Landlord Help With Tenants In Wales

B15_Donne

Dear Forumites,

Some advice please. Myself and my father inherited my grandfathers property following his death in January 2022. 

Between January 2022 and July 2022 we emptied, and partially re-decorated and renovated 70% of the house before being approached by a married couple and their young family about renting my grandfathers house on a short term basis as they had sold their property.

We agreed that we would rent the property to them for £500pcm for an initial 6 month period. A contract was drawn up and this ran until 18th January 2023. The tenant is a director of his own Letting & Estate agency and his wife works as an employee at the Letting & Estate agency. When the initial contract ended on the 18th January 2023 we agreed that the rent would increase to £600pcm and we would review at the end of 2023 with the likelihood of raising it in January 2024. When we asked what happens when the original contract elapsed, their  response was “we will go onto a periodic tenancy, but we will have to move onto a new occupation contract before 31st May 2023”. Since May 2023 we haven’t seen sight of any contract and haven’t signed anything and have just left it as it is.

Now this is where our issues start. At the end of 2023 we instructed them in writing that we would be increasing the rent to £700pcm as mentioned at the start of 2023. Their response was it was no way fair to raise it to £700pcm, as the house was only 70% renovated and wasn’t worth that much in rent. In our defense, they were originally only meant to be there for a short term period as they were needing house to move into as they had sold their property and ours was a short term solution. They knew it wasn’t fully finished etc. To put it into context, if they weren’t occupying the property we would have fully renovated the property and should be getting in the region of £900+ pcm!!!!!!! With them being there longer than anticipated we’ve lost out on valuable income!!

Being, sympathetic we decided not to raise the rent and leave it as £600pcm. At the start of January 2024, our tenants informed us that they had bought a house and would be looking to complete at the end of March 2024 but needing a crossover period before moving out of our property. In this time, myself and my father have decided that we are going to sell the property to help fund another project. We’ve informed the tenant in writing and email using the correct notices from Rent Smart Wales, that we will be selling the house and would need access to the property for valuers to view the property. 

They had no issues with us selling the property, but have specifically stated they are only allowing valuers to come and view the property only on a specific Saturday and only between certain times, knowing very well a lot of estate agents do not work on Saturdays in the area. They have specifically stated that NO viewings are undertaken whilst they are living there! 

As landlords we’ve been very flexible. During the time they’ve been at the property, any issues that have arisen electrical or plumbing wise we’ve resolved within 24hours every time. They asked whether they could have a dog in the house which we allowed and not many rental properties allow for dogs in our area. 

On Friday last week, I asked them whether we could meet them over the weekend to discuss the issues face-to-face, but by the looks of things they’ve blocked my number from contacting them. We want the issues resolved immediately and amicably as possible as it may have serious implications on other projects we have.

My question is as there is no written contract in place what rights do they have?? We feel, as they’re in the letting agency game they can dictate everything as they want and are aware of the regulations better than us!

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to give you all the proper background of our case.

Thanks

theartfullodger

What training in being a landlord in Wales have done please?

You will realise YOU have chosen tenants who are likely to be experts in the laws, regulations and how to play landlords..

Which landlord association are you a member of please?

gwynlas

Are you a registered landlod in Wales and have you complied with all legislation?
It looks to me that they are using their knowledge against you and you urgently need help on the wat forward

B15_Donne

gwynlas said:

Are you a registered landlod in Wales and have you complied with all legislation?
It looks to me that they are using their knowledge against you and you urgently need help on the wat forward

Yeah registered with Rent Smart Wales and complied with all legislation.

i’ve spoken to Rent Smart Wales previously and they say it’s more of a legal issue and nothing they can advise us with! 

njkmr

You really need to seek legal advice from a solicitor familiar with Landlord assistance.
This is a prime example of people going into Letting without knowledge of the legalities and expectations of being a Landlord.

B15_Donne

njkmr said:

You really need to seek legal advice from a solicitor familiar with Landlord assistance.
This is a prime example of people going into Letting without knowledge of the legalities and expectations of being a Landlord.

It’s something we have thought about but when the tenant is a director of a letting agency you would have thought they would be more transparent and open with us instead of being difficult about the matter!!

theartfullodger

Have you spoken to a landlord association or a solicitor regarding this matter please?

B15_Donne

theartfullodger said:

Have you spoken to a landlord association or a solicitor regarding this matter please?

Not yet we haven’t.

Didn’t think we would need to as we took it on good faith they would be decent tenants as their working in the letting agency business!!

marcia_

B15_Donne said:

theartfullodger said:

Have you spoken to a landlord association or a solicitor regarding this matter please?

Not yet we haven’t.

Didn’t think we would need to as we took it on good faith they would be decent tenants as their working in the letting agency business!!

 Which allows them to take advantage of your good nature and lack of understanding of being a landlord 

njkmr

The most respectable tenants can and do become the tenant from hell.
Appearance ,job, how they come across can be first class , but once they are in things can change dramatically very quickly.
As an example i started using a Letting Agent to collect the rent and do the legal stuff for me after doing it myself for 10 years plus.
The agent was worse than the tenant , i ended up contacting the tenant to ask if they had paid the rent only to be told "yes i have" , and then found the agent had been holding on to it...!
Its not an easy job managing a tenant or an agent im afraid.

subjecttocontract

In England I usually point people in the direction of a company called 'Landlord Action'. You will find them easily if you do a web search, they do deal with property in Wales. Worth a try. Good luck.