urgent advice needed on bad tenants

lady100

hi,
am a first time landlord and finding problems with tenants. they have never paid the right amount of rent since moving in and that is four months ago. i was quite nice to them and did not take any deposit as they seemed to be honest when they said they only had enough to put down on the rent. they did seem like nice people.
after realising they are not willing to pay the right rent i sent a notice to end the tenancy agreement, sent this by recorded delivery and they chose not to recieve it. this got my alarm bells ringing so i rang them up, told them on the phone i was giving them notice, i even told them am planning to sell the property so they start looking to move out.
i have arranged several valuations with different estate agents but the tenants are not willing to give access to the property. they agree to appointments arranged and when the agents turn up, they ignore the door. one agent has reported seeing them thru the letter box.
i would appreciate any kind of advice on how to deal with this issue without it costing me a fortune. i do not want to sell just yet but it looks like i will be forced to sell. but again they are not giving access to the property so selling wouldnt be that easy. . please advise, and thanks in advance

silvercar

Two months rent arrears means you can evict them under section 8. go to landlordzone.co.uk/forums for advice on doing this. You clearly need to get it right as these look like professionals.

Trollfever

i was quite nice to them and did not take any deposit as they seemed to be honest

You are running a business.

Do your local shops let you run up credit?

lady100

silvercar wrote: »

Two months rent arrears means you can evict them under section 8. go to landlordzone.co.uk/forums for advice on doing this. You clearly need to get it right as these look like professionals.

thanks silvercar:beer: . have been to the forums and got some quality advice. i still welcome more advice from you moneysavers as am in a desperate situation. again, thanks in advance

speedtwin

Back it up with a section 21 as well.

clutton_2

join the National Landlords association - they will talk you thru all the paperwork you will have to produce to get them out.

did you give them a tenancy agreement - did they pay a deposit ?

lady100

clutton wrote: »

join the National Landlords association - they will talk you thru all the paperwork you will have to produce to get them out.

did you give them a tenancy agreement - did they pay a deposit ?

yes there is a tenancy agreement and this will be expiring in april.

lady100

speedtwin wrote: »

Back it up with a section 21 as well.

ting all over

i will be starting all over again with s21 and issuing s8 0n grounds 8,10,11&12

lady100

speedtwin wrote: »

Back it up with a section 21 as well.

i will be starting all over again with s21 and issuing s8 0n grounds 8,10,11&12

paintpot

Basically, your only options are to serve a s8 notice and a s21. If they are two months in arrears at the time of the court case then the judge has to award you possesion and you are guaranteed possession of your property back if you serve a s21 as this is not up to the judges discretion either. However, if the tenants are clever, under the s8 if they pay a penny under the two months rent before the court date then whether you get possession back will be at the discretion of the judge, that it why you need to serve the s21 aswell. However, you need to ensure the s21 is served correctly, if the tenants are still in the 6 month fixed term period you will need to serve a s21(B) and ensure you get your dates right otherwise you could find that two months or so down the line that you are back to square one again. You will not be able to get possession of your property back though until the fixed term of 6 months is up but serve it now as this will start showing your tenants that you mean business. You can also start a claim using moneyclaimonline for the rent arrears, this again will show them that you are not going to put up with this.


Unfortunately, if the tenants refuse you or your agent entry there is nothing you can do about it, they are entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property and if you enter when they have said you can't then you will be harassing them.

I would advise that you write to the tenants giving them 7 days notice stating that you want to do a periodic inspection of the property, a quarterly inspection is quite usual so if you haven't done one recently now's the time to do it. State that you are coming on X date at X time and unless you hear from them to the contrary then you assume this is acceptable. Hand deliver the letter so they can't say that they didn't receive it (take a witness if you can). If the tenants don't reply do the visit and let yourself in if they do not answer the door. However, if they appear from no-where and ask you to leave then you have to. Also, when you serve your notices hand deliver them and again take a witness and take photos of you delivering the notices if you can. It all helps if you end up before a judge. Make sure you have a complete paper trail so that you are squeaky clean.

lady100

thanks every one for the support. about getting the dates correct, the tenancy agreement started 1st/10/2007,. will i be wright issuing s21 requiring possesion beginning of april. i have done alot of research on section 21 but still find it confusing and i really want to get my dates wright.