Can you terminate a tenancy agreement due to affordability of repairs?

go_cat

Does the rent cover the mortgage - if any extra you need to save this towards future maintenance

lachesis

poppysarah wrote: »

Have the repairs been done?
Was there not a cap on how much money they could spend without your direct authorisation?

Sounds a bit expensive all of it.

No I authorised them because I was attempting to be a decent landlord and also wanted to keep my property in decent shape. So I'm due to have all repairs paid for by March 31st.

What I'm saying is that it's all come at a rush and I'm not a big property tycoon, it's actually just my house I can't sell so I don't have a big portfolio that I'm creaming in profits from.

My fear is that now I'm out of funds if something else happens, I don't actually have any money to authorise further repairs. The timing is just awful but I'm not complaining I just want to know some options. I feel the tenant may even choose to move on because of the number of hassles anyway (after 6 month expiration on tenancy)

It's still an AST agreement.

The rent pays the mortgage - £50. It's just having the cash upfront to pay contractors etc. for example if I got hit with something that cost £2000....possibly extreme but I'm really not in the luck at the moment.

Werdnal

lachesis wrote: »

You need to stop jumping in feet first because you really have no idea what's going on in the background. But as you insist on doing so I will give you the exact circumstances then you might be able to offer some help after all.

I got a phone call about twenty minutes ago saying this had happened, and I agreed to send an electrician round to look at the issue and have it fixed - ok? So less of the EHO and reporting nonsense.

So the issue is getting looked at, I have fulfilled my obligations. What I'm saying is that I am now totally out of money. To be fair I don't think there is much else that could go wrong at this point aside from the house being decimated by a bomb. What I am asking is what are my options regarding this?

Let me re-iterate this - all repairs have been commissioned and done, and this last one to do with the electrics is being looked at today by a contractor. I am now at the point where I have no further monies aside for maintenance though.

And you have to explain things better, as you have said your boiler repair man says he couldn't reconnect it, and you have no further money for repairs, hence the pickle you are in - at no time did you state it is an ongoing situation at the time your were typing your post and you have actually resolved it for now. The problem with forum posts, is we only get the info you give us - only later have you explained the full story!

Had you not completed the boiler repairs due to lack of funds, EHO is a very real threat, as we have had several posts here recently from tenants, faced with no heating, and the advice is the EHO gets involved to force LL to act.

As I said in my original reply, you can ask the tenants if they are prepared to leave if you pay their moving costs and make a financial settlement, but they do not have to accept your offer.

Or you can keep your fingers crossed that your bad luck improves and the remainder of the tenancy progresses without further major costs to you.

You came here asking for advice, I gave it.

Explain yourself better and you might get a better response next time!

AFK_Matrix

Or you put the cost of any future repairs on a credit card or take out a loan. I'm afraid your stuck and have to cross your fingers nothing else goes wrong for the remainder of the AST.

DannyboyMidlands

If I was your tenant and you asked me that, in the nicest possible way I'd tell you to shove it. Like I'm gonna go to all the expense and hassle of renting somewhere else just because your playing at being a landlord hasn't worked out.

Get yourself a credit card for future repairs and consider yourself lucky that the tenant hasn't trashed the place.

tbs624

You cannot simply " sever the tenancy agreement" - the T is entitled to expect the tenancy to run for its initial 6 month Fixed Term as a minimum. Note that even if you serve a S21 Notice of Intent to Repossess aligned with the FT expiry, the T still does not have to leave until a court order is granted and bailiffs are brought in , if necessary.

As a previous poster has suggested, you may be able to come to some financial arrangement with the T for them to move out but if the T says no, then you have no option.

Your scenario is the type that regular posters warn newbie LLs about. Is the rent in excess of your mortgage outgoings? You do need to bear in mind that the T can, as said above, use future rent payments to cover the costs of repairs if you don't see to them within a reasonable time.

Are you sourcing your own repairs and maintenance people, because most LAs will add a mark up if you go via them

tbs624

lachesis wrote: »

You need to stop jumping in feet first because you really have no idea what's going on in the background.

Of course Werdnal doesn't know the full picture - none of us can do anything other than go on whatever you post up in the thread.

Worth remembering that the trouble with forums is that we can think that what we have posted is utterly clear but its meaning can be construed totally differently by others

Werdnal

tbs624 wrote: »

Of course Werdnal doesn't know the full picture - none of us can do anything other than go on whatever you post up in the thread.

Worth remembering that the trouble with forums is that we can think that what we have posted is utterly clear but its meaning can be construed totally differently by others

Thanks tbs - I'm afraid my crystal ball is in for repairs this week :rotfl:

AFK_Matrix

Werdnal wrote: »

Thanks tbs - I'm afraid my crystal ball is in for repairs this week :rotfl:

Well that's just not on Werdnal!!! I am suprised you did not for see this and thus get a spare or replacement organised!!! I am disappointed:D:rotfl:

tbs624

lachesis wrote: »

What I'm saying is that it's all come at a rush and I'm not a big property tycoon, it's actually just my house I can't sell so I don't have a big portfolio that I'm creaming in profits from.

Its not "just my house that I can't sell" , it's "I can't sell and I am letting it to someone else in exchange for rent payments".

It is irrelevant whether you are making a profit - that does not alter the fact that your LL repairing obligations are the same whichever "type" of LL you are.