Tenant from hell.

EliteHeat

sooz wrote: »

Wow, I guess in your line of work you've been in a lot of filthy hovel-like HMOs.

Well, I used to do a lot of work in Stevenage. Now, I would hate to generalise, but need I say more

RobertoMoir

SweetPea23 wrote: »

My dear lord, how rude are you???

They were a little more direct than I'd choose to be but what did they say that's wrong? Other than not enclosing every point with a paragraph of flowery phrases, I'm not sure what they said is actually rude, just to the point, which is not the same thing.

It may well be that the OP's tenant is indeed the tenant from hell, but what real indication of that is given in the post here? How would this post be received if written from the tenant's POV about a "landlord from hell" who accuses people of taking drugs and smashing the stairs up with no proof. Clearly not paying rent is a problem and a route to removing her if that's the desired outcome, but the rest of the post here is just fluff.

mizzbiz

I have to say, certain ones I lived in were all like this. Very squalid, unkempt, landlord/lady not mintaining.

In one I rented I had slugs in my room (identifiable by the silver trails each morning and the fact I stood in one in my bare feet in the dark one night eugh). There was a half built brick wall in the kitchen that was the spaced out landlady's idea of a quirky breakfast bar that was never finished, the shower was half tiled where she botched it so you couldn't use it and the house had no CH so you had to run up and down the stairs with kettle if you wanted a bath, it was hit and miss wether the washing machine would cost 50p or £3 to finish a wash as she had a dodgy meter installed to steal money! Oh and the place was infested with spiders and flies thanks to a rther dirty vegan leavingmung beans and dirty dishes in cupboards. What a bargain for £60 a week. I'm only half ashamed to ay that after a few months I too was withholding rent and moved out without paying it all.

But what they had in common, these hovels, was that there were no contracts and all rent taken in cash. Why? Because it was a scam.... the landlady/lord had their mail and benefits cheques going there while they lived in a nice house somewhere else. If this is the case for the OP and the tenant has realised it, it may be somewhat more difficult to evict without landing herself in very hot water.

PasturesNew

If you are renting rooms by the room, they will still need an AST. I believe that even if they don't have one, the fact you've taken rent from them and they've moved in means they have one in law. In which case you would need to give them 2 months' written notice (Section 21), properly done, on/before a rent date. You certainly can't be handing out 2 week notices to people.

The only people you can hand out 2 week notices to would be your own lodgers in your own home. Which isn't the case here.

You have a House of Multiple Occupancy. Is it legal? Is it licensed.

Do you know the laws about renting? About HMO? About contracts?

Your initial posting would indicate not.

turkolina

Wow some of you are so judgemental.

Thankfully I can say that my accounts are in order and the house is not cash in hand and secondly the house is far from a hovel. It was my own home for 10 years and is in fantastic condition and I actually clean the common areas once every 4 weeks to make sure the areas are spotless (although the tenants do have a rota and I only do it to make sure the house is kept in tip top condition. (sadly said tenant never bothers which gets up all the other tenants noses because they have to do her share!!)

We also have a HMO licence and this is for 4 beds and not for 6 cash in hand. We have electricity certificates and gas certificates as required also with no smoking signs and my telephone number in common areas etc.

I have always sent letters by normal post to confirm that deposits have been placed in the Deposit Scheme and my address and contact details sadly i only ever did this by normal post obviously this is not something i will do again.

All i can say i am guilty of is being too thoughtful of those in the house.. Luckily the other 3 tenants have signed immediate contracts.. I have also told them that although it says 1 month notice if they want to leave within 2 weeks that it wont be a problem.

Lastly the comments about the coke came about from a neighbour tonight.. She phoned to tell me that my/her next door neighbour had passed away yesterday and if i wanted to send flowers etc. She then said that she was told by one of my tenants that he had passed away.. I said oh which one she said the girls name and that she saw her in the pub.. and that at the end of the conversation my tenant had asked her if she wanted to do any coke with her.. I certainly wouldnt say anything like this about someone if someone hadn't given me this information.

As for the stair spindle.. Your right i cant prove it was her but at the time two of the tenants were in Spain on holiday and one tenant and her were in the house. The other tenant heard her crawl up the stairs at some unknown hour and the following day the spindle was missing competely..!

Another one of my tenants went to work one day at 5am to find the front door open completely with her key still in the front door!!!

I know there are many bad landlords out there who do it for the money but i can say that I only have this one house apart from my own and all i think im guilty of is being too soft !! Its not something that will happen again.

Thanks for those who haven't completely slated me.. I know i'm an idiot! It stops now though..

Microstar_2

As a long-time professional LL (although not of HMO's) I'm afraid I have to side with EliteHeat.
Being a LL is not something you can play at. I am staggered that you can operate a HMO without proper contracts. This is a serious business you are running and you have to keep all the i's dotted and all the t's crossed. You will have tenants running rings around you if you don't do things properly. Not got a leg to stand on at the moment. If you can't run the business because of other commitments then get someone professional to run it for you or get out of the business.

turkolina

Thanks Microstar.. It has made me wonder if im not the right person to be in this business i'm too much of a push over ! Lets see if i can turn this around...

sooz

turkolina wrote: »

We also have a HMO licence and this is for 4 beds and not for 6 cash in hand. We have electricity certificates and gas certificates as required also with no smoking signs and my telephone number in common areas etc.

I am staggered that your council will grant you a licence when you do not provide your tenants with a contract. One of the questions on every application forms I've seen is if you provide your tenants with a written AST,or a set of written terms & conditions.

amcluesent

You can do it the legal way, but you have a 'professional' tenant, so feted by some posters here, who'll be in your place rent free for at least six months. Or for ever if she gets herself up the duff by a passing baby-father.

I'd figure out of she's a 'user', then ring the bizzies. They'd love an easy crime to solve. Change all locks while she's in custody.

turkolina

They granted me the licence when I lived in the house.. The not issuing of contracts was my error.. As i said it has been rectified for the other 3 tenants and when this tenant leaves the new tenant will also have a contract.

I cant be so bad.. 2 tenants have been with me since day one and one of them for 16 months.. Just said tenant since July !

I can see that you probably think im an idiot.. i agree on most cases and am trying to sort this situation out to the best of my ability as soon as possible!