Our tenants have done a runner!!!!!!!!!!

clutton_2

the new Tenant Deposit Scheme (part of the 2004 Housing Act) is due to come into force in April 2007, so landlords will not necessarily be allowed to hold deposits - if there is a dispute it will have to be lodged with a third party. If landlords refuse to do this, they will not be granted Repossession orders in the court when they want their property back.

lynzpower

I would like to go over and have a look I think a once over with the Dyson and then a professional clean and it should be ok. He said the house stinks of smoke (We stipulated non smokers) so hopefully cleaning the carpet will sort out that problem.

you might have stipulated non-smokers, doesnt mean your letting agent has. I rented a house with mates ( all 3 of us open smokers) and we went to view the place. When it came to signing up it said smokers YES NO LA goes, oH just tick no, she doesnt want smokers. So we did.

clutton_2

i think that the OFT has deemed "no smokers" and "no pets" as unfair terms of contract - not that it has been tested in law yet - whatever happened to freedom of choice ?

black-saturn

F_T_Buyer wrote:

How do you know they have done a runner?

What if they have gone on a months long holiday?

If you change the locks, and they come back still within the contract, you will be at fault.

This post has hit the nail on the head. I'm afraid the tenants still have rights to live in your property. How do you know they're not going to turn up again at any point and want to live there again? I'm afraid you will have to go through the same eviction proceadures you would if there was a tenant still in there. If you can't locate them you have to put a legal notice on the window stating that if they can't be found by a certain date (think it's 6 months - but I might be wrong) the house will be let to someone else. Your first step should be to make an appointment with the county court for a talk about the matter. I'm afraid you can't just walk in, clean the place and change the locks.

kazd

You can choose not to rent a place if smoking is not allowed. I would not dream of renting a property for vacation that allows people to smoke as it would and has in the past ruined our holidays.

How do we know they have done a runner? They have cleared out everything bar their rubbish, probably should count ourselves lucky that they put that in bags. The toilets have not been cleaned since they moved in, we are lucky they were only in their for three months. They have also defaulted on the rent this month so I think these are pretty good indicators.

kazd

black-saturn wrote:

This post has hit the nail on the head. I'm afraid the tenants still have rights to live in your property. How do you know they're not going to turn up again at any point and want to live there again? I'm afraid you will have to go through the same eviction proceadures you would if there was a tenant still in there. If you can't locate them you have to put a legal notice on the window stating that if they can't be found by a certain date (think it's 6 months - but I might be wrong) the house will be let to someone else. Your first step should be to make an appointment with the county court for a talk about the matter. I'm afraid you can't just walk in, clean the place and change the locks.

But the original contract was only for six months.

black-saturn

kazd wrote:

But the original contract was only for six months.

It doesn't matter if the contract was only for 6 weeks, I'm afraid the harsh reality is that you still have to go through court proceedings to evict them and you won't be allowed to relet it until you have.

black-saturn

My parents use this website for free advice but they always go to the solicitor to back that advice up:

http://www.landlordaction.co.uk/

or you could try these:

http://community.lawyers.com/messageboards/board.asp?channelId=XX&mbId=40

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

whambamboo

ts_aly2000 wrote:

What kind of a person smokes in a brand new house for starters??

Tenants are entitled to treat a rented house as their home. There's unfortunately nothing you can do about people smoking. Whether it is new or not, they entitled to the same quiet enjoyment.

ts_aly2000 wrote:

Reason why this has sparked an interest is that I rent a brand new house, and our landlord is brilliant. It's as much as treating the house as ours, as it is caring for it as his. We love this house, and I just can't believe that someone who had the opportunity to live in something clean and fresh from the start could behave in this way.

We haven't had an inspection for 12-months, and the landlord and I send notes back and forth, and post n things. It's a brilliant relationship. We did away with the management company months ago.

Our back door security mechanism has broken (fallen to bits inside, always stiff) and I'm about to go out tomorrow and spend £150 odd on a brand new one. That's the level of respect I have for the house and my landlord.

Sounds like he has no respect for you. Why are you spending money to fix his house? He is supposed to maintain it, not you. Considering what a good relationship you say you have you'd think he'd be a bit more helpful and would have fixed the lock himself. It's certainly not your responsibility.


Not saying these people aren't scum, but you sound a bit to submissive: never forget that YOU are paying him to stay there and treat the house as your home and have it maintained in good order.

code-a-holic

Im in the same position as ts_aly200, we rent privately from our landlord with no mangement company, we respect the property and treat it as our own. WE have re painted the house, with our money, we have done some landscaping, put up a fence, minor maintenace we have done ourselves. Partly because we now we have this house very cheap compared to other properties, but we believe that we should respect this house, even if we dont own it. Its a shame to hear of other tenants that do not do the same. Yet saying all that - our landlord does know of a few problems here and has not fixed them - reminds me i must get a bit tougher!!!