Tenants from hell, advice needed...

Crashy_Time

welshmatt983 said:

HampshireH said:

If you had to make your home available to a housing association they should have been paying you to lease the property. You shouldn't be affected by their rent not being collected - they should be and they should be taking action.

Likewise they should be managing he tenancy and returning the property back to you in the same condition it was given to them in.

What arrangement did you have with them? Seems strange you would be forced to give it to a HA then collect the rent yourself and be severely impacted

You collecting rent and being their landlord would suggest you are also responsible for taking them to court etc 

Yes I was basically told I had the choice to manage it or have an agent manage it for me. Like I said in an earlier post prior to this I've found my own tenants and never missed any rent. The two years is up now just not sure what is the best thing to do.

Ideally would like to recoup some of the arrears but that might be difficult. What would you do in my situation with a large amount of arrears but also knowing they are not even living at the address and claiming money?

Forget the arrears and concentrate on getting them off the tenancy.

HampshireH

Sounds very messy and very unusual.

Go back to whoever provided you with the tenants - sounds like the council.

Say you have concerns that the property isn't being lived in which invalidates your insurance. As such advise the council you will be serving sufficient notice.

Contact the tenants (assume you have tried already to call them) in writing and arrange an inspection. 

When is your gas cert due? Could it be tied in with that?

Serve notice (get it right first time)

How much do they owe you in arrears?

You say the place is a mess, has it been like that during your 6 monthly or annual inspections?

You are in for the long haul unless they surrender the tenancy.

It's possible the thought after two years they had to go and have done so. Doesn't help you until you know for sure from them officially.

wmat983

Lover_of_Lycra said:

welshmatt983 said:

HampshireH said:

I would be getting in contact with the council/ housing association for advice. Serve notice though it's going to be lengthy.

If you are housing their tenants then you should have a point of contact. What type of tenancy do they have and is it with you as their landlord or is the HA mentioned?

It must be temporary accommodation so they should have been working to permanently house the tenants in that time.

Do the HA do the maintenance or do you? 

Is the HA your tenant and they sublet or are these people your tenants?

Do they do inspections or do you?

The whole set up sounds very odd.

If it was a two year agreement what does your contact with the HA say should happen at the end of he two years?

Hi sorry the contact was with the council as they issued the grant for building works, in return I had to make the house available for 2 years, after this point I will no longer have to pay the grant money back. The 2 years is now up.

I had a tenancy drawn up through a friend at an estate agent its between me and the tenant nothing to do with HA so any maintenance, gas certs etc I have to do.

Its frustrating as now I'm almost certain they are not living there.

What contract is with the council? The one for the building works only? How does the council/HA know you’ve made the property available for 2 years if neither has had any further involvement with you? 

I think they may check from time to time during the period to make sure it is still occupied by the HA tenants. I can't be certain just rather do it by the book than risk having to pay the grant back.

wmat983

HampshireH said:

Sounds very messy and very unusual.

Go back to whoever provided you with the tenants - sounds like the council.

Say you have concerns that the property isn't being lived in which invalidates your insurance. As such advise the council you will be serving sufficient notice.

Contact the tenants (assume you have tried already to call them) in writing and arrange an inspection. 

When is your gas cert due? Could it be tied in with that?

Serve notice (get it right first time)

How much do they owe you in arrears?

You say the place is a mess, has it been like that during your 6 monthly or annual inspections?

You are in for the long haul unless they surrender the tenancy.

It's possible the thought after two years they had to go and have done so. Doesn't help you until you know for sure from them officially.

The gas cert has expired and using every excuse (self isolation), nobody is going to be home during this time etc.

They owe £2000 approx.

Its not always been messy, it may not be them. if people in area have realised nobody is living there they could be tipping black bags over the side wall.  It could be them though. I was going to make an anonymous call to council about mess in garden, not sure it may backfire on me though. I'm sure they should be in charge of it though as they are meant to be living at the address.

[Deleted User]

welshmatt983 said:

Lover_of_Lycra said:

welshmatt983 said:

HampshireH said:

I would be getting in contact with the council/ housing association for advice. Serve notice though it's going to be lengthy.

If you are housing their tenants then you should have a point of contact. What type of tenancy do they have and is it with you as their landlord or is the HA mentioned?

It must be temporary accommodation so they should have been working to permanently house the tenants in that time.

Do the HA do the maintenance or do you? 

Is the HA your tenant and they sublet or are these people your tenants?

Do they do inspections or do you?

The whole set up sounds very odd.

If it was a two year agreement what does your contact with the HA say should happen at the end of he two years?

Hi sorry the contact was with the council as they issued the grant for building works, in return I had to make the house available for 2 years, after this point I will no longer have to pay the grant money back. The 2 years is now up.

I had a tenancy drawn up through a friend at an estate agent its between me and the tenant nothing to do with HA so any maintenance, gas certs etc I have to do.

Its frustrating as now I'm almost certain they are not living there.

What contract is with the council? The one for the building works only? How does the council/HA know you’ve made the property available for 2 years if neither has had any further involvement with you? 

I think they may check from time to time during the period to make sure it is still occupied by the HA tenants. I can't be certain just rather do it by the book than risk having to pay the grant back.

I wasn’t suggesting you don’t do things by the book. I’m trying to ascertain what contact and contrast you have with either the council or the HA as the whole arrangement sounds weird. Surely neither the council or HA would expect you to keep non-paying tenants for 2 years. They might expect you to take different tenants to make up the 2 years as long as the property it occupied by tenants found by them for a 2 year period it shouldn’t matter. 

Have you contact the council or HA at all since the arrears started? Something that is ringing alarm bells is HB being paid direct to you for tenants who may not be occupying the property the claim is based on. Any overpayment can be reclaimed from you. 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/696191/hbopg-part-4-recovery-of-overpayments.pdf

anselld

Serve section 8 immediately - should have been done long ago.  It is six months but the sooner you start ...

Serve written notice (pen and paper) at the "address for serving notices" (which is presumably the property address) in order to gain legal access for inspection.  They may have changed locks but you may be able to get enough evidence of abandonment.  

https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/information/abandonment/

Reporting benefit fraud is a possibility depending what you find, but any money paid to you directly can also be recovered by the Council as fraudulent so you may shoot yourself in the foot.  Better to concentrate on recovering the property.

Crashy_Time

Are you also affected by the Second property tax in wales?

macman

When did you last inspect the property? Have you not done this for the full 2 years? 

HampshireH

I'm not sure why you feel the need to speak to the council anonymously.

You haven't elaborated on what this weird contract says but I would suggest you are not annoymous at all and you as the homeowner are raisin serious concerns about their tenants and the condition of your property, lack of access and lack of rent payments.

If you have been forced to accept their tenants I cannot understand how there is no safeguard on the income and management of their tenancy.

Does this council have a policy for this type of agreement you could point is in the direct of to help us understand

Crashy_Time

macman said:

When did you last inspect the property? Have you not done this for the full 2 years? 

Shouldn`t the council be doing that?