Tenants and Fraud on my profile

MEM62

brianposter said:

MEM62 said:

renting a flat minus one room (never even heard of that one) .............................., leaving your possessions in the property and not re-directing your mail. 

In the real world, such an arrangement seems perfectly normal.

Not in my opinion.  

Grumpy_chap

penners324 said:

Your only hope is an illeagal eviction that could end up with the OP in jail. Ie get the heavies on them.

That is not in any way good advice.

Yahoo_Mail

penners324 said:

Any fraud will be ignored unless it's reported to the police...

And it'll almost certainly be ignored even if you do...

s8nbam

Hi All.
Apologies for the delay in responding.
In response to some of the responses earlier:
1. Deposit: I allowed the tenants to move in with only half a deposit as they were desperate and had been vouched for by someone who works for a family member.  Also, they had 2 kids and no where else to go. - In hindsight, I now know better not to think with my heart.
2. Deposit protection: I didn't secure the deposit immediately as I was waiting for the second payment to come in with the second month's rent.  The rent did come in, but no deposit.  I have now secured it with DPS as just the £250 - with a note about the full value.  As the 2 months rent and deposit have come in via bank, there is evidence to say as much.
3. Other documents to provide: There is no gas, it is electric only, i have done the right to rent checks.
4. Redirect: After a lot of hassle i managed to cancel the original redirect and set up a new one away from the property.
5. Fraud report: I did report the fraud to Action fraud, then tried to report it to West Yorkshire Police.  They said the theft of identity is not a crime in the law as you cant steal someone's identity.  Therefor they cant pressure it.
5. Theft of Post: After having sought some advice, i have been told to report the theft of post.  The tenants claim they had no items of post under my name directly or actually been receiving post.  This has been checked on CCTV, which shows they have been receiving post.  I have now reported this to the police.
6. The tenants originally agreed to pay the next month's rent and deposit, as i offered to release them out of the tenancy early.  They agreed and said they would look elsewhere.  Since then they haven't paid the remainder of the agreed deposit or the rent.
7. Lodgers: No I was not trying to claim the tenants as lodgers, as I do not reside at the property.  However, i did agree to only rent 2 rooms, as the third room mainly contains furniture.
8. The tenant is claiming single parents universal credit, however, she lives there with her partner which I was not told about.  I have also reported this to the local authority.

A_Lert

Get professional advice. Whatever happens, be prepared for a process that is long and costly to you. This is what all too often happens to opportunistic landlords.

If the tenants are convicted of this crime, you could evict under Section 8 Ground 14, though granting this is at the discretion of the court. But I doubt they'll be convicted any time soon.

s8nbam

A_Lert said:

Get professional advice. Whatever happens, be prepared for a process that is long and costly to you. This is what all too often happens to opportunistic landlords.

If the tenants are convicted of this crime, you could evict under Section 8 Ground 14, though granting this is at the discretion of the court. But I doubt they'll be convicted any time soon.

Please dont take this offensive, or directed solely to you.
I came on the forum to seek help, however in numerous posts been villainized.  Yes i made a number of mistakes, but believe me, making a quick buck is not something i set out to do.

s8nbam

Lover_of_Lycra said:

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?

Thanks.  I read this, and one of the associated posts - Grounds for Possession of an AST.
From this post, i would look at:

Ground 1
Landlord(s) requires the property back in order to live in it. This ground can only be used if before the tenancy the landlord had lived in the property as his / her main home and before or at the time the tenancy begins the landlord gave the tenant notice that they might eventually want possession for this reason. (The court can sometimes allow the landlord possession under this ground even if no notice has been given).

The court has to look at all the circumstances, including hardship to the tenant or landlord before deciding whether to make an order.

- I did live at the property for a year, then moved temporarily south due to child birth and corona.  Technically, if my office in Leeds opened any time soon, i may need to move back.

Ground 6
The landlord intends to demolish or reconstruct the whole or part of the property or carry out major works to all or part of it and the works cannot be carried out if the tenant is there (e.g. because the tenant will not agree to give access or agree to be restricted to living in part of the property whilst works are carried out on the other part). The landlord must pay the tenants reasonable removal expenses if the possession is granted under this ground. 

The property does need some renovation work.  I want to take out the suspended floor, and re-do electrics and windows - purely out of choice, for when i do move back in.

Ground 15
Furniture at the property has deteriorated because the tenant or someone living with the tenant has not looked after the furniture. If the damage has been caused by someone living with the tenant and the tenant has not taken steps to get rid of that person then a Possession Order may be made against the tenant.

One of my chairs from a set had been broken, as well as the bed and mattress damaged (mattress discarded, without permission).

Ground 17
The tenant or one of the tenants, or person acting on the instruction of the tenant has given false information to the landlord which has made the landlord grant the tenancy.

The agreement of the flat was to for the Tenant and her 2 children and not her partner. As she is claiming single persons and single parent benefits.  Therefore providing fake evidence.

Carl2510

I have no input on the matter, I just want to say best of luck, nothing worse than people who take Advantage of someone’s good nature all be it you being very naive. I hope you get this sorted ASAP. 

[Deleted User]

s8nbam said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

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?

Thanks.  I read this, and one of the associated posts - Grounds for Possession of an AST.
From this post, i would look at:

Ground 1
Landlord(s) requires the property back in order to live in it. This ground can only be used if before the tenancy the landlord had lived in the property as his / her main home and before or at the time the tenancy begins the landlord gave the tenant notice that they might eventually want possession for this reason. (The court can sometimes allow the landlord possession under this ground even if no notice has been given).

