Tenant refusing to use central heating

G_M

HelenYorkshire wrote: »

...

Is it possible/legal etc to boot him out for a few days so you can get in and do the repairs and improvements you want all in one go?
Then you have a clean start and can re-set your expectations.

The LL would need to provide alternative suitable accomodation for this period.

NorthLondonChick

Thank you very much to everyone who replied - I really appreciate you taking the time to do so.

I will definately look into having the mother sign up as a guarantor. We had a particularily rocky period in late 2010 and his mother managed to get him to sign over some powers to her so that she could sign various forms etc on his behalf. She may have signed a form with the letting agent at that point too saying she would be his guarantor if we would let her son stay in (he came extremely close to getting booted out) so I will double check with the agent. If that is the case then it would save me forking out on the repairs which would be great.

Unfortunately the flat is in negative equity which makes selling it impossible. I checked flat prices today and there is one which is identical to mine (its actually only a few doors away) and is listed at £15k (yup, you read that right, FIFTEEN THOUSAND!) due to the stagnant market. My remaining mortgage is more than double that. So you see why getting a tenant is so difficult - why pay £300pcm rent when you can buy for £15k?? Since my fixed rate ended in the summer i have been trying to overpay as much as possible to get the outstanding mortgage debt lowered so i will plug away at that and i will check to see if the mother is a guarantor (and make her become one if she isnt already).

And hopefully no pipes will burst in the meantime

Thanks again x

rentergirl

I would try again, your council tenancy relations officer, who can help landlords, too. i would also make a very carefully worded call to MIND (NB it's phones are run by 'service users' so be very tactful.) Also : try social services: there are confidentiality issues here, but stress that you are sympathetic to him. So good to see an enlightened landlord - far too few exist.

franklee

NorthLondonChick wrote: »

So you see why getting a tenant is so difficult - why pay £300pcm rent when you can buy for £15k??

So you're getting a gross yield of 24%. That's amazing, my landlord is getting about 4%. I'd ignore the posters saying it's charity you do seem best off keeping the tenant even with the problems of heating etc.

Crikey if I scale my rent up to a 24% gross yield my rent would be nearly five thousand pcm.

Oneday77

The tenant should have a Mental Health Nurse or social worker assigned to them in some capacity. See if the mum can speak to them. Also can you not get her to carry out routine inspections if sh was signed over as guarantor?

00ec25

franklee wrote: »

So you're getting a gross yield of 24%.

err , no
what the OP said was their outstanding mortgage is nearly twice that - we have no idea what they paid and therefore what their actual yield is, but it cannot be more than 12% (£300 on mortgage of 30k) and given there most likely was a deposit, it is more likely to be down at the single digit levels seen by many LL

the OP needs to do a hard and cold financial calculation - if you want to be philanthropic and pay some of their bills then factor that into your overall profitability and compare it against your business head of selling up and taking the hit now rather than continuing to subsidise a (potentially unstable) tenant

theartfullodger

Declare yourself bankrupt: That way you'll be able to start afresh.

Cheers!

Artful

lucky11_2

Hi OP, no matter how much you want to help this man, you are renting your property as a business arrangement, and he doesn't respect you or your property - perhaps through no fault of his own, but that's the fact. He would not be homeless if you served him notice because SS or similar would be duty-bound to step in if he has mental health problems, or maybe his mum could house him?
You don't sound like you can afford to be buying furniture and making repairs that could easily have been avoided, very stressful for you! I would, as kindly as possible, ask him to leave and get a better tenant. As a renter myself I wish I had a lovely landlord like you - you're very few & far between!!

BitterAndTwisted

Given the market where this property is I'd say that getting shot of the present tenant could mean the OP would be taking a risk in not finding another tenant at all. So, they may feel that the current one is better than none at all, despite the possibility of damage to the property.

I'd be having chats with both the parent and the Council's Tenancy Relations Officer, as there may be no way of accessing this person's mental health professionals directly.

Beckyy

I would try and get the Mum as guarantor, and have more regular routine inspections if possble. You're already being extremely nice, much nicer than some would be.