Are tenants likely to refuse to leave if they cannot pay the rent anymore?

vietnamica

This will be the first time we rent out our house, so my question is very basic.

In England, what is the chance of tenants refusing to leave when they cannot pay the rent anymore? I imagine decent people would leave anyway. Is that true? Or is it common that tenants will just stay in your house even when they cannot pay the rent anymore?

Thank you

Messiah9

I'm fairly new to the UK myself and live as a private tenant here. I cannot even imagine the possibility of someone continuing to stay in your apartment without be willing to pay the rent.
Wouldn't it be easy for the landlord to just complain to the council or the police? I'd be interested to know the answer to this question as well. Also, I believe in the tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant, certain legal clauses would explicitly define what would happen in such a scenario.

onwards&upwards

I thought schools had gone back already. 

grumiofoundation

vietnamica said:

This will be the first time we rent out our house, so my question is very basic.

In England, what is the chance of tenants refusing to leave when they cannot pay the rent anymore? I imagine decent people would leave anyway. Is that true? Or is it common that tenants will just stay in your house even when they cannot pay the rent anymore?

Thank you

Can you afford for the tenant not to pay rent?

If you can't - don't be a landlord. 

If you are going to be a landlord - have you properly researched doing it - as you say this is a VERY basic question. 

Common as in likely or common as in 'lower-class'?

vietnamica

Messiah9 said:

I'm fairly new to the UK myself and live as a private tenant here. I cannot even imagine the possibility of someone continuing to stay in your apartment without be willing to pay the rent.
Wouldn't it be easy for the landlord to just complain to the council or the police? I'd be interested to know the answer to this question as well. Also, I believe in the tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant, certain legal clauses would explicitly define what would happen in such a scenario.

The estate agent advised us to buy insurance for this scenario. The insurance question seems to imply that if this happens, I can only rely on insurance companies to pay the rent for me. I don't know if this is true or not.

ChewyyBacca

@vietnamica: You have some reading to catch up to
All about landlords obligations and tenancy rules in the link below
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/67759920#Comment_67759920
Hope this helps.
Also, be completely prepared before you jump in the landlording business, not for faint hearted

Messiah9

vietnamica said:

The estate agent advised us to buy insurance for this scenario. The insurance question seems to imply that if this happens, I can only rely on insurance companies to pay the rent for me. I don't know if this is true or not.

Interesting. I don't have prior experience with this. But I'd be interested to know why would the law or authorities allow for this to happen? And what are the legal clauses which protect the landlord in such cases?

grumiofoundation

Messiah9 said:

I'm fairly new to the UK myself and live as a private tenant here. I cannot even imagine the possibility of someone continuing to stay in your apartment without be willing to pay the rent. Need to broaden your imagination.
Wouldn't it be easy for the landlord to just complain to the council or the police? Easy to complain, and I'm sure many do. And the council and police can and will do precisely diddly squat. I'd be interested to know the answer to this question as well. see below  Also, I believe in the tenancy agreement between the landlord and the tenant, certain legal clauses would explicitly define what would happen in such a scenario. No they wouldn't. 

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-tenancy-agreements/your-landlord-wants-to-end-your-tenancy
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-deal-with-a-tenant-whose-rent-has-fallen-into-arrears
and see stickies on first page of this board

MaryNB

You have a lot of reading up to do first.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180214/tenancies-in-eng-wales-guides-for-landlords-and-tenants

Unless they can find somewhere cheaper, or move in with family, it can take a lot of time and effort to get tenants to leave.
They may wait until after you issue a notice to end the tenancy. They may hold out longer and you'll have to go to court to get an eviction notice if they cannot afford to move elsewhere. This will take several months. 

If they cannot afford to rent privately they may require council housing. If they leave of their own free will, even if it's after you serve notice to end the tenancy, the council will deem them to have made themselves intentionally homeless and won't help them. Even if they feel bad about occupying your property without paying rent, it is entirely against their own interest to leave before the council issues an eviction notice and the bailiffs turn up at their door. 
In this scenario it can take several months to get tenants to leave after you issue a notice to end the tenancy.

greatcrested

The law protects people from being made homeless, so it is not easy for a landlord to evict a tenant for rent arrears. There is a process to follow.

Certainy the police will do nothing.

And at present, new laws because of COVID mean it is even more dificult for LLs to evict tenants. It takes 6 months just to start the process.

Now read

Post 4: Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?
Post 7: New landlords (1):advice & information :see links in next post

Post 8: New landlords (2): Essential links for further information

Post 9: Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

vietnamica

MaryNB said:

You have a lot of reading up to do first.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180214/tenancies-in-eng-wales-guides-for-landlords-and-tenants

Unless they can find somewhere cheaper, or move in with family, it can take a lot of time and effort to get tenants to leave.
They may wait until after you issue a notice to end the tenancy. They may hold out longer and you'll have to go to court to get an eviction notice if they cannot afford to move elsewhere. This will take several months. 

If they cannot afford to rent privately they may require council housing. If they leave of their own free will, even if it's after you serve notice to end the tenancy, the council will deem them to have made themselves intentionally homeless and won't help them. Even if they feel bad about occupying your property without paying rent, it is entirely against their own interest to leave before the council issues an eviction notice and the bailiffs turn up at their door. 
In this scenario it can take several months to get rid on tenants after you issue a notice to end the tenancy.

Thank you so much. Your info is very helpful. I'm scared and have to think further.

So it seems that for those requiring council housing, they may even find a trick here: Unable to pay but refusing to leave, the tenants may hope to have a council house.