Long term tenant can no longer afford rent (Scotland)

mrsbun2002

Hello, just over ten years ago we rented our former home to a lady whilst we decided if we should sell or not (we have an adult son with autism, and were considering our/his options at the time). There is a rental agreement in place, and the property has always had the appropriate safety check/certificates carried out.  The lady is still in situ, and the rent (£750) remains the same value as when the tenancy started.

The lady has sadly lost her job.  She has applied for housing benefit, which is only £400, and is now waiting to hear if she is successful in her claim for discretionary support from her local council for the shortfall.

Meanwhile, she has asked if we can lower the rent until she gets a new job.

We never set out to make a profit, and have mainly broken even over the years, just to retain the property.  With all the financial changes recently, we have started to make a loss, and cannot afford to reduce the rent.

Although we hope she can remain, we must seriously look at all options, especially as it now looks very unlikely that our son would want to move back there.

Where do we stand please?  Can I simply say no, and have I the right to evict her to either re-rent or to sell?

PRAISETHESUN

mrsbun2002 said:

Hello, just over ten years ago we rented our former home to a lady whilst we decided if we should sell or not (we have an adult son with autism, and were considering our/his options at the time). There is a rental agreement in place, and the property has always had the appropriate safety check/certificates carried out.  The lady is still in situ, and the rent (£750) remains the same value as when the tenancy started.

The lady has sadly lost her job.  She has applied for housing benefit, which is only £400, and is now waiting to hear if she is successful in her claim for discretionary support from her local council for the shortfall.

Meanwhile, she has asked if we can lower the rent until she gets a new job.

We never set out to make a profit, and have mainly broken even over the years, just to retain the property.  With all the financial changes recently, we have started to make a loss, and cannot afford to reduce the rent.

Although we hope she can remain, we must seriously look at all options, especially as it now looks very unlikely that our son would want to move back there.

Where do we stand please?  Can I simply say no, and have I the right to evict her to either re-rent or to sell?

In a nutshell, yes. As hard as it is, you are running a business at the end of the day. Only you can decide if it's worthwhile to run your business at a loss, but I suspect it's probably not viable.

I'm unsure of the process for Scotland, but I'd do some reading up on it to make sure you know how it works. If they are after housing benefits then you'll likely need to go through the full eviction process as the councils likely won't help her otherwise

anselld

You can say no and if arrears subsequently build up you can seek posession. 

FlorayG

You can say no. I've been through similar, tenant just could not afford it, I couldn't afford to reduce it, she does now get housing benefit and a discretionary top up BUT the top up is only for 12 months to give her time to find somewhere else.You can issue a Section 21 notice to quit and sadly have to follow that up with a trip to court to force the tenant to move out.

user1977

FlorayG said:

You can issue a Section 21 notice to quit 

You missed "Scotland".

FlorayG

user1977 said:

FlorayG said:

You can issue a Section 21 notice to quit 

You missed "Scotland".

Woops yes, I forget rules are different there - but there surely is something similar?

dinosaur66

if genuine and she is genuinley trying to find work -fine keep her on

tell her you will give her 3 months and if she has not found work than you will issue a notice to leave 

tribuneral requires 3 months of non paying rent to find on your side anyway.

might be better if she does not pay as you coud re rent this

property rent for new tenancys have gone up post rent freeze 2022 to now 2025 by 20% to 30%

without knowing your area i would guess this property that you are renting for £750 from 2014/15 is now £1100 to £1200 a month based on what i know of north ayrshire rents as a guide.

theartfullodger

You can try to evict using (?) notice to leave, assuming it's a PRT.

Good luck.  Iirc discretionary.

GDB2222

I’m not sure it’s a good idea to reduce the rent. I’d just tell her you won’t be chasing the arrears for the time being. 

[Deleted User]

I think it's time to carefully review the whole arrangement. I absolutely can see why you wouldn't increase rent from a human perspective but you haven't been entirely business minded there. Even if your objective was to break even, then that doesn't mean making a loss. Increased rents would have covered unexpected costs such as voids or non paying tenants (example in point). Now thinking about funding a strangers housing costs from your own pocket is beyond the pale I say! Maybe don't enforce immediately but do be clear that you aren't reducing rents.

ReadySteadyPop

[Deleted User] said:

I think it's time to carefully review the whole arrangement. I absolutely can see why you wouldn't increase rent from a human perspective but you haven't been entirely business minded there. Even if your objective was to break even, then that doesn't mean making a loss. Increased rents would have covered unexpected costs such as voids or non paying tenants (example in point). Now thinking about funding a strangers housing costs from your own pocket is beyond the pale I say! Maybe don't enforce immediately but do be clear that you aren't reducing rents.

In many areas increasing the rent too much means an empty flat, this could be more costly than a part-paying tenant?