Tenant left house - has rent arrears and the place is a mess...

FATBALLZ

moneybunny123 wrote: »

Fairplay, I get your point Hammyman. However, isn't the law an <expletive for bottom>!!!?!! Why is the law so firmly on the tenants side when she has been in breach of HER side of the contract in SO many ways. No rent, late rent, place in a mess, etc, etc

The UK has incredibly anti-tenant laws. If you were late paying your mortgage you wouldn't accept bank employees letting themselves into your home. You also wouldn't pay a cleaning bill after the place was repossessed.

In the matter in question you can charge the tenant whatever it costs to put the place back how it was when you let it, minus fair wear and tear. e.g. you can't bill them for 'professional cleaning' unless you actually did this before they moved in. Whether you'll ever see the money is another matter.

jamie11

FATBALLZ wrote: »

The UK has incredibly anti-tenant laws. If you were late paying your mortgage you wouldn't accept bank employees letting themselves into your home. You also wouldn't pay a cleaning bill after the place was repossessed.

Nonsense. If anything the laws do not go far enough. A landlord can go as much as six months with no rent at all before he can manage to get out a non payer, all that time he is still having to pay his mortgage. There is no guarantee he will get anything out of the tenant even if he does win a money order either.

What's needed is a quick resolution when tenants do not pay their dues. If they are genuine, give them help. If they are not genuine boot them out.

dancingfairy

Annoyingly you need to be careful about going back - yes even to get people in for quotes etc. You need to make sure the tenancy has legally ended in the correct fashion - as others have said if she intends to come back and tidy or some other thing and hasn't given up her keys then she could potentially cause you more trouble.
Please get some advice and do everything by the book.
Best of Luck
df

tbs624

jamie11 wrote: »

Nonsense. If anything the laws do not go far enough. A landlord can go as much as six months with no rent at all before he can manage to get out a non payer, all that time he is still having to pay his mortgage. There is no guarantee he will get anything out of the tenant even if he does win a money order either.

Both LLs and Ts may have cause to feel that the law is weighted in favour of the other party, depending on their specific circumstances. Look at the many Ts who post on here about their LLs failing to meet even the most basic of repairing obligations and who understandably hope that this will render the rest of their tenancy void, when unfortunately it won't. Such LLs may get served improvement notices and be given more time, whilst the hapless T continues to have to meet his obligation to pay the rent.........

What about the Ts whose LLs are *still* failing to get their Ts deposite scheme registered promptly, FOUR years after the regs came into force, and who can effectively get away with doing so if they register it late right up to the date of a court hearing?

On a LL struggling to meet their mortgage payments , anyone who enters property letting has to have a contingency fund to cover void periods and the possibility of encountering a non paying T, and to make sure that they have a robust vetting procedure in place to limit future problems.

( Sorry OP, for diversion but jamie11's comments are one-sided)

tbs624

OP - see post 6. You need to get absolute confirmation that this T *has* surrendered the tenancy.

Ensure that you get meter readings and notify the utility companies of her moving out date, if the tenancy agreement makes her responsible fo the bills.

I would not agree to the damage deposit being used for outstanding rent: settle dilapidations costs and then pursue T to court, if necessary, for outstanding rent. You have to remember that even if you get a judgement you may find it difficult to get that judgement enforced if the T has little money: balance the time, costs and effort involved against the actual amount of money and be prepared to write it off.

macman

Either she has formally vacated or she has not. If she has, then all her belongings must be removed and the placed cleaned as per the tenancy agreement. She can't 'pop back' at some undetermined date to do so-she is no longer the tenant.
If she hasn't vacated, then rent is still due until such time as she does. She can't have it both ways.
But if you have no forwarding address, I think you'll find that she will not be coming back anyway-I doubt that what she has left is of any value? You have no forwarding address to even serve a claim via the Small Claims process, and even if you can find her, that does not offer any guarantee that you can recover the money owed anyway. An honest tenant would have no problem giving a forwarding address, and would not have vacated without giving any notice (not even informing you until after she had gone).
I'm afraid that your big mistake was to allow the rent to be in continual arrears, which effectively left you with no deposit to cover any remedial/cleaning work at termination. In future insist that your tenants pay via Standing Order so that arrears do not arise.
I would want to find out what the situation is re utility bills etc-if she owes you money, the odds are that she owes them to.

paul1964_2

moneybunny123 wrote: »

Fairplay, I get your point Hammyman. However, isn't the law an <expletive for bottom>!!!?!! Why is the law so firmly on the tenants side when she has been in breach of HER side of the contract in SO many ways. No rent, late rent, place in a mess, etc, etc

You have just used this "tenant-friendly" law to effectively remove someone from their home without the need to give any reason whatsoever. I doubt whether your tenant thinks the law is on her side.

If you can prove that the tenant has outstanding rent or has damaged the property, you will be able to use the law to seek redress.

moneybunny123

paul1964 wrote: »

You have just used this "tenant-friendly" law to effectively remove someone from their home without the need to give any reason whatsoever. I doubt whether your tenant thinks the law is on her side.

But isn't this part and parcel of renting? If I was living in someone else's home, and they wanted me out, I'd be inconvenienced but at the end of the day, I knew I was moving into a temporary accommodation. I haven't tried to boot her out in the middle of a fixed agreement; she was on a rolling one month contract and paying her rent late. She's lucky I didn't kick her out sooner (my husband wanted to).

Some really good advice above - thanks to everyone. I've had some quotes for carpet cleaning, as it states in her Tenancy Agreement, so if she hasn't done this I will try deducting this from her deposit. I'll probably overlook the decorating costs. She is handing over keys later today and she sent me a message last night to say that the place was empty and "clean". We'll see......

moneybunny123

macman wrote: »

I would want to find out what the situation is re utility bills etc-if she owes you money, the odds are that she owes them to.

If she still owes money for utility bills, they wont come after me for this, will they?

BitterAndTwisted

If the bills are in her name the utility companies will try and chase her for payment, not you. This is another good reason for you having her forwarding address, so that you can pass it on to them.