3+ months late rent

allBlighty

Hello all,
We have a property which has been let out as a company let (via a large UK property management company) for over two years now. There has always been a delay in the monthly payment, every two months or so the payment would be one month outstanding. However, the money always came through in the end. Since the start of the year however, the rent  has not come in, which has made things difficult for us financially as we are currently renting out a different property. Seeing as we where getting no luck with any sort of payments we decided to evict them, (just having given them the proper eviction notice). We are afraid that we will not get the money back.
The company doesn't come up on any internet searches/yellow pages, making me think it may not be a genuine company. I'm sure that these days every company needs to have some sort of online presence to return customers. It is though listed on the gov website for businesses (companies house)
Does anyone have any advice?

Hasbeen

Sorry a bit lost on your post? Perhaps just me LOL.

You let your property via a large UK property management company. But the company has not sent you any money since the start of the year.

You have checked and the company that you use does not come up come up in any searches?

You are renting out an other property but that makes it difficult for you? cash wise?

So you have decided to evict the tenants? Have they not been paying the company?

Can you please clarify and sorry! use paragraphs with spaces  to make it easier to read?

I am sure it makes sense to someone so they will offer any advice.

blue_max_3

is the property management company managing the property for you? I would have been on to them after the first delay. Did you have a contract? If so, you should seek legal redress with the pmc. You may have no basis to evict the tenants if they have been paying the management company.

greatcrested

Assuming that your tenant, the "large UK property management company" has sub-let your property to ... someone who lives there, you have no legal relationship with the occupants. You cannot evict them (the ocupans) in the 'normal' way via, for example a S21 or S8 Notice. Is this what you are trying to do?

You will have to sue your tenant (the "large UK property management company" ) for breach of contract.

Presumably when you went into this commercial tenancy with them (it's not an AST), you did your due diligence. Checked who they are, where they are based, who the directors were etc (just as any landlord always vets their tenants!).

Whether they have an onlne presence is irrelevant (though I'd have thought you'd have checked that 2 years ago). Write to, and then sue the company via the registered address listed at Companies House.

Hasbeen

greatcrested said:

Assuming that your tenant, the "large UK property management company" has sub-let your property to ... someone who lives there, you have no legal relationship with the occupants. You cannot evict them (the ocupans) in the 'normal' way via, for example a S21 or S8 Notice. Is this what you are trying to do?

You will have to sue your tenant (the "large UK property management company" ) for breach of contract.

Presumably when you went into this commercial tenancy with them (it's not an AST), you did your due diligence. Checked who they are, where they are based, who the directors were etc (just as any landlord always vets their tenants!).

Whether they have an onlne presence is irrelevant (though I'd have thought you'd have checked that 2 years ago). Write to, and then sue the company via the registered address listed at Companies House.

Ok that makes sense. So the OP is trying to "evict" the Management Company by giving them notice? 

The Op would have to sue the company. Gotcha. LOL.

allBlighty

Whoops, guess I explained that rather poorly.
I'll start again.

We own a house in Swindon which we purchased back in 2016.
A letting agent found someone to let out the house to. The house is let out via a company lease not the regular assured shorthold tenancy.

The company is a carpentry business. 
Interestingly enough, the company (carpentry guys) don't have any sort of online presence. I'm sure it would be very difficult to get much business without any sort of online presence these days.
This has made me think that perhaps the carpentry company is not genuine.

So the main issue, which I'll word(hopefully) better is as follows.
The carpentry company have not been paying since the start of the year. Despite much attempt from the letting agent to get the carpentry company to pay the rent arrears, nothing has happened. 
The carpentry company often would pay the rent one month late. Not really relevant but just thought it would be good to add.

As we rent a house in Bath, we are starting to feel the financial pinch. Because of this we plan to move to Swindon and live in the house (where the carpentry company is).

We have given a notice to quit to them as we can no longer afford this.  
After they leave, how can we get back the rental arrears.


Hopefully this makes more sense 

allBlighty

blue_max_3 said:

I would have been on to them after the first delay. Did you have a contract? 

During first two years (before the contract went rolling) they were often one month late paying so at first we thought it was not a problem. We have always been fairly lenient. Anyways after it got to two months, the letting agent got in contact with us to tell us that they would be contacting the carpentry company and trying to get the money back. Now at three months plus the letting agent has not been proactive and has not been clearly communicating with us. 
Basically, we were trying to be proactive but the letting agent has been a bit useless.

Also the contact has ended is now rolling.

greatcrested

allBlighty said:

We own a house in Swindon which we purchased back in 2016. irrelevant

A letting agent found someone to let out the house to. The house is let out via a company lease not the regular assured shorthold tenancy.
The company is a carpentry business.

letting agent is irrelevant. You let the property to the carpentry company.

Interestingly enough, the company (carpentry guys) don't have any sort of online presence. I'm sure it would be very difficult to get much business without any sort of online presence these days. Irrelevant
This has made me think that perhaps the carpentry company is not genuine. as said before, the time to do your due diligence was before you agreed to the contract with them

So the main issue, which I'll word(hopefully) better is as follows.
The carpentry company have not been paying since the start of the year. Despite much attempt from the letting agent to get the carpentry company to pay the rent arrears, nothing has happened. 
The carpentry company often would pay the rent one month late. Not really relevant but just thought it would be good to add.

So my advice is as before- write to the tenant (carpentry company) and then sue them.
As we rent a house in Bath, we are starting to feel the financial pinch. Because of this we plan to move to Swindon and live in the house (where the carpentry company is). Irrelevant

We have given a notice to quit to them as we can no longer afford this.   Cannot comment without seeing your contract with them.
After they leave, how can we get back the rental arrears. Sue them

Does not really change the advice.

staggered

It might be worth asking your Management Company if there are any legal avenues you could pursue and, if they can't help, asking on a Landlords Forum.

My guess, however, is that, even if you did get the rent arrears, the cost of taking legal action (CCJ?) would swallow up any money you received.  So, you'll probably, I'm afraid, have to chalk this up to experience and hope your next tenants are better.

allBlighty

greatcrested said:

Does not really change the advice.

Okay gotcha, 👍

allBlighty

staggered said:

My guess, however, is that, even if you did get the rent arrears, the cost of taking legal action (CCJ?) would swallow up any money you received.  So, you'll probably, I'm afraid, have to chalk this up to experience and hope your next tenants are better.

Hmm, so it might seem
I'll have to look into this further to see how much it would cost