police raid, house damaged

dmtove

Hi,

My Mother in Law was renting out her house.

Police raided it last night and found a cannabis farm, house is totally destroyed inside and will need total gutting.

Is the letting agent in anyway responsible for the rent until the agreement ends, or some money towards repairs?

Thanks.

lincroft1710

If MIL had agreement with LA whereby LA agreed to reimburse her either for rent arrears/defaults or necessary repairs caused by tenants' neglect/negligence/wanton damage then yes. But I don't think any LA would entertain such a scheme and I think your MIL is out of luck unless she could prove LA was aware of illegal activity in house and chose to ignore it/not inform her.

There was a similar occurrence mentioned on TV a couple of weeks ago, owners had to pay out thousands for remedial works. In theory she could sue tenants, in real world she'd be wasting her time and money.

amersall

yes i saw that programme, homes from hell, i felt sorry for the young couple they could get no redress at all, maybe there is a lesson to be learnt from this.

paintpot

I am sorry to hear what has happened to your MIL.

Being a landlord my knowledge of cannabis factories and in answer to your questions follows:

As the previous OP stated, it is unlikely the LA has any responsibility for loss of rent, damage etc unless your MIL had a guaranteed rent scheme for example.

Your MIL may have cause to sue the agent if it can be proven that they breached the contract with your MIL by not referencing the tenant properly or for negligence for example but that's a really broad brush sweeping statement and would require much more info than is presently available.

Also, without wishing to bring more doom and gloom to the situation, often insurers (even with proper BTL insurance which i assume you have?) do not pay out as they consider this to be malicious damage by the tenant. Obviously, it depends on the terms of your policy. Have you explored the insurance aspect yet?

Where a cannabis factory has been created there are often warning signs that have been missed. I strongly suggest your MIL looks back to see what they were and to learn from them. It won't help now I know so I don't want to appear to be rubbing salt into the wounds but it may help another landlord reading this. To name a few

Often non english tenants (not always)
Offer to pay rent up front e.g 6 months
No inspections
Refusing/ignoring requests for inspections

Was the agent also managing the property or was it let only? If they failed in their duty to carry out inspections as per any contract then this could be a breach. It's a tangled web though as they may say they tried and failed and it is not legally permitted for a landlord or agent to gain entry with a key without permission unless in case of emergency. However, I am sure the exterior of the property if looked at with a trained eye may also have raised warning signs e.g curtains/blackouts at windows 24/7.

I am sure others will post more info/advice shortly.

Pssst

You have my sympathies. These are the kind of scum who are prevalent i the BTL market.

GDB2222

It's just one more of the risks that BTL'ers have to take into account. Slowly, it's sinking in that this is a minefield, not a route to easy riches. Sorry for the OP and all that, of course.

domcastro

boooooo weeds becoming sooooo expensive coz they keep busting these houses. but then again, it's normally vietnamese who rent the houses and their weed is rubbish as they only care about the money. damn it hurts each time I hear a "farm" has been busted.