Eviction advice needed

HeatherH

Wow!

Thanks Mostlycheerful, I'll be scouring the links later and passing the info on. We're still optimistic that this will be over by the new year, into january at the latest.

HeatherH

Just quick update, no sign of ex tenant + friend. and we have no idea where they've gone, so hoping the notice of possessions still holds even though we're tried to contact them without success. The house looks like it's just been walked out of... but from seeing the property today.... there is a big job to be done. The place is full of wall to wall junk, I've been told they buy and sell at boot sales, well lets just say they've bought more than they've sold!

The changes and additions they've made to the property would go into the thousands if sued for in damages. The place is just a complete dump.

So apart from the general update, I'm looking to ask what is deemed as enough effort to get hold of the ex tenant, and can the notice of collecting possession commence from the date of the bailiff visit. The notice is displayed in the window of the property, and a letter has been sent to a relative of hers that we know she is still in contact with, the tenant is not answering her phone either. We wonder if they've been rehoused by the council, but under the data protection act, they're not allowed to tell us.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere.... we just don't see it yet... lol
Thanks

Jowo_2

The local council do not tend to house those who are considered to have made themselves homeless through not paying the rent when they could have - were they aware that the possession action was prompted by the tenants arrears because you went through the S8 process or did you go through the S21 process (known as 'no fault')? Did you contact the local council to arrange to have her local housing allowance paid directly to you when she was in arrears or not?

Here is the guidance on uncollected goods

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/uncollected_goods.htm

If I were you, I'd find a cheap storage unit and cheap man and van and put all the stuff into storage for 3 months and then bin it if not collected. That way, it'll free up the space for repairs and redecoration.

It seems your father has mismanaged a lot of the tenancy - a knowledgeable landlord would have had regular inspections and therefore the property should not have got into the state that it has.

HeatherH

The housing allowance was paid directly to the landlord until the tenants benefit claim was put under investigation. I do not know exactly what grounds were on the S8 notice, but it was more than likely the rent arrears plus others. If they were not rehoused by the council then the search goes on...

Legally they've been given 14 days (from 7th dec, as advised by our solicitor) to collect their stuff, but really as far as we're concerned, we're going to give them til the new year to at least contact us, to arrange collection because of the sheer amount of stuff is in the property. If they don't even do that then in the new year it will be disposed of in any way the landlord sees fit.

HeatherH

I agree with you Jowo, the property was an inheritance and so he went into it rather blind, and I feel very nieve. It's something now he's definitely regretting! Just noticed the storage idea, I'll put it past him as we do have a few big yellow storage etc type places round here. Thanks

Jowo_2

"If you are owed monies you must keep goods for 3 months before disposing of them. "

Is it your intention to write off the arrears because it's easy to get a judgement on a tenant but virtually impossible to enforce it when the defendent is on benefits? Or is it your intention to trace them and get a CCJ?

How much does the tenant owe? I take it there's no inventory/schedule of condition signed by the tenant that would indicate the condition of the property at the start of the tenancy?

HeatherH

An inventory was done at the start of the tenancy, but from what I've been told it was not done in enough detail to completely cover what has changed (I haven't read it myself), there were not photos etc, but saying that, my dad did say that the furnishings that were in the property when it was rented out (few chairs, wardrobe etc) are now missing.

At the moment, the landlord just wants rid of the clutter, to just start over and see it as a lesson learned, neither the tenant or tenants friend have any proper income, so suing them for damages would most likely come back unfruitful. They owe £3000 in rent from when benefit payments stopped in June til they were theoretically evicted last week.

HeatherH

Update:
As said before, there's been a lot of different advice in which direction to proceed, but it looks like my dad has decided to do a massive clear out in the new year.

We've still heard nothing from the ex tenant + friend, so on the month anniversary of the eviction, the house is going to be cleared. His brother is a more experienced landlord, and had said this is do-able because my dad is choosing not to chase for damages or unpaid rent (his choice, not mine I must add).

I've taken lots of pictures of the place and the property within, he's thinking of putting all the contents of the house on freecycle and donating anything else thats left, thinking this would be less complicated than trying to sell and recoup any losses.

I'm not completely convinced on this option, but the whole thing is getting stressful and we just want it overwith

Wings

i had a similar situation last year, with first a section 8 Notice being issued for rental arrears, the court repossession, then using Court Bailiff for eviction. The place was completely trashed, with the toilet not being used for months, signs of the tenant claiming DHSS in several names, and also arranging services, bank accounts, credit cards, mail order goods in several different names, and using his mother's home address for operating a self employed building business.

This person had nothing to loose, and would think nothing of using the ultimate force on a person in order to get his own way. One neighbour was put in hospital by him, others were terrified to even talk about him. Shortly after i took the premises back, i was approached by a neighbour to say that several big guys had come looking for the tenant, i took the same to be a warning from the tenant that should i go talking about him, the premises would get trashed.

For nearly two months i silliconed plywood on all windows and doors, i had lots to loose, tenants like this have nothing to loose. there are times when LLs have to move on, legislations, police can do nothing to redress the balance.

HeatherH

Ok, all items are still in the property, but we've been able to bring 90% of the hoarded stuff downstairs and play tetris with it in the two downstairs rooms. Work is going to start soon on the upstairs and we're hoping we'll have at least some contact with them by the time March comes around. It seems my dad is now heeding to the 3 month rule, so we'll see how it goes.

On our clearing up of the place we found a lot of bailiff letters for unpaid utility debts, we were wondering.... if the bailiffs call while we're at the property, do we have rights to give them some of the stuff thats been left in the property?