More persons in my rental property than I thought

Travelling_Man

Wondering if anyone can offer any advice on this issue. I rent a two bedroom property out in the UK while working abroad, I don't want any children or pets in the property as I will probably return to live in the house at some point.

My agent was aware of this requirement and found me a new tenant from the beginning of March. I ( and the agent ) had been under the impression that the tenants were an adult couple, but when the agent went round to sort a small maintainence issue, she found two children there with the couple, despite the tenant having left the space for children blank on the application form. He then apologised and said that he thought he only needed to fill in details for the adult tenants. The tenant does not speak English as a first language but can communicate perfectly well in it and works for a British company as a software engineer, the agent tells me.

Needless to say I am very annoyed. The agent pushed through the new tenancy very quickly but this was only as my previous tenant needed to leave the property, and I agreed to release him from the contract early providing the agent could find someone else.

I do feel that the agent could have been more thorough in their checks and that more clarification could have been sought, as the agent was fully aware that the tenant did not speak English as a first language.

Now it would appear that I am stuck with this tenant until end August, at which point I certainly won't be offering a renewal, but is there anything I can do in the meantime? How is the legality of the rental contract now? I honestly would rather leave the house empty than have children in there.

Many thanks for any advice offered.

Tiddlywinks

What feedback did the agent give as to how the tenants are treating the property? Are they respectful of it?

What ages are the children? What type of damage are you expecting?

It may be better to stick with current tenants (if they are treating your property appropriately) rather than go to the expense of finding new ones - better the devil you know?

Could the agent explain the misunderstanding and say that you will be keeping a careful watch to ensure no damage is made and no nuisance caused?

sequence

As I always say never trust an agent, no matter how good they seem !

Nothing you can do about it really, make sure you get your S21 served correctly and asap as it takes two months + possible court + bailiffs etc.

Remember you they don't have to leave until a court order is issued.


Check the deposit is correctly protected too, as you can't evict them if it isn't.

P.S I don't think you can legally enforce a no children rule - no matter what the contract says.

Turnbull2000

Travelling_Man wrote: »

I honestly would rather leave the house empty than have children in there.

Do you think children are vermin or something? I gather you'd never allow children you live in your own home either, right? I'm sickened that you're so willing to chuck a family out of their home without even giving them a chance.

Travelling_Man

Many thanks to those who have given constructive advice.

I simply do not want children to be residing in this property due to the potential for increased wear and tear together with damage, and conveyed this to my letting agent. This is perfectly reasonable and some landlords choose to do this.

tbs624

Travelling_Man wrote: »

Wondering if anyone can offer any advice on this issue. I rent a two bedroom property out in the UK while working abroad, I don't want any children or pets in the property as I will probably return to live in the house at some point.

My agent was aware of this requirement and found me a new tenant from the beginning of March. I ( and the agent ) had been under the impression that the tenants were an adult couple, but when the agent went round to sort a small maintainence issue, she found two children there with the couple, despite the tenant having left the space for children blank on the application form. He then apologised and said that he thought he only needed to fill in details for the adult tenants. The tenant does not speak English as a first language but can communicate perfectly well in it and works for a British company as a software engineer, the agent tells me.

Needless to say I am very annoyed. The agent pushed through the new tenancy very quickly but this was only as my previous tenant needed to leave the property, and I agreed to release him from the contract early providing the agent could find someone else.

I do feel that the agent could have been more thorough in their checks and that more clarification could have been sought, as the agent was fully aware that the tenant did not speak English as a first language.

Now it would appear that I am stuck with this tenant until end August, at which point I certainly won't be offering a renewal, but is there anything I can do in the meantime? How is the legality of the rental contract now? I honestly would rather leave the house empty than have children in there.

You seem to want to penalise the T because of the communication shortcomings of your LA .

You do need to be aware that the OFT provides guidance on what may be deemed to be unfair contract terms in tenancy agreements. Some examples for you:

Potentially unreasonable restriction
Unfair term: [The tenant must not] allow children on the premises.

Way of revising term: [The tenant must not] allow children to live in the property without the landlord's consent which will not be unreasonably withheld.

Potentially unreasonable restriction
Unfair term: [The tenant must not] have any pet on the premises without the prior written permission of the landlord which may be withdrawn at any time.

