Novice Landlords Please Help!

NoviceLandLord78

All, thanks for the replies, all advice taken on board even Pyueck however harsh. Believe it or not I had read a lot of literature and taken advice from my business partner in this who has a few properties of his own. This certainly isn't a get rich quick scheme, but thanks anyway. To clarify, the deposit situation IS according to the council 'Government approved' as it is in trust with them so hopefully that is one less problem. I admit making a huge mistake not vetting the tenant and take it as a lesson learnt. Onward and upward. G_M - That is a fantastic piece of work, thank you so much! Regarding the first letter to notify the tenant, is there specific wording required i.e. is there a template available so I dont get it wrong on a technicality? The section 8 seems straightforward. Many thanks again for all your help

pyueck

NoviceLandLord78 wrote: »

All, thanks for the replies, all advice taken on board even Pyueck however harsh. Believe it or not I had read a lot of literature and taken advice from my business partner in this who has a few properties of his own. This certainly isn't a get rich quick scheme, but thanks anyway. To clarify, the deposit situation IS according to the council 'Government approved' as it is in trust with them so hopefully that is one less problem. I admit making a huge mistake not vetting the tenant and take it as a lesson learnt. Onward and upward. G_M - That is a fantastic piece of work, thank you so much! Regarding the first letter to notify the tenant, is there specific wording required i.e. is there a template available so I dont get it wrong on a technicality? The section 8 seems straightforward. Many thanks again for all your help

They are not a government approve scheme https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview. From the sounds of it you have not protected the deposit and are liable to refund them the full deposit (whether you have ever seen it or not) plus up to 3x the deposit.

When you say held in trust, what evidence do you have that the money was ever paid to them, what are the terms associated with this?

Have you got a tennancy agreement with the tenant? Does it mention a deposit? Who wrote the agreement? Did you do an inventory when the tenancy started and has it been signed by the tenant?

Norman_Castle

We met the tenant, who stated a company called 'Midland Heart' would assess the property and hold the deposit 'in trust'.

Midland Heart are a very large housing association. Exactly what is there role in this?. Have you had any communication with them?. How do you know they are holding the deposit?. Have you housed one of their tenants?. If so the rent may be paid to them to be forwarded to you.

jjlandlord

It seems that for a novice landlord you went for a complex setup...

The situation with the "deposit" is not clear from your posts, so it is difficult to comment.
Some of the s.21-related comments above are not completely correct, but I think that it does not make a difference in your case.

Note that Housing Benefits are not "the rent" or "your money", it is just money belonging to the tenant and paid to him as a benefit.

Considering the mess you seem to be in, I would suggest that the best way forward would be to contact professionals who could clearly assess the situation and deal with it. E.g. Landlord Action (other providers available).

Edit:
If your tenant does get HB and is more than 8 weeks in arrears, ask the council to pay their HB directly to you.

NoviceLandLord78

Pyueck - Midland Heart assessed the property to see if it was suitable for housing authority use. The council instructed them to do this. The deposit is guaranteed by the council / Midland Heart ( no-one pays it but in the event of a dispute at the end of the AST if can be given to the LL) - This is how it was explained to me by the Council. JJLandlord - The tenant is over 6 weeks in arrears however there is no evidence any money has been paid. We want her out pronto, so shall be issuing the letter for notice of eviction. Just needed to know if exact wording was required to make it legal. The midland heart rep and the council said it was a very common setup. Mistakes were made, big ones, by myself and I just need a way out. Cheers for all your help

jjlandlord

NoviceLandLord78 wrote: »

Pyueck - Midland Heart assessed the property to see if it was suitable for housing authority use. The council instructed them to do this. The deposit is guaranteed by the council / Midland Heart ( no-one pays it but in the event of a dispute at the end of the AST if can be given to the LL) - This is how it was explained to me by the Council.

This is not a deposit by the sound of it, but rather a guarantee.

NoviceLandLord78 wrote: »

JJLandlord - The tenant is over 6 weeks in arrears however there is no evidence any money has been paid.

As soon as the next payment is missed get in touch with council to have HB paid directly to you.

NoviceLandLord78 wrote: »

We want her out pronto, so shall be issuing the letter for notice of eviction.

From what you said, tenant will probably not go easily so you need to make sure everything to do is by the book and bulletproof.
getting a professional involved may still save you a lot of time and money.

pyueck

NoviceLandLord78 wrote: »

Pyueck - Midland Heart assessed the property to see if it was suitable for housing authority use. The council instructed them to do this. The deposit is guaranteed by the council / Midland Heart ( no-one pays it but in the event of a dispute at the end of the AST if can be given to the LL) - This is how it was explained to me by the Council. JJLandlord - The tenant is over 6 weeks in arrears however there is no evidence any money has been paid. We want her out pronto, so shall be issuing the letter for notice of eviction. Just needed to know if exact wording was required to make it legal. The midland heart rep and the council said it was a very common setup. Mistakes were made, big ones, by myself and I just need a way out. Cheers for all your help

You didn't answer my questions. Is there a tenancy agreement, if so what does it say about the deposit? Who is agreement between you and the housing association or you and the tenant?

fairy_lights

I thought you were renting the house to a friend of a friend, I don't understand why a housing association is involved if this is a private rental?

pmlindyloo

It seems to me that the tenant has gone to the council (perhaps because she was homeless) and asked for some help with finding private accommodation. It seems that this is a Deposit Rent scheme where no money changes hand but the council 'guarantees' the deposit in the event things go 'belly up'.

It is also possible that before the council would agree to a rent deposit scheme then an assessment of the property had to be done.

Information about it may be on the local council website.

If it is a rent deposit scheme then there is no need for the deposit to be placed in an approved scheme because there was no money changing hands.

So, issue the Section 8 as per G_M's link and when it is 2 months in arrears then ask the council for the HB to be paid direct to you.

I suspect you are in for a long haul as regards eviction as the council will 'encourage' the tenant to stay put until you get a court order which could take a while.

You may want to consider getting the council to pay the HB direct to you and negotiating with the tenant about a repayment plan for the arrears. The tenant may be able to get help with the rent arrears from the council through a Discretionary Housing Payment.

This route may be financially better for you.

[Deleted User]

Get Mr Bohill from Channel 5 bailiffs to see to the tenants. :beer: