Tenant not paying rent and never has done !!!

maninthestreet

February always has at least 28 days - isnt that 4 weeks??

CWSmith

real1314 wrote: »

it's not rubbish - they are bound by the data protection act. they can only disclose information with authority from the hb applicant.

and the number of weeks of arrears for payment direct is 8 weeks.
:cool:

Nothing to do with data protection or disclosing information. The council wanted to know how much the rent was, how much the tenant owed, how long the tenant had been in the property, was I planning to evict, etc etc. The council phoned me to ask all this on the same day that the tenant applied for housing benefit.

dancingfairy

There isn't much you can do in a hurry and you won't be able to get her out quickly and easily (having said that she may well be having issues with the housing benefit - we obviously do not know).
You need to make sure that you have protected the deposit and have fulfilled all your other legal duties. I believe that an application for possession would fail if you have not protected the deposit so get the basics right first (if you haven't already).
Secondly I would write to the tenant, point out that she is x amount behind in her rent and ask her to confirm when she will be brining the account up to date. If you go to court you'll want to have proof of a) everything being in writing and b) that you have been clear with herand given her plenty of opportuity to bring her account up todate. It's worth enclosing an account schedule aswell I would have thought, then if she still refuses to pay or pays dribs and drabs then it's clear when she is up to.
As has already been said you can serve her notice and apply for repossession on certain grounds - section 8 being one of them but obvioulsy the criteria discussed above has to apply. What dates was rent due so far?
Given what has happened so far, it may well be worth joining a landlords association just in case the tenant does turn out to be a problem tenant.

df
edit: you need to think carefully about whether you want to apply to the council for hb to be paid directly to you. Obviously in some cases this could be a good thing and help the tenant, but if the tenant is wrongly claiming benefits - ie claiming for her children when they don't live there and the council pay you then I believe that in some cases you could be liable to repay the money. It might be better to apply pressure to the tenant directly and get the tenant to pay you, then if there is any issues you aren't involved with the council and overpayents of hb.

lighting_up_the_chalice

Most councils will have a "Housing Advice" service, which is usually part of their homeless function. They are there to advise both LL and T of their rights and responsibilities. They are also keen to avoid homelessness and, as a part of that function, often have very good working links with HB. It might be well worth your while to contact them and see if a way forward can be found.

As has already been stated, with the children in care, her LHA may well be seriously reduced. However, this could be topped up with DHP, depending on the longer term plans, and the housing advice service may be able to assist with this too.

Failing that, they may well be able to put you in touch with Social Services, who may be very keen to keep a suitable property available to accommodate the children if their current arrangements are intended to be temporary.

real1314

CWSmith wrote: »

Nothing to do with data protection or disclosing information. The council wanted to know how much the rent was, how much the tenant owed, how long the tenant had been in the property, was I planning to evict, etc etc. The council phoned me to ask all this on the same day that the tenant applied for housing benefit.

The OP wanted the council to disclose information the them (the LL)
In your case the council wanted YOU to disclose information to them, which is the complete opposite. :cool:

geek84

Good morning Folks
Thanks for your replies, so far.
The problem is rhat the tenant seems to living somewhere else at the moment(she gave me the address & I actually visited her last week). She said she will be moving into my property in the next week or so, after she gets custody of the kids. She was not prepared to hand over the keys since she is adamant that she wants to move in.
However, as you know, she has been living there for almost 2 months and not paid a penny! Another problem is that every time I phone up the Housing Benefits they say thst they have not received any application from her (she told me she made the application for HB before Xmas). When I asked her about this (last week), she said there was a mistake in the paper work & she had to apply again. She is not prepared to give me the date or the reference number of her application and said she will sort it out.
If she hasn't made any applicatioj then can I still get the HB to pay rent direct ot me after 8 weeks?
Another twist to this story is that I met a solicitor (a friend of a friend's) who said I cannot change the locks since that would be against the law & she could take me to court). I did explain to him that she has signed a short term tenancy but not paid a pennmy up to date.
I'm so confused about this. Can someone please be kind enough to advice where I go from here?
Thanks in advance for your responses.

Mickygg

It's a shame that when you read posts like this it reinforces you will often lose out by trying to lend someone a hand. If you've met with a solicitor surely they can advise better than a forum??

bob2

geek84 wrote: »

Another twist to this story is that I met a solicitor (a friend of a friend's) who said I cannot change the locks since that would be against the law & she could take me to court).

What you need to establish is whether, from a legal point of view, the tenancy has actually started?

Some people on this forum seem to know the law very well and may be able to advice you.

Possibly relevant - I'm not sure - but has she actually entered the property since signing the agreement and being given the keys?

Also - I'm not suggesting you should necessarily enter the property to establish this, but you may need to consider, if she's living somewhere else what might be going on in the property she is renting from you? Could she have given the keys to anyone else?

geek84

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

Yes she has the keys & some of her stuff is actually in the property.

spacey2012

Has she paid a bond and signed a tenancy agreement ?