Problem tenants, advice needed

AnnaEBA

So basically they can do whatever they like, including bringing in pets when the contract says no pets, and there's nothing I can do about it?

These tenants are incredibly demanding and threaten to get the council involved for a bedroom they're not even sleeping in.

I refuse to pay any money to get them to leave as they're costing me money by insisting on repairs being done on a room they only want to use for storage.

Grimbal

:eek::eek:

they've paid rental, they've been letting you know what needs repair, and they've offered to take time off work to get the contractors in. You've responded by failing to repair, ignoring their right to privacy and behaving in a very unprofessional manner

laurel7172

Crikey.

Not only did they pay their deposit, and are paying the rent on time (as they should), it sounds as if they've been bending over backwards to accommodate you.

They're letting your contractor in piecemeal, even though it must be depriving the wife of sleep. I'm almost certain she doesn't work shifts just to interfere with your builders. They offered to go away for a fortnight. They're probably right that it cost them £900 to move.

Problem tenants? Poor things. I bet there are a lot of landlords on these boards who'd love to swap their problem tenants for yours.

Nikel

AnnaEBA wrote: »

I refuse to pay any money to get them to leave as they're costing me money by insisting on repairs being done on a room they only want to use for storage.

You're stuck with them, I'm afraid.

Wee_Willy_Harris

AnnaEBA wrote: »

They're in breach of the tenancy agreement by having pets, even if they claim they weren't theirs.

Then you can serve them with a Section 8 notice under ground 12 "Any obligation of the tenancy (other than one related to the payment of rent) has been broken or not performed."

The notice period is 2 weeks, if they stay after that, you can approach the court and it will go before a judge who will decide (if he stops laughing for long enough) if he should make your tenants homeless and grant possession on the basis of these departed guests cats having lived at the property for a couple of weeks or so.

I wouldn't hold your breath.

Watalie

AnnaEBA wrote: »

These tenants are incredibly demanding and threaten to get the council involved for a bedroom they're not even sleeping in.

Not sleeping in but ARE paying for :cool:

Hump

So you have tenants part way into at least a 6 month contract (arguably a 12 month contract), the local private sector environmental health officer about to serve you with 24 hours notice of a HHSR inspection which may find category 1 and category 2 hazards - the council will make you fix the category 1 hazards - may take emergency remedial work (and charge you) and might even serve an emergency prohibition notice (and charge you the costs of making the order and the cost of them accommodating your tenants if you fail to). Sounds like they've been taking advice.

I'd suggest joining one of the landlord organisations such as the NLA (there are others) and getting some advice yourself.If you're going to take action you're probably going to have to look at s8 of the Housing Act 1988 and if memory serves right the ground you will try to use is discretionary - i.e. the judge only grants the order if he/she considers it reasonable to do - your tenants might raise your conduct to persuade the judge that making an order is unreasonable so STOP, don't do anything else until you get some advice yourself!

(I agree with Wee Willy the judge WILL be amused)

*miaomiao*

The pet clause is not reasonable grounds for eviction, especially in this case. It is an unenforceable clause.

If anything, your tenants should be asking you for a refund for the time their property has not been in a proper state requiring major, pre-existing, long term works while living there.

Just do the repairs - they don't even sound terribly expensive and you have saved quite a lot of money by having the house occupied while the work was going on instead of a void period.

Your tenants have a right to expect decent living conditions the same way you would expect a product you purchased to be suitable for use and you have admitted that one room in particular isn't even suitable at the moment in addition to the past works.

It would be a really good idea to step back and to take a breath before realizing doing repairs would cost you less time, money and hassle in the long run.

The_Drama_Llama

I really hope AnnaEBA is a troll...but unfortunately it sounds like some poor people are living in a nightmare property and paying for the privilege...

GuidoT

AnnaEBA - I suggest you seriously think about what you are doing and re-consider your rationale for who is in the wrong.

You need to be more considerate towards your tenants.

Cats should not be a real problem in a property. You cannot escape your obligations by not signing the tenancy agreement.