taking furniture from leased out property.

axisofunity

If they've been late and so on on a consistent basis, you can always go down the eviction route. Otherwise, legally, you can't just replace items, despite the propensity of insurance these days being "like for like".

You'll need to have vacant possession, so either evict, don't renew, or ask them and give them a reason to do it.

Werdnal

r3becca wrote: »

Thanks for the replies....

The tenant is on housing benefits & so far has been late with every single months rent, she has broken the terms of her contract numerous times (subletting, having a pet, leaving the property unattended for longer than 3 weeks) however we have given her the benefit of doubt and understand she is a young mum, struggling to make ends meet.

The property wasn't bought to be a property that we would lease it was our home & therefore all our furniture was items we had bought for our own personal use not for rental reasons.. I'm sure as you are all such perfect landlords you all buy extremely high quality, expensive furniture for your rental properties and not cheaper ikea items?? hmm..

We did not anticipate being able to afford a bigger house so soon so did not anticipate that we would need the furniture before the lease was up. It's not so much replacing it with cheaper furniture it's just we have so far been unable to find furniture to our taste for the new house...

So if you had intended to let it, you would have furnished it with cheap 2nd hand tat?

Regardless of the tenant's apparent breaches, 2 wrongs don't make a right. Whilst the signed tenancy is in place, you have agreed temporary ownership of your property and all it contains to transfer to the tenant for the duration of the tenancy. So you cannot simply walk back in and take your "nice" possessions away and replace them with something else, because you feel like it.

I am afraid you seem to have fallen into the trap of a lot of accidental landlords who let out their own property without thinking of the possible drawbacks of leaving all their possessions behind. You will have to live with in until the lease ends, and make the changes then.

DVardysShadow

r3becca wrote: »

...
The tenant is on housing benefits & so far has been late with every single months rent, she has broken the terms of her contract numerous times (subletting, having a pet, leaving the property unattended for longer than 3 weeks) however we have given her the benefit of doubt and understand she is a young mum, struggling to make ends meet.

Puke.

She does not adhere to the terms of her contract, so you come here to seek permission and moral support from us to derogate from your contract to her.

You did not have to accept her as a tenant. But you need to recognise that a roof over your head is a very fundamental need. So if you take on the responsibility of providing, your path to ceasing to provide is quite tightly constrained in law, so you cannot snatch a single stick of furniture away from them, no matter how justified it may appear on the surface. In exchange, you get generous tax breaks and if you stick at being a landlord for long enough, you can do very nicely for your old age.

But you need to understand your responsibilities rather than act as though you were Louis XIV with divine rights and no temporal restraints on taking from your subjects whatever furnishings please your eye.

elsien

I think some of you are being a bit harsh in your replies.
The OP may well be an accidental landlord who isn't fully up to speed with the legalities, but that's why they're on here asking the question instead of marching in and doing as they please.
We all make mistakes at times, give them a bit of leeway for heavens sake.

Madjock

r3becca wrote: »

Thanks for the replies....

The tenant is on housing benefits & so far has been late with every single months rent, she has broken the terms of her contract numerous times (subletting, having a pet, leaving the property unattended for longer than 3 weeks) however we have given her the benefit of doubt and understand she is a young mum, struggling to make ends meet.

The property wasn't bought to be a property that we would lease it was our home & therefore all our furniture was items we had bought for our own personal use not for rental reasons.. I'm sure as you are all such perfect landlords you all buy extremely high quality, expensive furniture for your rental properties and not cheaper ikea items?? hmm..

We did not anticipate being able to afford a bigger house so soon so did not anticipate that we would need the furniture before the lease was up. It's not so much replacing it with cheaper furniture it's just we have so far been unable to find furniture to our taste for the new house...

Housing Benefit is always, to my knowledge, paid in arrears, so this will be why her rent is always late. I'm not sure if the no pets clause is legally enforceable (something to do with human rights, I'm not exactly sure).

You should have put your own furniture in storage and bought the cheap as chips stuff before you rented the property. "not to our personal taste", I read you can't afford what you really want and can't bear the idea of you HB tenant sleeping in your nice "to your taste" bed while you have to make do with the cheap as chips cr4p.

DVardysShadow

elsien wrote: »

I think some of you are being a bit harsh in your replies.
The OP may well be an accidental landlord who isn't fully up to speed with the legalities, but that's why they're on here asking the question instead of marching in and doing as they please.
We all make mistakes at times, give them a bit of leeway for heavens sake.

OP has already had the matter explained quite clearly, but she is back to have another go. Now, if there was any doubt, she is trying to get our sympathy and permission and moral support to march in and do as she pleases.

