tenants refusing to pay rent - covid-19

yksi

Wow, seems like all landlords are treated as wealthy demons, when the reality is that many become landlords by accident or have it as their only source of income or their pension. Once a Section 21 has been issued a landlord is already missing a few months of rent, and for it to continue a few more months, of course they are getting desperate - do you think you could live without half your income for 8-10 months (which is the reality for evictions right now)? These tenants aren't non-paying due to COVID-19, they're non-paying because they don't care about their financial responsibilities. Would you still back the tenants if they stole something off you worth £5,000 and then just didn't pay you? Of course not. You'd be fuming. These people are getting council / financial support so they're well able to pay at least part of their rent and they are CHOOSING not to. 

OP I have a lot of sympathy for your case and am sorry you are dealing with such poor excuses for human beings. I wish the council would redirect their support to you while they're in your property.

p00hsticks

yksi said:

the reality is that many become landlords by accident

No one becomes a landlord by accident - it is always a concious decision to go down that route.

Jeremy535897

p00hsticks said:

yksi said:

the reality is that many become landlords by accident

No one becomes a landlord by accident - it is always a concious decision to go down that route.

No. Quite a few people caught up in the financial crisis last decade ended up with two properties for one reason or another, and had no choice but to let one of them. In many parts of the country house prices had not recovered to pre crash levels even before coronavirus.

Percy1983

I would just be nice to them ask them to pay what they can and accept having to pay something towards the 'free' house I am expecting other people to buy for me.

yksi

p00hsticks said:

yksi said:

the reality is that many become landlords by accident

No one becomes a landlord by accident - it is always a concious decision to go down that route.

If you inherit a home you also inherit its tenants, and the cost of maintaining it. And you can't sell a property right now if it's supposed to be your income and isn't supporting you, so people are stuck. For some people it's the only pension they have.

Nor is a second property "free", it's actually a bit absurd but I suppose must come from the idea that a tenant pays your mortgage. If only. Most people lose half the rental income in costs and that is before paying off any mortgage. Property as an income is often a poor investment these days and rental income often performs far worse historically than stocks and shares, but that's a whole 'nother thread. Everyone hates landlords as if it's a fashionable trend, but the majority are neither wealthy nor holding multiple properties. It ain't easy money like people seem to think. There's a reason so many have sold up over the past few years. People who disappear owing months of rent, people who move in with firearms, people who destroy a kitchen, people who paint the bathroom green. Definitely not an easy income!!

Thrugelmir

Jeremy535897 said:

p00hsticks said:

yksi said:

the reality is that many become landlords by accident

No one becomes a landlord by accident - it is always a concious decision to go down that route.

No. Quite a few people caught up in the financial crisis last decade ended up with two properties for one reason or another, and had no choice but to let one of them. 

The financial crisis ended over a decade ago. That's long enough to have moved on. Particularly in an era of falling interest rates. 

silvercar

I don't see why tenants can't move into an empty property. I can understand viewings are suspended, but in this case no viewings are necessary.
I would write to your tenants and tell them you will inform the council if the rent isn't paid and this could jeopardise their new tenancy.
I don't know why people think all landlords are evil. These tenants have signed a contract to pay rent, they should be claiming universal credit with the housing element if they have no work and haven't been furloughed.

[Deleted User]

- Dip into your savings
- Sell your iPhone
- Stop buying avocados
- Move somewhere with better tenants

suwatts

I served notice on my tenants to vacate on 31st March. My partner died in October 2019 so I needed to release the capital to pay debts I knew nothing about. At the end of February, unknown to me, the female tenant and child were removed from the property due to domestic violence. Also unknown to me is that the tenants were advised when they moved in (by social workers) to claim housing benefit as two singles. Their child is very seriously disabled (which is why I helped them) so they need three bedrooms but they moved in ten years ago when the bedroom tax would have penalised them. As a consequence I am now getting only 1/3rd or the due rent which does not cover the interest on the mortgage, He is not budging, the house is falling into disrepair and is completely in denial about his situation. He is convinced that she will get a house and take him back so is making no effort to find somewhere to live. I have been told to apply for an eviction order but cannot apply until August and have been told the backlog will take this to November. As a single unemployed man he will struggle to find anywhere. The eviction application will cost me money I don't have. I am losing money each month and having to borrow from my 83 yr old mother. I cannot claim the self-employed furlough as they assume I'm getting rental income. I cannot do my self-employed work as I'm caring for my mum who has alzheimers. I'm being screwed over in all directions and I feel like Martin is villifying landlords as uncaring greedy parasites. We are not. I had to rent my home so I could come and care for mum but that presumed rental income stops me from claiming any benefits even though I'm not getting it. If I take a payment holiday my payments will rise when the holiday ends and my budget is very tight so I don't want to do this. I paid for my tenants to go bankrupt and have regularly loaned them money which has not been repaid. I have been more than kind but my current circumstances will deter me from helping people again! 

Jeremy535897

Two practical points. Unless you have actually elected to do otherwise, you only declare rent and pay tax on it when you receive it. If you have been declaring rent receivable rather than rent received, and you didn't elect to do so, you have been overdeclaring. That won't help now with SEISS as you can't amend returns to qualify for it, but it might be worth looking into if you have been paying tax on rent you haven't received.

The next point is that for universal credit there is no "presumed rent". What happens is that the equity in the property (ie net of the mortgage) is assessed by a universal credit decision maker. In your case, I would argue that you would be very unlikely to manage to sell a property with such a difficult tenant in at all at more than the mortgage, and therefore there is no deemed income to bring in. Some decision makers have accepted this argument.

Presumably you have looked into the benefits available to carers, council tax reductions etc?