MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Jenny kick them out?

nej

As an aside, what would happen if Jenny couldn't pay the mortgage and the bank repossed the house?

Would the bank be able to immediately kick out the tenants? No contract was signed between the tenant and the bank who now own the house.

Edit - Post 666! Evil!

sluggy1967

Justamum wrote:

Difficult situation this. I will never be in the position of buying to let, or even of buying to live in - and as a tenant I find it objectionable having to pay off someone else's mortgage. Sorry if this is irrelevant to the situation, but I think landlords do need to know how people who are stuck with having to rent actually feel about it. I don't believe anyone actually WANTS to rent, but all these buy to let mortgages are shoving the price of property up, so all those properties we can't actually afford to buy for ourselves, we still end up paying the mortgage on for someone else's benefit. Also, you can never feel at home in a rental property because you are there at the whim of the landlord deciding not to sell up. This has just happened to us again. So many family sized homes will not allow children (so where do the children live?). Great Christmas we are going to have with the worry of having to find somewhere else to live in the new year.

I agree entirely, some greedy people know that owning property is (for the time being) very profitable & therefore own more than 1 property, squeezing the less fortunate further. This coupled with the increased rarity of council homes going to decent families has made life unbearable for thousands and thousands of families.

System

They should go. Give someone an inch and they may take a yard. Its a ashame but I think they should go as they could go on and take further advantage. Everyone deserves a second chance most of all me - but you've got to help yourself.

ianburnip

Paul_Herring wrote:

Sounds a bit like my current tennants (but there are differences) - they started claiming HB beginning of November but I've had no rent off the council - there's no way I'm kicking them out over christmas though - they have 3 kids (one about a month old,) and another difference, the HB only covers some of the rent - they've been paying their part already.

If i were you i'd write to them to ask where your cheque is! I can't see it as the fault of the tenant, just a bone idle council.

In my opinion, Jenny should see if HB has been applied for, and from when it was applied for. It doesn't suprise me it's taking a long time if it has indeed been applied for, and she has a tough decision then.

I personally thought council's backdated rent from the date of the claim? or am i incorrect. If so, then she just needs the money for the things the council don't cover, which, not suprisingly is a fair amount.

I can understand the whole "well it's christmas, so i need to be nice etc" but i bet you that there are landlords out there, even some councils, who don't give a monkeys about the time of year, and tell them to sling their hook! In the end Business is Business, and sadly it can be a cruel game.

Tough call, i wouldn't want to make it over christmas, but i think if i had to make the tough decision, i would, and i'd stand by it.

Mics_chick

The tenant has already started the ball rolling for claiming benefits by going to CAB - so I wouldn't kick her out.

fbromley

No. the tenant can claim Housing Benefit and get most if not all rent paid for her. It can also go direct to the landlord

scrummy_mummy_2

I think you'll find many buy to let morgages do not allow DHSS tenants because of the vagueries of payments from such clients...such as described in many posts....if the DHSS pays rent directly to the Landlord and there are any discrepancies in payments/claims made by the tenant, the DHSS can and will claim any overpayments DIRECTLY back from the landlord. It is because of this many mortgages actually prohibit DHSS clients. The cost of the mortgage is not a factor...my mortgages could be a lot cheaper if I released capital from my portfolio (known as draw down) and stretched myself (whihc would put my tenants homes at risk, not my own!)...I could have a huge property portfolio worth millions if I did this (I live in the south east) but nothing is without risk and I fully appreciate that I have a moral responsibility to my clients as their homes depend on my actions. Karma!
However, I am not a welfare state and need a pension. I have worked through hard times to afford my properties and made many personal and emotional sacrifices to look after my family's future so as not to be a burden on everyone else. This is, whether we like it or not, a capitalist society where it is increasingly an every man for himself mentality. That is the horrible reality of it I'm afraid.
By being fair and understanding I would hope to draw a happy medium between what works for me and what works for a tenant without either party becoming parasitic.
When it all works well, symbiosis is achieved.
Surely the objective should be that everyone who wants one has a home...does it really matter who owns it? 50 years ago the majority of people rented or were council tenants. It wasn't until the 1980's and Margaret Thatcher that everyone's opinion was transformed and now seems to think that if you don't own your own home you're a loser!
If it makes anyone feel any better, there are as many honest upright landlords out there as honest upright tenants and likewise as many dodgy bad ones. There is a biased picture given by people with bad experiences because, as is well known in PR fields, people who have had a bad experience, on average, tell 10 other people about it.
if you have had a good experieince you tend to not be so vociferous in advocating your landlord.
Merry Christmas to everyone by the way! Particularly my tenants whose cats I am currently looking after whilst they are on holiday cos I'm such a rotter of a capitalist,heartless landlord....see, I even allow pets!

angrygoat

I have been in exactly the same situation as you before! My advice is to get them out now and I will tell you why...

I had a tenant that was in my cottage for 8 months with little more than a dripping tap to bother me, I was happy and so were they (husband, wife and baby on the way) The woman lost her job shortly into the pregnancy and the husband followed shortly later. The missed a few rent payments and as I had my own family I felt some sympathy towards them and their situation. I lowered their rent to the rate that I was paying on my Mortgage and hoped that they would show me the same kindness by paying it, a few months went by and the rents got smaller and less frequent, then stopped. I then had a call from the council and was told that the tenants had the rights and I would have to look after my self! I went through all of the legal processes and managed to serve them with a legally binding order saying that they had to leave on a given date... The council then told them that if they did do as the court had ordered that they would be voluntarily homeless and therefore not re-housed! I was then told that after £6000 of arrears and plenty of legal fees later I had to send in Bailiffs at a further expense to myself!:mad: At this point I had tried to reason with the council and also my tenants and was treated like the evil land lord... Never mind the fact that my family needed a house and food on the table. In desperation I paid for all of their things to be put into storage (on a credit card, as I was broke at this point) and changed the locks on the house when they went out. This is the first time that I have ever done anything like this, but as a land lord your tenants are told that they HAVE TO IGNORE THE LAW, by the local council, so if you are forced to do the same then you have to do it... My policy now for all of my tenants is that if your rent is not in my account on the day that it is meant to be, and in full, I will start eviction proceedings on the same day (tell them this when they move in and never back down for any reason, not even "There was a problem with the bank". Unfortunately the only person who looks after the landlord is the landlord, the rights are with the tenants. If you or anyone else would like to talk to me further then please send me a message and I can let you have my phone number. I hope this helps. Good luck, I wish you well.

angrygoat

Hello Scrummy mummy, I thought that your post was spot on...

Paul_Herring

ianburnip wrote:

Paul_Herring wrote:

Sounds a bit like my current tennants (but there are differences) - they started claiming HB beginning of November but I've had no rent off the council - there's no way I'm kicking them out over christmas though - they have 3 kids (one about a month old,) and another difference, the HB only covers some of the rent - they've been paying their part already.

If i were you i'd write to them to ask where your cheque is! I can't see it as the fault of the tenant, just a bone idle council.

I've spoken to the tennant about this. It takes a while for the HB claims to process - and it seems that the council are 'migrating' HB to a different computer system. It appears my tenant's claim is to be put on the new system instead of the old one. Meaning I have to wait a bit longer.

I personally thought council's backdated rent from the date of the claim? or am i incorrect. If so, then she just needs the money for the things the council don't cover, which, not suprisingly is a fair amount.

Yes - they backdate it to the date of the claim (or in my tennant's case the start of the tennancy.)