Help tenant being awkward paying

kazbabe

Hi wonder if anyone can help me?

I have had a tenant in my house for just over 6 months, we havent renewed contracts just rolling month on at mo. this reason is because we had an issue a few months ago whereby it took 2 weeks to get the rent and then she could only give part of it. We had so many excuses and didnt know which ones to believe. Although one was true that her son didnt know anything about it and he is paying half of the rent.
Anyway i contacted her 2 weeks ago, she was off sick for two weeks so i thought ideal time to collect rent during the week. Anyway she told me the weekend would be best. Then weekend came we got put off she was going away for the weekend, was supposed to go sunday she wasnt back. she was meant to come nearly every night last week and still nothing. i had spoken to her wednesday she told me she would come thursday night NOTHING!!!!. Anyway told her my partner would be in his shop all day saturday could she drop it off. Still NOTHING. Today i text her and get told she is going to berkshire with her daughter because of her daughters friends funeral. she isnt back till tomorrow night late.
The rent is now two weeks over due and i really dont know what to do.
I do the renting myself, im sorry i dont trust anyone. But this is getting ridiculous. Her son loves the house and wants to stay there, he is even sorting the back garden out because he loves gardening. To me, she is ruining something he really wants. I dont think he knows about all this!!!
Im scared because i dont want to lose a tenancy coz im worried i wont get someone else in but i also cant afford to pay for the mortgage myself.
What do i do and where do i stand???
any help gratefully appreciated

Colincbayley

First things first.
Issue a S.21 notice to gain possession of your property. You do not have to enforce this, but it will show your tenant that you will not be messed about. ( Give me a shout if you need help with this )

You say that you do not want to lose a tenant, but a tenant who is not paying the rent is worse than an empty property!

Your tenant is giving you the run-a-round, do not accept any more excuses, they have a contract with you that says pay the rent, this they must do.

PasturesNew

2 weeks isn't a lot behind is it ... how much would you lose if it sat empty for a month?

kazbabe

she is already half a month behind which is £330 and 2 weeks late on this month. this totals £960. for a month i would lose £630, which is money i dont have. what i get for the rent is to pay the mortgage and everything else to do with the house.

Colincbayley

kazbabe wrote: »

she is already half a month behind which is £330 and 2 weeks late on this month. this totals £960. for a month i would lose £630, which is money i dont have. what i get for the rent is to pay the mortgage and everything else to do with the house.

As soon as there is 2 months rent unpaid, you can issue a Section 8 notice ( unpaid means just that, one months and 1 days rent overdue )

Via a S.8 you only need to give the tenant 2 weeks notice before applying to the courts for a possession order.

You may still wish to keep your tenant, that is upto you, but issue the correct notices asap and then you will have the choice to keep them if they do come up with the rent.
I think you may well find that as soon as a S.21 or S.8 notice lands on the mat then they will be straight on the phone to you with the money.

kazbabe

thank you so much for your advise. i dont like being nasty to people but this has been getting a bit much.
is it normal for a landlord to have to ring and arrange to collect the rent?? i did this with my last tenant and really didnt have too much of an issue although it did get a bit much having to keep going round to pick it up. this time i have text rung etc, im sorry i understand she works and i dont mean to be funny but surely if people want a roof over their heads then shouldn't they make an effort too.
the son i think has been kept in the dark, as mum deals with it all. he has been designing his garden and doing other bits with mates. but surely if she wants to make sure that she keeps it going for him then the rent must be paid??!!!
i will come back to you shortly. your help has been much appreciated.

Colincbayley

kazbabe wrote: »

thank you so much for your advise. i dont like being nasty to people but this has been getting a bit much.
is it normal for a landlord to have to ring and arrange to collect the rent?? i did this with my last tenant and really didnt have too much of an issue although it did get a bit much having to keep going round to pick it up. this time i have text rung etc, im sorry i understand she works and i dont mean to be funny but surely if people want a roof over their heads then shouldn't they make an effort too.
the son i think has been kept in the dark, as mum deals with it all. he has been designing his garden and doing other bits with mates. but surely if she wants to make sure that she keeps it going for him then the rent must be paid??!!!
i will come back to you shortly. your help has been much appreciated.

To be very cut and dry in the matter.

Landlord rents - Tenant Pays, If the tenant doesn't pay then first, get your property back, second claim any monies that are due.

I'm very sorry to say, but I am afraid you are being very weak and letting them walk all over you. You must be firm AND fair.

Good luck.

Ulfar

You say the son pays half, is he jointly liable on the tenancy.

If he is you may want to make him aware of the situation that either one of them pays the shortfall or you will be seeking to evict.

Pssst

Take steps to hoof her out ASAP. She is taking you for a ride. Her problems are not your problems.

benjo

If I were the tenants son, putting in effort to make the house nice I would be very, very grateful if the LL told me about the situation BEFORE I owed 3, 4, 5 months rent - tell him now and give him chance to sort this out while the debt is relatively small, if you dont tell him now, then the debt may be too large for him to do anything about and if he cant, then you have two choices, go down the road of eviction or subsidise your tenants living expenses.

You sound a really caring person, but you have to care for yourself and your own business firstly, if they dont pay rent and you dont evict, you may loose the house anyway = tenants have no home, you have no BTL property.

Goodluck, keep us informed.

slopemaster

kazbabe wrote: »

thank you so much for your advise. i dont like being nasty to people but this has been getting a bit much.
is it normal for a landlord to have to ring and arrange to collect the rent?? i did this with my last tenant .

No, its not normal!
I pay mine by direct bank transfer.
If I were a landlord, I would expect tenants to do the same.
You should not have the hassle of chasing it up.
NEXT time, insist on a standing order...