Tenants asking to not pay rent this month

LEJC

ifeelsad wrote: »

They have gone over the planned changes with us. They want to stay there long term (they said 5 years at least)

TBH...I would like to stay somewhere long term that offered me the option to be selective about rent payments!


If they have only been in th property since november of last year and have already had late payment on several occaisions and are now asking for a free rent month...if they end up staying 5 years I think you are a saint!!!!

goodwithsaving

I'm a tenant (until Monday when we complete on our very own house) and wouldn't ever dream of not meeting a rent payment on time. It's a bill and is a priority.
Don't be a pushover and say 'no'. They're taking your nice character for a ride. Also if they didn't pay a penny, where would the housing benefit be going for that month? Their pockets?!

JimmyTheWig

G_M wrote: »

4) Agree to defer this months rent? Well:
...
b) you may have no choice, if they don't pay!

This would be my concern.

wiltsguy_2

i agree, i regulary watch 'can't pay, take it away', those high court baliffs dont hang about.

They turn up and evict that day , i have no sympathy for people that dont pay their way in life, they deserve to be on the streets if that is their attitude to paying rent

ifeelsad

dktreesea wrote: »

Section 8/21 takes too long. Can't you go through the High Court instead? Immediate possession, and eviction, and you get the contents to cover the arrears if the tenants don't pay up everything they owe you straight away.


Stop being so nice about it. You need tenants who pay. They're not. Oh yes, and I agree with the poster who wrote if they are claiming housing benefit and you haven't received it, you need to let the council know. They take a very dim view of that kind of thing.

The problem is I have been too nice and I appreciate this, but I feel that because of that I can't suddenly go "get out straight away" with no warning. I am hardening up with my attitude to them and hopefully this will be enough but if not it's good to know I have options.

Also I called the council in my lunch break. I told them that I needed to discuss a tenant, that I know they received housing benefit back in November as they sent me a copy of the award letter, and that they hadn't paid their rent. They said "nothing we can do about it, you need to talk to the tenant". And just repeated this at me several times every time I asked anything, then said I can only get HB paid to me if they get 8 weeks in arrears.

So it seems like they don't care if HB money is not actually used for rent, until they haven't paid rent for 2 months.

I'm not surprised that some LLs state no HB tenants.

ognum

ifeelsad wrote: »

The problem is I have been too nice and I appreciate this, but I feel that because of that I can't suddenly go "get out straight away" with no warning. I am hardening up with my attitude to them and hopefully this will be enough but if not it's good to know I have options.

Also I called the council in my lunch break. I told them that I needed to discuss a tenant, that I know they received housing benefit back in November as they sent me a copy of the award letter, and that they hadn't paid their rent. They said "nothing we can do about it, you need to talk to the tenant". And just repeated this at me several times every time I asked anything, then said I can only get HB paid to me if they get 8 weeks in arrears.

So it seems like they don't care if HB money is not actually used for rent, until they haven't paid rent for 2 months.

I'm not surprised that some LLs state no HB tenants.

I don't really think you can blame the council for your situation, you have allowed this to happen by not behaving like a LL.

As a LL you don't have to be unpleasant but you do need to treat your property as a buisness. So, when the toilet stops working, you get the plumber, the plumber invoices you, you claim it against your next tax bill. The tenant should not be part of that transaction. They get to live in a maintained property and in exchange they pay you rent. You have blurred the boundaries.

Return this relationship to a buisness footing today, frankly it doesn't matter whether they like you, you both need to know your roles in this and currently they don't. They think you are there Mum.

ifeelsad

ognum wrote: »

As a LL you don't have to be unpleasant but you do need to treat your property as a buisness. So, when the toilet stops working, you get the plumber, the plumber invoices you, you claim it against your next tax bill. The tenant should not be part of that transaction. They get to live in a maintained property and in exchange they pay you rent. You have blurred the boundaries.

Return this relationship to a buisness footing today, frankly it doesn't matter whether they like you, you both need to know your roles in this and currently they don't. They think you are there Mum.

The toilet broke ages ago when the property was fully managed by an agent who were supposed to sort out these types of repairs. The agent called us to ask permission to carry out the repair, took money for it, then didn't do it. The tenant then only called us out of desperation I didn't think us reimbursing them would be a problem (it was how the letting agent worked with for minor repairs - tenant pays and claims back from agent). I wasn't managing the property and was paying a lot for someone else to do it for me.

Since we got rid of the agent we have had several other problems, each time I have contacted a plumber/electrician myself and dealt with the invoicing myself.

lxpeanut

I cant believe anyone is cheeky enough to even ask this. The answer is no. Letting reliable tenants off with one late payment is fine if you want to be nice but repeated late payments and then not wanting to pay a months rent at all sounds like you need to look at getting them out.

RAS

Hi

Write a statement of account, rent due and rent paid indicating all the occasions when they have paid late.

Tell them that next month's rent needs to be paid on time.

Can we check that you are in England and Wales?
That you have got the deposit secured properly?
And that you re-secured it properly and re-sent the prescribed information within the required timescale when you renewed the tenancy?
And that you have an up to date Gas Certificate and issued a copy?

ifeelsad

Also I'm certainly not blaming the council for me not receiving the rent. I'm just very surprised that they aren't more concerned about where their HB money is actually going.