Landlady query - what would you do?

G_M

There's a difference between cutting your tenant some slack/being sympathetic, and being taken for a ride.

First: communication. If tenant does not respond to phone etc, start writing letters.

Second: rent arrears. Find out why the tenant is late. It IS your business as it's YOUR money. By all means help the tenant out this, but by reaching a sensible agreement, not by just overlooking it. Document what leeway you are providing so that in future you can say "actually I've done xyz in the past" - AND so there is no misunderstanding in the future when further arrears arise!

third: sale. the more I think about your proposal the more convinced I am you are a troll. This is just mad.

Fourth: 'help him move forward with his life....'? you are his LL, not his careers advisor, mother, social worker..... (see 3 above!)

Fifth: Beware the idea of accepting half rent while you try to sell. Dispite this concension he might easily lose you a Buyer by not moving out at short notice when you need him to. No buyer will Exchange contracts with the tenant in place.

Stop angsting. Plan YOUR life. Evict tenant and sell if that's what's best for you. Or keep the property and tenancy, but get it on a proper footing rent-wise, with documented agreements/concessions if you wish.

tbs624

In line with a couple of the others I think your T is taking the xxxx.

You say that the rent figure is well below that for other similar properties and yet despite that the T persistently underpays you by 100- 200.

He has missed a full months rent in the past six months and each month is 100 - 200 short, but makes every effort to pay what he can.

It shouldn't be a case of him "paying what he can" - he is obliged under the tenancy agreement to pay the agreed rent figure, in full and on time.If he is on LHA/HB he is probably managing to keep a fair amount of the benefit he receives each week


Write to him , enclosing a formal rent statement and ask him to bring his rent payments up to date. If you want/need to sell up then serve your appropriate Notices and get things moving (literally)

If you choose to make a cash gift to this person from the sale proceeds then that's obviously your decision but my gut feeling is that you are being taken advantage of and that this strong sense of "obligation" extends only one way.

princeofpounds

we would sell but we would never uproot him as this is his home.

It's his home for as long as he pays the rent... there are two sides to a deal remember, otherwise it is nothing more than charity.

As someone who generally helps out the tenants on this forum, I second (third? fourth?!) the posts - evict him, sell the place, move on with your life. He has let you down and if he is on HB (or more likely LHA) he has little excuse because the money WAS there. You may wish to investigate getting the LHA paid direct to you if the arrears are sufficient. Speak to the council.

If you really feel guilty about it, don't pursue him for the arrears. By the time you get him out he will have had more than enough time to save up for a deposit on a new place.

He is taking you for a ride.
Seriously, grow a backbone and

tbs624

princeofpounds wrote: »

It's his home for as long as he pays the rent...

No, PoP, its the T's home until the LL obtains a possession order via the courts and has him evicted. Unfortunately for LLs, that's the case regardless of whether the T is paying the rent.

Obviously a certain Suzie Butler thought otherwise......;)

mancitychick

if you makers them cash gift, be sure to deduct them months rent you said you wrote off each year plus any current arrears!

Seriously though, I know you say he has in effect being paying the mortgage for you so should benefit from it. look at it this way..... say your house had fallen into negative equity whilst he lived there do you think he would be offering to give you something towards the shortfall???

whispywillow

Rubyspearl wrote: »

Hahaha- I'll tell my better half that one.
It's really difficult to address this given the fact that we are friendly - we were witnesses to his wedding, were initially neighbours and have seen his little un grow up. We know that once we say or do something there is no way back. We never realised that we would become so friendly which is our own stupid fault. But not sure what exactly to do.
He has just finished the 6 month tenancy - which he is always keen to update rather than have a running tenancy, so we expect him to ask for a new 6 month tenancy soon and at that point we feel we should say something.
We were thinking the money might help him move forwards with his life and as he has effectively until recently paid the mortgage with his rent we feel he should have a stake in any proceeds.
I think mad it is as I'm definitely not joking. As we are financial ok (as far as anyone could know in the current climate) when the rent is paid in full it seems a little harsh to expect him to leave with nothing after all these years.
We have both been soft but what procedure should we follow now?
I'm off to get the online paternity test that my other half now insists on
Cheers

I think in this situation the thought of giving him profit from the sale of your house is slightly silly, I think the more reasonable option for yourselves (if you really HAVE to be nice about it) is to simply give him his deposit back. You are well within your right to keep his deposit as payment for rents owed to you, but if you want to cut him some slack then let him have it back.
As far as his contract is concerned, speak to him about your situation (if he has become as much of a friend as you say he has then im sure he will understand, him being a father himself) and ask him to go on a rolling contract - this will mean that he is still under contract with you, but instead of you having to wait until the end of his 6 month contract, it means you (legally) only have to give him 2 months notice with a section 21.
In the meantime, if he is having the troubles with money that you say, I would take pains to inquire about any bills that are withstanding in the house (assuming that they are not meters) and find out if they are up to date, as you don't want to be hit with any costs because the house belongs to you.

And for the record, i wish i had a landlord as nice as you, mine is a bit of an unmentionable..!

missile

You are (or ought to be?) running a business not a charity. If he is behind on rent serve a section 21. To get him out asap you may have to give him a financial incentive but £3500 is way to much. I would suggest one or at most two months rental would be appropriate.

I would think very carefully before taking a lodger into your home. :A

bris

If he is on HB then he is really living there rent free plus stealing your money that has been given to him to pay the rent. I understand he may be a nice guy but he is taking the p**s.
The arrears seem to have built up enough to email the council and ask for the rent to now be paid directly to you, you may even find he is getting more than the rent he pays. It's your property but it is his home and i can understand you don't want to evict him, but you do need to toughen up a little and get what is due to you. it's not like he's paying it anyway.

Rubyspearl

Ta all. You are right I must have morphed into a troll over the past few years.
So here goes a few more numpty questions
Would we be obliged to pay any outstanding bills if there were any if he left?
How long back would arrears be considered when serving notices and would these not need to be 2 consecutive months?
I think we may need some professional advise - will have to speak with a solicitor for this next week as I am way out of my depth and to be honest a bit terrified
I wish we had never got the house as it causes no end of worry - note to self never befriend a business acquaintance as it will undoubtedly end in tears
Thanks again

Rubyspearl

In addition would we need to put his bond into a protected account prior to serving any notices despite the fact that his initial tenancy started in 2005? Please note we still have his bond in our personal property account