Advice on none paying tenant

rach108

I have a house which I rent out. I do this purely to cover the cost of my mortgage as I needed to move area to get my daughter into the school she was going too and needed to pay rent on a new property. I have an elderley lady in my property and a portion of her rent is paid by the council. She is supposed to make this up to the amount of £100 per month. She has not done so and owes me £500 at the moment. Due to numerous problems, I served her with a section 21 notice to quit, effective Dec 31. The council has not paid the rent this month meaning that she now owes me £876. The notice is for 2 months as is the legal requirement which means that I have to pay the mortgage for the next 2 months before I can even begin to get her out, by means of a court order.

Surely this is all wrong. Surely she cannot stay in my house whilst paying no rent, meaning I have to make it up out of my salary in addition to my £500 rent. Does anyone have any ideas?

tbs624

If you haven't done so already draw up a formal schedule of total rent paid and total rent outstanding, send it to the tenant requesting a response and make sure that all your own paperwork is in order: you should also notify the HB/LHA office, in writing, that the tenant is in arrears.

Note that if your tenant has paid a tenancy deposit after 6 April 07, (E/Wales)and you have not scheme- registered it then any S21 that you serve will not be valid..

Your best move would be to join up to one of the National LL associations - RLA or NLA/NFRL (they may also have a local affiliated group). Your membership fee can be set against rental income for tax purposes.Alternatively join up to Tessa Shepperson's Landlordlaw site.

You need to be looking at serving Notice on Grounds 8,10 and 11 (see Housing Act 1988, S8) but if you have not had experience of doing this the advice lines at the LL associations can offer you guidance - see also http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/grounds_for_possession.htm.

speedtwin

The tenant maybe recieving the HB payments direct. As soon as the tenant is 2 months in arrears (= 1 month and 1 day) write to the council requesting all payments to be made to yourself (the landlord) stating the tenant is 2 months in arrears. They then have to do it. Even if you are not sure the tenant is still getting benefit still write the letter just incase it starts up again.

Also serve CORRECTLY a section 8 grounds 8,10,11 as soon as the T is one month and 1 day in arrears/owing because you can then apply to the court 14 days later for a eviction and money claim for owed rent.

Getting debt collectors involved can sometimes help.

sooz

rach108 wrote: »

The notice is for 2 months as is the legal requirement which means that I have to pay the mortgage for the next 2 months before I can even begin to get her out, by means of a court order.

Surely this is all wrong. Surely she cannot stay in my house whilst paying no rent, meaning I have to make it up out of my salary in addition to my £500 rent.

I'd look at your finances & budget for the next 6 months of paying that mortgage. Getting a HB/LHA tenant out is a very slow drawn out procedure. She will be advised not to make herself voluntarily homeless (ie leave when asked to by the court).

sooz

speedtwin wrote: »

Also serve CORRECTLY a section 8 grounds 8,10,11 as soon as the T is one month and 1 day in arrears/owing because you can then apply to the court 14 days later for a eviction and money claim for owed rent.

This will apply only if the tenant remains 1 month & 1 day in arrears at the time of the court case. If the council start making payment directly, it may not be the case, and so the section 8 will become invalid.

Premier_2

Ground 10

Some rent lawfully due from the tenant—
(a)is unpaid on the date on which the proceedings for possession are begun;
(b)except where subsection (1)(b) of section 8 of this Act applies, was in arrears at the date of the service of the notice under that section relating to those proceedings.

Ground 11

Whether or not any rent is in arrears on the date on which proceedings for possession are begun, the tenant has persistently delayed paying rent which has become lawfully due.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/ukpga_19880050_en_14#sch2

However, these 2 grounds are only grounds on which the court may order posession (as opposed to ground 8 where it must).

No harm with going in with all guns blazing though! Hopefully one will hit the target, and a s.21 is an extremely useful back-stop

PasturesNew

rach108 wrote: »

Surely she cannot stay in my house whilst paying no rent, meaning I have to make it up out of my salary in addition to my £500 rent.

Others are giving relevant advice on paths and procedures you can take to sort out the situation.

However, in answer to the one question I have quoted above, yes she can stay in your house without paying any rent, meaning you have to make it up out of your salary in addition to your own rent.

You have to go through the correct procedures and motions and accept it could be some months.

speedtwin

If relying on ground 10 &11 of a section 8 and it isnt defended you have a fairly good chance of getting posession if proven but if the tenant defends it its not good because judges dont like evicting people if they dont have to.