Help - tenants not paying rent

Isatou

As we live in a tied house we have been renting out a house for the past 2 years. Unfortunately whilst I was working abroad, I did not check my bank statements and when I came home relised that rent had not been paid for Dec 08, Feb 09 or Mar 09 bud HAD been paid for Jan 09 and has been paid for Apr 09. Tenants said there must have been a problem with the bank and promised to pay £100 a week until the situation with the bank had been sorted - which I now know to be untrue. No money received at all. Have since had a text saying that he was made redundant 2 weeks ago and that it was all in the hands of DSS. How long does it take DSS to pay rent - and is it the whole amount that is due and I'm sure that DSS will not pay the arrears as he was not redundant then so how can I claim that money back. This is going to cause me serious financial problems myself and the rent pays 60% of the mortgage and I'm unemplyoyed at the moment due to broken arm. Help please!

pawpurrs

The DSS will not pay the arrears, that will be up to the tennant as they were employed at that time. The DSS will take some time to process the claim, and will pay in accordance with the set rates so it may not cover all the rent.
Hopefully the tennants will pay their arrears if they can.

SouthCoast

The Local Housing Allowance for your area can be found on this site

https://lha-direct.therentservice.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

theartfullodger

Sorry to hear of your experiences and broken arm.

You need to write to him asking for the money. (Recorded signed for). When you don't get a sensible agreement/history (eg several hundred a month off the arrears I would suggest) write with notice to quit (see various posts here) and then small-claims procedure to get the money back.

Chances are (sadly) you won't get the money before they leave & council may advise them not to leave before eviction process completed.

Gather as much info on all tenants as possible. Names, addresses (previous), DoB, NI number, copy of passport/driving license. references etc (stuff you took before granting the tenancy) and keep collecting that info.... so when they've gone & not left a forwarding address you can instruct a tenant-locator (deals available from your landlord Association (NLA or RLA if in E&W)) and track them down ... Eventually, when they start working again you will get the money back if you are very persistent and patient.

Whatever you do don't take any action that could be interpreted as harassment. If you do they'll be there for even longer.

Good luck!

Lodger

hippy-chicy

If he has put in a claim for HB, under the LHA scheme if the tenant is over 8 weeks in arrears (which it looks like he is). Then payments must be made to the landlord direct. They wont pay the arrears but they will pay any ongoing entitlement he has to HB directly to you.

You need to write to the LA informing them that you beleive the tenant is making a claim and that they should be aware that the tenant has arrears. Outline the period the arrears cover and the amount. Unless the tenant has given the HB dept authorisation for them to discuss their claim with you it prob isn't worth calling as they wont tell you anything. If you write in the letter will be there when the claim is looked at and the assessor will look at this at the same time.

tbs624

theartfullodger wrote: »

.....council may advise them not to leave before eviction process completed.

If the Ts are being evicted for rent arrears which accrued prior to their current difficulties then they will be classed as having made themselves "intentionally homeless" anyway so staying put until eviction would serve little purpose.

Agree with the rest of ArtfulLodger's post

tbs624

Isatou - have just read back through your post - if you were working abroad for a sufficient period of time to be classed as non-resident in the UK did you provide a UK address at which Notices relating to the tenancy could be served or have anyone acting on your behalf back in the UK?You need to be aware that rent is not lawfully collectable for that period if you didn't.