HA tenant and growing rent arrears!!

tabskitten

Hello
I have a 2 bed flat that I rent out in Bristol .....
The tenant is housing benefits so as far as I am aware she is being given housing rent allowance.......right?

Problem is she is now over £2000 in arrears- and has only been in there a year.....

I have just put the property on the market and she is happy to stay in the hope that we get a landlord buyer- and in all other ways she is the perfect tenant- the EA and letting agent reports the place is immaculate and she wants to stay there as long as possible.

I am just concerned about the arrears and how this is dealt with if the place sells........is HA liable if she cannot pay? if not- who is:eek:

mortgagenewbee

I have just got a HA tenant myself but she was recommended by someone I know. So fingers crossed.

As for arrears have you spoken to the council?

acmc

as a landlord you can ask for the housing benefit pymts to get paid to yourself

Fire_Fox

Why haven't you served the tenant with notice to quit? You aren't making any money out of her, she probably doesn't have any assets to make it worth taking her to the small claims court and with a sitting tenant the flat has a lower value.

Jowo_2

Your tenant is responsible for paying the rent. If have a contractual relationship with her, not the housing association through some kind of private leasing scheme, then you suffer the loss.

Some landlords will not accept LHA claimants for the higher risk they represent (harder to evict, perhaps more likely to get into arrears, virtually impossible to get any arrears paid back by someone without an income). Some will only accept them if they have a guarantor. Did your agency not recommend a guarantor?

I'm not surprised she'd be keen at staying on at a property - few landlords want a tenant with a history of arrears that commonly lead to their eviction - she could struggle to find onward accommodation once the next landlord discovers she owes rent and she probably realises that. Few landlords would touch her with a bargepole and I expect she's wiser than you on that position.

Did the agent not check her income and credit history before giving her the tenancy to see if she could afford it, take up previous landlord references? A single healthy tenant over the age of 25 is only entitled to a 1 bedroom LHA rate (but can get a larger property if the LHA covers this or they pay the shortfall themselves), therefore its possible she's living in a place she'd never be able to afford!.

A landlord of an LHA tenant with significant arrears (think it is either 8 weeks or two months) can ask the local council to pay the LHA directly to the landlord (but note that in the event of a fraudulent claim or overpayment, the council will demand it back from you). Did your agent not recommend this?

A tenant who has been served notice by the landlord who then seeks help from the council could be told to ignore the notice and stay put until the landlord gets a court order. Her chances of being rehoused by the council are slim if they deem that she has made herself intentionally homeless (i.e. her eviction was triggered by her behaviour, such as not paying the rent) but they could still issue their relative common advice if approached for help to tell her to ignore any notice that you give, forcing you to seek a Possession Order.

Also, tenants do not have to permit viewings - therefore your tenant could sabotage the sale this way. What tenant is actually happy to speed the end of their tenancy by facilitating a viewing and having their peace disturbed?!

Evict the tenant by serving an S21 and S8, then market the property. Your chances of recovering arrears from a non-employed tenant are close to nil.

Have you protected her deposit in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme? When does the AST expire or does she have a periodic tenancy? Did the agent serve her an S21 at the outset of the tenancy? How many weeks/months of rent does that 2k represent? How much is the difference between her LHA entitlement and the rent?

bitsandpieces

tabskitten wrote: »

I have just put the property on the market and she is happy to stay in the hope that we get a landlord buyer- and in all other ways she is the perfect tenant- the EA and letting agent reports the place is immaculate and she wants to stay there as long as possible.

How much rent *has* she paid you in the course of the year? Renting in Bristol can be expensive, but £2k is a *lot* of arrears.

If she is getting LHA to cover her rent and not paying it to you, she is receiving the money herself and able to spend it as she chooses. No wonder she's keen to stay!

I am just concerned about the arrears and how this is dealt with if the place sells........is HA liable if she cannot pay? if not- who is:eek:

No-one's likely to be liable to take the hit from these arrears, except you :eek: There's a very good chance that you'll never see most of the £2k. You can take the tenant to court for the money - but if she has no assets and only a low income from benefits, I don't like your chances of getting enough money to be worthwhile.

mortgagenewbee

Jowo wrote: »

How much is the difference between her LHA entitlement and the rent?

Just for my purposes can we ask the tenant this question or go direct to LHA to ask about the entitlement?

PasturesNew

If she is living there alone and is over 25 then she'd get Housing Benefit (now called LHA) for a 1-bed flat. If she's under 25 she'll get a shared room rate. The amount paid is fixed (you can look it up online), it's up to the tenant to make up the difference if they're in bigger/more expensive places.

It sounds to me like she probably doesn't get enough in the first instance to ever be able to pay you the full whack.

P.S. If you have any more flats in Bristol you don't want to be paid rent for, let me know .... always looking for a free home.

Annisele

Even a landlord buyer won't touch the place if it has a sitting tenant who won't pay her rent!

tabskitten

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why haven't you served the tenant with notice to quit? You aren't making any money out of her, she probably doesn't have any assets to make it worth taking her to the small claims court and with a sitting tenant the flat has a lower value.

i am making more money out of her than i would be if it were empty. And in theory when she pays then all is fine. that is why.

I live in Manchester so cannot really find myself another tenant and in my experience it takes months for agents to find them! Very easy to say ''give notice'' but in real life its not always that easy and you have to weigh things up also with the pecieved level of stress it will cause when you are also trying to run your own business elsewhere.........

Jowo- No my agent advised me of non of the things you speak of.She had very good references and no negative reports when we checked her out.
So if I evict her have I defiantly lost the arrears? She has been in the flat 12 months. I do not know how much she gets from HA but the rent is £600pcm
She is over 25, with ''partner'' and child.

Trollfever

How many properties do you own?

tabskitten
MoneySaving Stalwart


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ok can i have some honset opinions here please?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-15040098.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-29025005.html

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/377554

Thank you!!