But perhaps if we did (((hugs))) and told her how terrible her tenant was and how she should not put up with it, she would take it as encouragement. No apologies for being forthright and hoping that it will discourage her from making the mistake of her life.

Werdnal

Madjock wrote: »

"not to our personal taste", I read you can't afford what you really want and can't bear the idea of you HB tenant sleeping in your nice "to your taste" bed while you have to make do with the cheap as chips cr4p.

Thanks Madjock, I know some of the replies have been a little harsh (mine included), but you may have hit the nail!

I try never to be too judgemental or critical of newbie posters, but one minute OP says they cannot afford to furnish their new house, then its because they cannot find things to their taste.

As I said in my first reply, OP should not really stretch their finances so tight that they have no spare money, either for their own new furniture or possible repairs/maintenance to the rental property. At the moment they cannot afford shiny new furniture in their shiny new house, but tomorrow they may not be able to afford a shiny new boiler for their rental! They could be living without furniture, whilst tenant is living without hot water and heating! Is it really wise not to have spare cash available for such emergencies?

I also hope OP is prepared that their nice things in the rental property may have been used and abused by the time the tenant leaves - otherwise they may be in for a :eek:

Sorry if either of my earlier replies have caused offense to the OP, but sometimes its the petty little things that inexperienced LLs think they can do :mad: that make me wonder whether they really understand what letting is all about, or if they are just playing at it!

G_M

r3becca wrote: »

Thanks for the replies....

The tenant is on housing benefits either you did not vet the tenant, or you knew and accepted this, or they've since lost their job and deserve understranding... & so far has been late with every single months rent,often the case with HB. Partly because claimants tend to live financially on the edge and patly because HB is paid 4 weekly, not monthly - and in arrears not in advance. This is also why many LLs vet tenants and don't accept HB she has broken the terms of her contract numerous times (subletting, having a pet, leaving the property unattended for longer than 3 weeks) there are legal remedies for breaches. Breaching the contract yourself is not one of themhowever we have given her the benefit of doubt and understand she is a young mum, struggling to make ends meet.

The property wasn't bought to be a property that we would lease it was our homeirrelevant. It is now a rental property & therefore all our furniture was items we had bought for our own personal use not for rental reasons.if they were personal items, you should have removed them and replaced with 'rental' items before renting. I'm sure as you are all such perfect landlords you all buy extremely high quality, expensive furniture for your rental properties and not cheaper ikea items?? hmm.. it depends on the target tenant. In a high-end rental, targetting eg City Bankers, a LL would put in high end furnishing. For a HB tenant in a 'down market' location, you furnish accordingly. Either way, no sensible LL furnishes with "furniture was items we had bought for our own personal use "

We did not anticipate being able to afford a bigger house so soon so did not anticipate that we would need the furniture before the lease was up. It's not so much replacing it with cheaper furniture it's just we have so far been unable to find furniture to our taste for the new house...

Then you will need to either
* wait, and keep looking for the right furniture or
* compromise, and furnish with something else, perhaps temporarily till you can save up
* negotiate (offer a cash incentive? - they sound hard up) with the tenants and see if they are willing to do a swop

r3becca

I have never stated I would furnish the property with "second hand tat" - but of course had we intended it to be a rented property we wouldn't have spent as much on furniture as what we did for our own personal use.

I posted to find out the rules and regulations as I was genuinely unsure of them and couldn't find anything online.. I was unsure and thought as I had received good advice from here in the past it would be a good place to start.

I did not come here for "moral support & to seek permission", I came because I needed some advice. I am not trying to deny the fact that I'm finding it a lot more difficult being a LL & thought it would be a lot easier & straightforward than what it is-true I am not as up to speed or in the know as I maybe should be but I am trying & for owning a new build house & a rental property I surely can't be doing that bad.. everyone needs a bit of help & guidance sometimes, especially when starting out on something new. No matter how many books you read you can never fully know what will be around the corner when renting out a property...can you?

Yes we were aware the ten was on housing benefits however she came with glowing refs & the council advised us they could pay the housing benefit direct to us - the rules in our local area have since changed and this is not an option.

As a previous poster stated I need to understand my responsibilities.. I came on here asking as I was unsure... not to be attacked.

I think you have made it clear that I cannot take/replace furniture.. so although it maybe could have been put across a bit gentler .. I now know the answer to my original question.

Thanks

jamie11

r3becca wrote: »

as what we did

Ooops sorry, I've wandered into a Morecambe and Wise sketch