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Tenant left us a mess
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ljane74
Posts: 32 Forumite
Hi all.
I was wondering if I could ask for a bit of advice.
My husband has a house from when he was single that is in negative equity. So in the meantime we decided to let it out to cover the mortgage payment. It's managed by an estate agent (who frankly are not the best). The first tenant we got was on a 6 month rental. Because of complaints from neighbours and police being called out to them a couple of times we told estate agents to serve them notice.
They've moved out. But didn't hand keys back so for an extra month they are liable for that rent. And it's now treated as abandonment. The state they have left the place in has left us with between £500-£1000 unpaid rent, and repair bill of £1500 (door frames chewed off by the dog, carpets needing replacing, they've left a skip in back garden which we have to get rid of as the company of the skip can't be got hold of). So for the last couple of months we've been unable to let it out again until repairs are done. Costing us more money in mortgage payments. The reason I mentioned that the estate agent is not the best is because as part of the fee we pay them landlord insurance is included. They told hubby that this covers every eventuality. Turns out it seems as tough that was just a selling ploy. It's only actually basic landlord insurance which doesn't cover repairs or monies owed by tenant. Hubby took out his own landlord insurance and he's just in process of seeing what he's covered for.
Sorry for long story but what I'm asking for is do we have any way in which to claim any of these costs from the tenant. And how would we start these processes. I'm just getting more an more worried about how we're going to cover the costs and get someone in there as we can't afford to be paying out 2 mortgages
Many thanks for your help
I was wondering if I could ask for a bit of advice.
My husband has a house from when he was single that is in negative equity. So in the meantime we decided to let it out to cover the mortgage payment. It's managed by an estate agent (who frankly are not the best). The first tenant we got was on a 6 month rental. Because of complaints from neighbours and police being called out to them a couple of times we told estate agents to serve them notice.
They've moved out. But didn't hand keys back so for an extra month they are liable for that rent. And it's now treated as abandonment. The state they have left the place in has left us with between £500-£1000 unpaid rent, and repair bill of £1500 (door frames chewed off by the dog, carpets needing replacing, they've left a skip in back garden which we have to get rid of as the company of the skip can't be got hold of). So for the last couple of months we've been unable to let it out again until repairs are done. Costing us more money in mortgage payments. The reason I mentioned that the estate agent is not the best is because as part of the fee we pay them landlord insurance is included. They told hubby that this covers every eventuality. Turns out it seems as tough that was just a selling ploy. It's only actually basic landlord insurance which doesn't cover repairs or monies owed by tenant. Hubby took out his own landlord insurance and he's just in process of seeing what he's covered for.
Sorry for long story but what I'm asking for is do we have any way in which to claim any of these costs from the tenant. And how would we start these processes. I'm just getting more an more worried about how we're going to cover the costs and get someone in there as we can't afford to be paying out 2 mortgages

Many thanks for your help

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Comments
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Letting a property is a business. With it comes reward and risk.
As you've found out it can actually leave you in an even worse financial position.
You can take the ex tenant to court. If you can find them to serve the papers. However you may struggle even then to recover the money.
Personally I would look at cutting your losses and selling the property. Have a word with the lender as to your options.0 -
Did you take a deposit from the tenant and was it put into a deposit scheme?
If you did then you can get this back from the scheme. Go onto their website to find out how.
For the rest of the money you will need to take them to the small claims court.
Have you got any idea where they have gone? Were references taken from their employer so that you have their work address and can write to them there regarding what they owe you?
Read up about the Small Claims procedure.
As regards the insurance taken out. If it was clear from the terms and conditions about what it covered then you haven't got any redress. Your job to read it (sorry!)
I don't suppose you had a guarantor for this awful tenant that you could go after?
Make sure that you take dated pictures of the damage in case there are any future comebacks and I do hope a signed inventory was taken when the tenant moved in!0 -
If this was a landlords buildings insurance, that basically protects you from normal things in a buildings policy - fire, flood, theft etc. But with cover extended to allow tenants to live there (which adds to the risk so is not allowed in normal buildings insurance.
Some of them add extras - eg malicious damage by the tenants (does this apply here? was the damage malicious? and have you read the policy?????)
