*Updated*Council billed me £6500 for work I didnt ask for? Rental house

Southend1

travelchick wrote: »

I think thats why I want it to go to a proper agent now who will redraft the contracts so she has no choice but to sign or face eviction, if she signs shes re-agreeing to rent the house if she doesnt then she makes herself homeless.

She won't make herself homeless by refusing to sign a different contract. You will have to go through the correct procedures to evict her.

My view on this is that you were letting a property with inadequate heating. If you had taken your responsibility as a landlord seriously and been more careful about your paperwork then you would not be in the situation you are now in. Don't take it out on the tenant.

I can understand an unexpected bill like this is a shock but I think it very unlikely the council would have resorted to this had you fulfilled your role as a landlord properly.

Southend1

travelchick wrote: »

I will sort this mess 1st and get her paying the market rate or mover her out so that I can get it elsewhere.
Because I want to get the house from my ex ( currently with solicitors and he has agreed to hang it over now) I didnt earn enough for the mortgage however I recently got promoted at work so waiting 2 more months for my wage slips to show I earn enough that and the combined income from the rent, I figure if the mortgage company see there is a long term tenant it helps, then I can get her out.
The mortgage is only £329 a month so its affordable even if its empty for a while.

Is the house even yours to let? Or does it belong to your ex? This situation is definitely not straightforward.

patman99

Nothing stopping you from getting the appeal in progress and employing an agent to manage the house at the same time.

As you are setting-up the agreement with the Agent, you can instruct them to increase the rent by 5% at the same time.

Pixie5740

Are you absolutely positive that the council have carried out the work on your property? You could write to your tenant advising that you are coming to do a property inspection on a set date and asking her to contact you to rearrange if that date doesn't suit. If you hear nothing back just go on the date you originally suggested.

With regards to evicting the tenant be prepared for her to hang on in there as only the tenant or a court can end a tenancy. If she wants social housing then the council might advise her to wait until a court issues an eviction notice.

If you haven't done so already then it's probably a good idea for you to join a landlords association. I believe the cost of membership is tax deductible.

red40

Your best option is to start the appeal process in relation to the costs incurred for doing the works in default of an Improvement Notice. The notice would be deemed to be served if they issued it to the property in question, although like you I think they have been lax in their ability to correctly identify you home address. I would say that not all councils exchange information freely between departments although the Housing Act does give 'permission' to do so for information on housing benefit and/or Council tax, to establish a true owner. But they only have to fix or deliver a notice to the property for it deemed served.

What would be interesting is to see if they followed the HA04 procedures and sent copies to the tenant, mortgage company and your ex, if he is still a co-owner, if they didnt then the notice would be deemed defective and wouldnt have stood up at a tribunal, but I digress form the issue at hand. I suspect that you will have no comeback on the original notice, as I previous said, due to the time that has already gone.

What you need now is a structured appeal argument on why you think the costs are excessive. If you are to appeal there is a fee to pay to the First-tier tribunal which is I think currently £155 payable on the submission of an appeal.

You then need to consider your argument, Housing Act 2004;Schedule 3, Part 2 relates to the procedural requirements the council have to do before they enter the property, again if this wasnt done then that notice is defective and could very well be quashed at a tribunal and therefore no cost to you, but that would be for a professional to do for you. Part 3, papragraph 11 of the above gives you the ammunition on how to appeal and the grounds you can appeal on, this is were you need a structured and rational argument to present to a tribunal.

HTH?

usignuolo

Will stand corrected but I think it is the 2004 Housing Act which applies (which I quoted earlier). Does not have any requirement for rented private properties to have central heating installed. Council talking through hat on that one. Can be challenged.

travelchick

Southend1 wrote: »

Is the house even yours to let? Or does it belong to your ex? This situation is definitely not straightforward.

We jointly own the property, it is currently a subject the finances from our divorce.
he is giving his share in the house to me as part of the divorce settlement.

travelchick

patman99 wrote: »

Nothing stopping you from getting the appeal in progress and employing an agent to manage the house at the same time.

As you are setting-up the agreement with the Agent, you can instruct them to increase the rent by 5% at the same time.

That sounds like a good idea, and 5% rent isnt exactly steep.
I am going to start ringing agents in the area on wed ( my day off) :-)

Southend1

travelchick wrote: »

We jointly own the property, it is currently a subject the finances from our divorce.
he is giving his share in the house to me as part of the divorce settlement.

Ah ok, all sounds very messy to me, you probably should seek some advice from your solicitor on this one. Maybe your ex is liable for the cost of the heating installation?

travelchick

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Are you absolutely positive that the council have carried out the work on your property? You could write to your tenant advising that you are coming to do a property inspection on a set date and asking her to contact you to rearrange if that date doesn't suit. If you hear nothing back just go on the date you originally suggested.

With regards to evicting the tenant be prepared for her to hang on in there as only the tenant or a court can end a tenancy. If she wants social housing then the council might advise her to wait until a court issues an eviction notice.

If you haven't done so already then it's probably a good idea for you to join a landlords association. I believe the cost of membership is tax deductible.

I haven't spoken to her yet as she hasnt replied to my message, when I find a new agent I will write to her to let her know that I will be sending the agent round with her new rent agreement and that they will now take over doing the property inspections in my absence.
Im a defiantly going to join the landlords association though