Way of revising term: [The tenant must not] allow others to keep any birds or animals at the property (other than in secure cages or container) without the consent of the landlord such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, delayed or withdrawn.

If you are so enraged at children being in your property then by all means serve the Ts notice of your intention to repossess after expiry of their Fixed Term. Be aware that if they don't move out you will need to seek a court order so there may be a few months further delay.

Some points for you to consider

(1) Many families look after their rented homes
(2)You presumably hold a tenancy deposit which would cover any dilapidations anyway
(3) Childless Ts may also be prone to behaviour which can cause damage to a property
(4) Would you kick out your "ideal" childless Ts after each 6 month FT just in case they actually became pregnant during the tenancy?


Amateur LLs who let out what has been their own home become overly "precious" about the property and yet want to have their cake and eat it too.

If you want a pristine home to which you can personally return then either

(a) don't let it out *at all*, or
(b) allow for the fact that you may need to do some minor refurb work

PasturesNew

Loads of adverts round my way for houses etc state "no children". I phoned up an agent last month to ask about a place and she stopped me at the start of the conversation to ask "Any kids, smokers, DSS?" indicating that if the answer were "yes" to any of those the phone'd be hung up.

G_M

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Do you think children are vermin or something? I gather you'd never allow children you live in your own home either, right? I'm sickened that you're so willing to chuck a family out of their home without even giving them a chance.

Irrelevant and unhelpful. The OP is legally stuck with the tenancy, but his preferences are is own concern.

I don't like dogs - does that sicken you?
Some people don't like children - why does that sicken you?
Now, if he liked children - to the point of !!!!!philia, you'd have a point!

edit: can't believe paed*p*... is censored! It's a perfectly proper word. Oh well...

G_M

I'm afraid forbidding children is an unfair term, so until the fixed term expires there's nothing you can do. If you wish to change tenants at that point, as sequence says make sure your S21 is served correctly and in good time.

The agent should be instructed to be extra cautious in tenant selection next time, but it sounds like it was not really the agent's fault.

BitterAndTwisted

It might be worth noting that in countries other than this one most families with children expect rather higher standards of behaviour from them than appears common here. I'm sure that in the tenant's country of origin it's probably not common for landlords to want their tenants to disclose whether they have children or not.

The only way the agent could try to be certain that any prospective tenants did not have children would have been to have visited them in their previous rental property. I daresay that a landlord might not welcome the additional price-tag that this would inevitably have entailed.

DVardysShadow

tbs624 wrote: »

You seem to want to penalise the T because of the communication shortcomings of your LA .

You do need to be aware that the OFT provides guidance on what may be deemed to be unfair contract terms in tenancy agreements. Some examples for you:

Potentially unreasonable restriction
Unfair term: [The tenant must not] allow children on the premises.

Way of revising term: [The tenant must not] allow children to live in the property without the landlord's consent which will not be unreasonably withheld.

Potentially unreasonable restriction
Unfair term: [The tenant must not] have any pet on the premises without the prior written permission of the landlord which may be withdrawn at any time.

Way of revising term: [The tenant must not] allow others to keep any birds or animals at the property (other than in secure cages or container) without the consent of the landlord such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, delayed or withdrawn.

If you are so enraged at children being in your property then by all means serve the Ts notice of your intention to repossess after expiry of their Fixed Term. Be aware that if they don't move out you will need to seek a court order so there may be a few months further delay.

Some points for you to consider

(1) Many families look after their rented homes
(2)You presumably hold a tenancy deposit which would cover any dilapidations anyway
(3) Childless Ts may also be prone to behaviour which can cause damage to a property
(4) Would you kick out your "ideal" childless Ts after each 6 month FT just in case they actually became pregnant during the tenancy?


Amateur LLs who let out what has been their own home become overly "precious" about the property and yet want to have their cake and eat it too.

If you want a pristine home to which you can personally return then either

(a) don't let it out *at all*, or
(b) allow for the fact that you may need to do some minor refurb work

While I agree with almost everything and the general thrust of the argument that families with children could be less damaging than some combinations of tenants without children, I would draw a sharp distinction between not allowing children on the premises [which I agree is unreasonable] and tenants who include children in the requirement for accommodation [which I would accept the landlord could reasonably exclude, although I would disagree].

This issue hinges on who was responsible for accepting <blank> children on the tenancy application as <0> children, Agent or Landlord.