this out - either recall the money, or get the cash and 'run it over' (5th time he said that)

I had the Section 8 papers in my hand, but stopped short of serving him as I thought I've come this far, I might as well wait till 10am tomorrow morning (when he promised to call me by to explain). He even said he will get his bank manager to call me up personally and explain.

What I should have asked him was how he was going to run the cash over like he suggested, if he never actually had the cash on him. But i didn't, as I didn't want to appear confrontational.

I'll update this again tomorrow i guess....