Tenant in rent arrears and want him to leave

DragonLady

I am hoping someone can give me some advice (please!)

I have a rental property (with my partner) which was let to a new tenant on the 21st Jan this year. My partner (foolishly, in my view!) doesn't take a deposit, as he feels the secure schemes are a lot of hassle. As a consequence, there is no bond or deposit held for this tenant.

Tenant signed his contract (period of 1 year AST) and moved in on the 21st. He paid his 1st rent of £450 pcm shortly after he moved in. The delay was due to a family bereavement. He told us at the time too that he had set up a standing order for the next rent to go in on the 21st Feb.

That rent never went into the bank, so partner contacted him to see what the score was. He said it was a bank error and would chase it. My BS radar was now kicking in! :mad:

As things stand now, he owes £350 of the Feb 21st rent (as he managed to find £100 and pay that into the bank.) His rent on the 21st March (£450) has not been paid at all so in total he presently owes £800.

On the 18th March, he came to see my partner and said that he was giving notice as he is getting so far behind. I wrote to him to confirm that he had given notice and would therefore quit the property by the 18th April, but he would need to address all the arrears. He said he might leave before the 18th, so I said he needed to notify us of the date he planned to leave so that we could work out the arrears owed. All we are looking to do is get recompensed for whatever he owes whilst he is still living at the property.

In the meantime, we have discovered that the police have called to the house and he is being investigated for fraud (of some description). I know that he has had his laptop and mobile seized (and returned) so do not know if he is being charged with anything, but there has been further police activity at the property in the last few days. I have asked the tenant what is happening as he knows I saw him getting into the back of a police car, but he told me a tall tale about being investigated for buying stolen speakers from eBay.

At the moment, my big concern is that he is not going to leave the property on or before the 18th April and he is not going to stump up the rent he owes. If we get to the 21st April and he is still there, he will owe a further £450, so will tip into the 2 months or more arrears, but I seem to be reading conflicting advice re Section 8 and Section 21.


I don't want to go drafting formal letters that don't hit the mark, so assume I need to go and get formal section notices produced to serve on him but:

• Do I serve the notice(s) just in case he doesn't move out, to show I mean business?
• Do I serve both? Or just the Section 21 (because he gave notice and it is just a month - not 2)
• Does anyone have any recommendations on places to go that are not going to rip me off to get the right documentation raised that will protect us and our property?

Thanks very much in advance!

H

BigAunty

You won't be able to get him out within the fixed term whatever the arrears through an S21, unless he leaves of his own volition (unlikely).

Look at the S8 process for rent arrears.

You could look at a company like Landlord Action as it's clear you are out of your depth.

HappyMJ

Your tenant is already 2 months in arrears. Feb has not been paid and Mar has not been paid. Give him 48 hours to pay then issue the correct notice to quit.

jjlandlord

HappyMJ wrote: »

Give him 48 hours to pay then issue the correct notice to quit.

OP cannot serve notice to quit, but can serve a section 8 notice using grounds 8,10,11, and a section 21 notice.

To be able to seek possession during the fixed term using the section 8 route, the tenancy agreement must have a provision to that effect.

bris

Sounds like a pro tenant to me, who will sit tight until the bailiffs knock on the door.
This could be a long haul so you need professional help. Pay a small fee, around £100+VAT to have the paperwork served correctly so there is no mistakes he can exploit. If you do it yourself and make a mistake, the court will throw it out and you are back to the start, it can go on for months, so get help on the s8 now.

DragonLady

Thanks for the replies so far. Has any one used any of the providers that offer this service to serve the notices? There seems to be a lot of variety/difference in cost. A recommendation would be great.

H

Brallaqueen

Listen to the advice above - all good for the situation you are in now.

However for the future -

Always take a decent deposit no matter the 'hassle' - your OH has really dropped a b0ll0ck on that one.

YOU set up the standing order - get the tenant to complete the form as part of the contract process and send it off yourself. I try and check sort code/acct against a recent statement.

6 months initial contract

AFK_Matrix

Not sure on all the ins and outs for section 21 and 8 but the OP can not serve the section 21 surely because they have taken no deposit? Or is a section 21 only invalidated if a deposit is taken and not protected but if no deposit at is taken the section 21 is still valid?

Brallaqueen

AFK_Matrix wrote: »

Not sure on all the ins and outs for section 21 and 8 but the OP can not serve the section 21 surely because they have taken no deposit? Or is a section 21 only invalidated if a deposit is taken and not protected but if no deposit at is taken the section 21 is still valid?

Re Section 21: Taking a deposit and not protecting it is a problem, but not taking a deposit is generally fine (in terms of S21 anyway, not in terms of good practice).

The problem here is that as the tenancy contract is for 1 year, the S21 would only come into effect at the end of the agreement.

Other considerations: does the contract tally up with this 'no deposit taken'? Is there any way the tenant could argue they had, in fact, given a deposit?

nrsql

I would forget about the outstandiing rent, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover any of it by the sound of things. Concentrate on getting the tenant out ASAP. If he does leave on the 18th then consider yourself very fortunate - especially if he pays anything, but don't rely on it

Section 21 in case things drag on
Section 8 Grounds 8,10,11 at least in case he invalidates ground 8 before the hearing.

Mrs_Z

DragonLady wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. Has any one used any of the providers that offer this service to serve the notices? There seems to be a lot of variety/difference in cost. A recommendation would be great.

H

Company called 'Landlord Action' has already been mentioned above. I have not used personally but have seen other recommendations for them.