The other insurance is 'landlords rent guarantee insurance' which covers .... well, unpaid rent by tenants. This is different, so check what your policy actually was.
And what it covered - seems pretty obvious but.... have you actually ever read the policy you took out!
As for the costs, keep copies of ALL your receipts/costs etc and as others have said, you can sue the tenants
* IF you can find them
* but they may have no money so be ordered to pay £5 per week
* even then they may default so you have to go back to court......0 -
If this was a landlords buildings insurance, that basically protects you from normal things in a buildings policy - fire, flood, theft etc. But with cover extended to allow tenants to live there (which adds to the risk so is not allowed in normal buildings insurance.
Some of them add extras - eg malicious damage by the tenants (does this apply here? was the damage malicious? and have you read the policy?????)
The other insurance is 'landlords rent guarantee insurance' which covers .... well, unpaid rent by tenants. This is different, so check what your policy actually was.
And what it covered - seems pretty obvious but.... have you actually ever read the policy you took out!
As for the costs, keep copies of ALL your receipts/costs etc and as others have said, you can sue the tenants
* IF you can find them
* but they may have no money so be ordered to pay £5 per week
* even then they may default so you have to go back to court......
Landlords insurance never covers malicous damage by the tenants wether it buildings or LL's contents, even if the policy implies it does. A thorough reading of the policy document will establish this, which unfortuanatly people do when it's too late.
rent guarantee, actually comes as a bit more of a package called "LERG", which is legal expenses and rent guarantee.
rent guarantee, they have absolutley no chance of claiming if they served notice before the end of the tenancy.
legal expenses, in the policy document there will be a term which basically says something along the lines of "reasonable prospect of success", so policy holder can forget this aswell as it's down to the insurers discretion.
All in all, LL's insurance is not the paper it's worth written on. Standard insurance payouts as a ratio of the premiums recieved is 60-70%. For LL's insurance it's less than 2%, trust me this is next the PPI scandal.0 -
The quant - what's the source of your 2% payout figure please?0
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theartfullodger wrote: »The quant - what's the source of your 2% payout figure please?
Myself, not able to say which company, but I worked on this product for one of the biggest players in this sector of the market.0 -
I've had a property left in a far worse state than this before now, and it cost around £14k to get how it was, plus a further £2k (2 months) in unpaid rent left from the tenant.
Unfortunately we are businesses, and we occasionally have to be prepared to make a loss, but most tenants are reasonable and leave a property in a good state when they leave.
CK💙💛 💔0 -
Landlords insurance never covers malicous damage by the tenants wether it buildings or LL's contents, even if the policy implies it does. A thorough reading of the policy document will establish this, which unfortuanatly people do when it's too late.
A worrying assertion, if true. I've never had to claim, and am not an insurance 'insider', so hesitate to question you on this - but it would certainly be useful (for me, and other landlords) to know.
A quick google produces:
Homelet policy document:up to the Sum Insured [FONT=Bliss,Bliss][FONT=Bliss,Bliss]for loss or damage to [/FONT][/FONT]Your Insured Property [FONT=Bliss,Bliss][FONT=Bliss,Bliss]caused by Malicious Act of the [/FONT][/FONT]Tenant
http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/Home/Landlords/Pages/landlords-insurance.aspx
Seems pretty clear. Doubtless there are conditions, but a blanket exclusion would be unenforcible (read challengeable in court) terms.0 -
As fas as im aware(all i have is 18 months reading into everything i can about buy to let) its a business you are running, you get in it for the good times, being occupied all the time, decent income covering all costs and then some...its not always like that as you have found out and you are at the other end of the scale....it might not always be like that.
Draw a line from here on, get a decent estate agent,proper cover found and arranged by yourself, keep an eye on property, make some drop ins so as soon as things go wrong, get on top of it.:eek:Living frugally at 24 :beer:
Increase net worth £30k in 2016 : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=69797771#post697977710 -
YoungBusinessman wrote: »make some drop ins
What exactly are you suggesting the landlord does? My last lettings agency attempted to "drop in" a few times and were always told to !!!!!! off and leave us alone.0
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