The court has to look at all the circumstances, including hardship to the tenant or landlord before deciding whether to make an order.

- I did live at the property for a year, then moved temporarily south due to child birth and corona.  Technically, if my office in Leeds opened any time soon, i may need to move back.

Ground 6
The landlord intends to demolish or reconstruct the whole or part of the property or carry out major works to all or part of it and the works cannot be carried out if the tenant is there (e.g. because the tenant will not agree to give access or agree to be restricted to living in part of the property whilst works are carried out on the other part). The landlord must pay the tenants reasonable removal expenses if the possession is granted under this ground. 

The property does need some renovation work.  I want to take out the suspended floor, and re-do electrics and windows - purely out of choice, for when i do move back in.

Ground 15
Furniture at the property has deteriorated because the tenant or someone living with the tenant has not looked after the furniture. If the damage has been caused by someone living with the tenant and the tenant has not taken steps to get rid of that person then a Possession Order may be made against the tenant.

One of my chairs from a set had been broken, as well as the bed and mattress damaged (mattress discarded, without permission).

Ground 17
The tenant or one of the tenants, or person acting on the instruction of the tenant has given false information to the landlord which has made the landlord grant the tenancy.

The agreement of the flat was to for the Tenant and her 2 children and not her partner. As she is claiming single persons and single parent benefits.  Therefore providing fake evidence.

You can certainly try for a possession order using a Section 8 notice. It’s probably your best shot as any Section 21 issued now will need to give the tenants 6 months notice and would be invalid unless you first returned the deposit because you protected it late. 

Yahoo_Mail

s8nbam said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

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?

Thanks.  I read this, and one of the associated posts - Grounds for Possession of an AST.
From this post, i would look at:

Ground 1
Landlord(s) requires the property back in order to live in it. This ground can only be used if before the tenancy the landlord had lived in the property as his / her main home and before or at the time the tenancy begins the landlord gave the tenant notice that they might eventually want possession for this reason. (The court can sometimes allow the landlord possession under this ground even if no notice has been given).

The court has to look at all the circumstances, including hardship to the tenant or landlord before deciding whether to make an order.

- I did live at the property for a year, then moved temporarily south due to child birth and corona.  Technically, if my office in Leeds opened any time soon, i may need to move back.

The actual statue says "Not later than the beginning of the tenancy the landlord gave notice in writing to the tenant that possession might be recovered on this ground or the court is of the opinion that it is just and equitable to dispense with the requirement of notice and (in either case)—"  so what did your actual tenancy say? I think you'd be hard-pressed to get a court to waive the notice.  You could just as easily rent a place yourself if your office in Leeds opened soon.  I also doubt they'd grant it on the basis that it "might" be reopened soon.

Ground 6
The landlord intends to demolish or reconstruct the whole or part of the property or carry out major works to all or part of it and the works cannot be carried out if the tenant is there (e.g. because the tenant will not agree to give access or agree to be restricted to living in part of the property whilst works are carried out on the other part). The landlord must pay the tenants reasonable removal expenses if the possession is granted under this ground. 

The property does need some renovation work.  I want to take out the suspended floor, and re-do electrics and windows - purely out of choice, for when i do move back in.

It doesn't sound like it "needs" any of this.  You're doing it for yourself, not the tenants, and because you want to spruce the place up a bit basically.  This will probably be the only ground that might wash with a court, although it seems unlikely.

Ground 15
Furniture at the property has deteriorated because the tenant or someone living with the tenant has not looked after the furniture. If the damage has been caused by someone living with the tenant and the tenant has not taken steps to get rid of that person then a Possession Order may be made against the tenant.

One of my chairs from a set had been broken, as well as the bed and mattress damaged (mattress discarded, without permission).

Was the flat rented furnished?  If you're talking about the stuff that you're hoarding in your back room-!!!!!!-storage locker then it's not furniture, at least as far as the tenancy goes.  It's furniture if the tenants have use of it as furniture, which it appears they do not.

Ground 17
The tenant or one of the tenants, or person acting on the instruction of the tenant has given false information to the landlord which has made the landlord grant the tenancy.

The agreement of the flat was to for the Tenant and her 2 children and not her partner. As she is claiming single persons and single parent benefits.  Therefore providing fake evidence.

Her claiming single person's benefits and single parent benefits is an issue between her and the DWP, not her and you.  You could report her if you wanted but it has no bearing on her tenancy.  The actual law says "The tenant is the person, or one of the persons, to whom the tenancy was granted and the landlord was induced to grant the tenancy by a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by— (a) the tenant"  So are you saying that you wouldn't have granted the tenancy if she'd rolled up with her boyfriend and asked to rent it?  I doubt it, and I doubt a court would believe it either.

Not sure what the "fake evidence" is here?  That she's claiming single persons/parent benefits?  She probably is, perhaps not legally but that's not really your concern.

With all due respect, I think you're grasping at straws and trying to get her out on technicalities. It is very unlikely that a court will give you the time of day for this.  This isn't TV, and courts don't take evicting people from their homes lightly, especially with fairly contrived reasons for doing so.  You've already half-arsed the tenancy, my advice would be to seek professional advice before you half-!!!!!! the eviction too.

At least stop asking questions on the Credit Files board and go to the House Buying, Renting and Selling boards