Defacto tenant eviction problem

SiliconChip

penners324 said:

Have your wife move back in. Making them a lodger again.

Then evict them. Far easier to do when they're a lodger.

I don't see how that would be possible while the tenant has an AST. 

ReadySteadyPop

Jude57 said:

BarbicanBoy said:

Need some advice as to the best course of action to evict a tenant. 

The tenant was originally a lodger in my wife's bungalow but became a defacto tenant as sole occupant when my wife and I married and we live together now at our separate matrimonial home. 

The tenant has let the property go to rack and ruin and neglected to advise when repairs are necessary. This neglect culminated in the downstairs bathroom floor collapsing 2 weeks ago due to water leakage damaging the floorboards. The repair bill quotes are all around the £25K mark and we have no ready money to pay for the work to be done. The tenant has not been put out by this damage as she can use the smaller upstairs bathroom facilities instead.

The tenant pays rent of £500 per month intermittently and makes no contribution to council tax, energy or water supply. We understand that if we try to regularise the position we will actually create a new tenancy for the tenant with all that implies.

This tenant was originally accommodated as an act of friendship, but this is now having a very draining effect on my wife.

My wife has tried to find the tenant alternative accommodation, setting this up with a reputable local lettings agency but found out this morning that they have been trying to get in touch with the tenant to offer available affordable accommodation on no less than 5 occasions, by phone, text, WhatsApp, but have received no response.

One of the aggravating features, psychologically speaking, is that the tenant, a White Zimbabwean, has a home in Harare, Zimbabwe that she rents out. 

What can be done? Is it worth taking section 21 procedure?

Any advice really appreciated.

Others will be along with advice on the tenancy aspects and I'd suggest you look at the sticky at the top of this board which sets out the legal requirements for landlords and tenants. It's important to understand your responsibilities because if you haven't complied with them, it could render any notice invalid. There's a S21 checklist there, too. Respected, knowledgeable posters often say that many S21s are found to be invalid for one of more missed steps.

Now to the area I do have some knowledge of, Council Tax. There's something called the Hierarchy of Liability for Council Tax and the first tier of that is the resident of the property. This means that the tenant is the Liable Party and no tenancy agreement overrides that. If you/your wife are still paying Council Tax for the property, you should stop immediately and contact the Council Tax department of your local Council to advise them of the name of the tenant and the date they became the sole occupant. The Council may not be prepared to backdate occupation because that effectively means they'd have to refund your payments over the period and create new bills for the tenant. However, you should certainly ask them to backdate, explaining that because the tenant was originally a lodger, you hadn't realised that when your wife moved out, the tenant should have been billed. I'm assuming that you/your wife have kept Council Tax aware of the lodger moving in then your wife moving in with you and cancelled any claim for Single Occupant Discount? 

As to utilities, why would you/your wife continue paying those? Contact gas, electricity, water and any other utility companies and get the bills out of your name and into the tenant's. They might not agree to backdate either but certainly from today onwards, make sure the tenant is responsible for the utility costs. I'd imagine that receiving several years worth of Council Tax bills and utility bills will focus the tenant's mind on either being a better tenant or moving on. And while there's an irony to her body a landlord herself, I'm not sure Zimbabwean law gives tenants much protection so perhaps she doesn't understand that things are different here.

I don't see how getting your/your wife's names off Council Tax and utilities creates a new tenancy but hopefully others will advise more fully on that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_van_Hoogstraten

Yes, that would make sense.

 Definitely try to backdate the CT, but utility bills not being in the tenant`s name might make this difficult?

theartfullodger

BarbicanBoy said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

BarbicanBoy said:

Need some advice as to the best course of action to evict a tenant. 

The tenant was originally a lodger in my wife's bungalow but became a defacto tenant as sole occupant when my wife and I married and we live together now at our separate matrimonial home. 

The tenant has let the property go to rack and ruin and neglected to advise when repairs are necessary. This neglect culminated in the downstairs bathroom floor collapsing 2 weeks ago due to water leakage damaging the floorboards. The repair bill quotes are all around the £25K mark and we have no ready money to pay for the work to be done. The tenant has not been put out by this damage as she can use the smaller upstairs bathroom facilities instead.

The tenant pays rent of £500 per month intermittently and makes no contribution to council tax, energy or water supply. We understand that if we try to regularise the position we will actually create a new tenancy for the tenant with all that implies.

This tenant was originally accommodated as an act of friendship, but this is now having a very draining effect on my wife.

My wife has tried to find the tenant alternative accommodation, setting this up with a reputable local lettings agency but found out this morning that they have been trying to get in touch with the tenant to offer available affordable accommodation on no less than 5 occasions, by phone, text, WhatsApp, but have received no response.

One of the aggravating features, psychologically speaking, is that the tenant, a White Zimbabwean, has a home in Harare, Zimbabwe that she rents out. 

What can be done? Is it worth taking section 21 procedure?

Any advice really appreciated.

Given your user name and that you mention a section 21 I’ll assume the property is in England. If that’s the case there’s already an AST in place, it happened when the property ceased to be your wife’s only or main residence.  

I’m guessing it’s also safe to assume that your wife has not been complying with any of the required legislation or issued the necessary prescribed information to the tenant. If so then the chances of your wife being able to issue a valid section 21 are slim to none. 

A section 8 using ground 8 if she owes more than 2 months rent. Maybe ground 13 but it’s discretionary. 

Did your wife leave the council tax and utilities in her name? Time to get those sorted and out in the tenant’s name since she’s the one occupying the property. 

All the bills, council tax, energy, water are in my wife's name. The tenant hasn't paid any rent for two months. 

Why?  Why on earth when tenant moved in didn't whoever is landlord write/email all those notes above that there is now a tenant in residence?  Many might possibly think barking.....

Ratkin007

Another area to look into is Selective licensing. 
Have a look on your council website to see if there is a selective licensing scheme in place that covers the adress.  If there is, that is another thing that would be required before you could serve a section 21 notice.
In addition, if the property is required to be licensed but is not licensed, the tenant could apply for up to 12 months rent back.  

_Penny_Dreadful

That’s a good point about selective licensing @Ratkin007. 

Also, thinking about it, if the OP’s wife hasn’t supplied an address in England or Wales for the serving of notices no rent is due until the tenant is supplied with one.