Help with problem tenant who wont leave

PasturesNew

saviola wrote: »

Thanks so much for the advice, really appreciate it.

As for the deposit - i'm afraid I had never heard of the approved deposit scheme and I just took a £150 deposit when they moved in - is this going to be a problem?

Yes. Date depending. If they moved in since April last year then you should have put the deposit into a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. If they aren't told within 14 days which scheme the money is in, then they can claim 3 months' rent from you.

That's the simplified version.

PasturesNew

saviola wrote: »

As for the tenancy agreement, I will double check but i'm pretty certain that there was no minimum period of 6 months or anything, but i'll double check and report back here shortly.

If it is just a periodic tenancy, then you will have to issue a Section 21 (formal bit of paper) on/by the next rent date, giving them 2 months' notice to leave from that rent date. So if the rent date was yesterday you missed the boat and while you can issue the Section 21 they'd effectively be getting 3 months' notice as it won't take effect until next rent day.

That's the simplified version. I am not legally trained or qualified and only post my man-on-the-street understanding in fairly plain English.

You might like to read this: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/FAQ/index.php?action=artikel&cat=2&id=35&artlang=en
gives you a feeling for it.

Yours is most likely to be the bit starting with "In the case of the s.21(4)(a) (Periodic) it’s different and more tricky. Get it wrong and you will find a court judge will throw it out and you’ll have to start all over again."

saviola_2

Another thing - they were both to recieve housing benefit paid to the Dad and he would pay the rent directly to me.

As they take ages the HB never even began to start paying but i'm sure i'll get paid for the time that they both lived there.

As only one person stays there now the HB would only cover half the rent, but I could possibly inform HB of the situation and maybe they would pay me directly in this scenario?

GG - I appreciate what your saying, but as this was a 'friend of a friend' situation I (stupidly) never thought it would come to this. Lesson learned

Snooze

While the advice above is the official way of doing things, if it were me I wouldn't do it that way. It's precisely this softly-softly type approach in the past that had the courts give tenants more rights than one can shake a stick at. :rolleyes:

Perhaps it's because I'm old-skool when it comes to renting, I dunno, but to my mind if your tenant isn't paying their rent and isn't in an emergency situation then sorry but you've got 14 days to pay the arrears otherwise you'll find yourself homeless and a small choice of available dates to collect your stuff.

I'm fully aware of what the rule book says about doing this and so were some of my tenants that had been issued with the letter as I still have the "you won't get away with this.. I'm taking you to court.. I know my rights.." letters to prove it, but I never had any of them follow through with their threats, perhaps because physically refusing them access to the property forces them to quickly find alternative accommodation, hence solving the "homeless" problem.

One of the tricks I used to pull when getting the "I've no money at the moment and I don't get paid til the 28th" excuse was to physically wait outside the property on pay day for them to come home from work and then knock on the door and demand the rent. They then can't use the "I've got no money" excuse and it wouldn't have been the first time I've taken them in my car to the nearest ATM machine to get it when they've pulled the "it goes straight into account - I've no cash on me" line either.

You need to be proactive and don't be fobbed off with excuses.

Rob

PasturesNew

What snooze says is entirely illegal. Don't do this. You're in enough deep poo as it is.

I've no idea re HB payments, so won't comment.

So, my last comment is: ignore Snooze. While it makes for good reading, don't cut corners. You've cut corners so far, look where it's got you.

Follow clutton's advice. Item 3: DO IT NOW

If you're too tight to cough up and join a proper Association *grins* ... go hang out at http://www.landlordzone.co.uk at least!

Oh .. and don't forget... keep us informed what happens as events occur... right the way through to when you get your house back. Please. Thank you.

Or plsthx if you read lolcats

saviola_2

The agreements were for six months.

Worse than that, I only gave them one tenancy agreement each, which they both kept. I never got a signed tenancy agreement back from either of them.

This is a nightmare situation.

barnaby-bear

saviola wrote: »

The agreements were for six months.

Worse than that, I only gave them one tenancy agreement each, which they both kept. I never got a signed tenancy agreement back from either of them.

This is a nightmare situation.

Sounds like an "amature" landlord with "professional" tenants.

Being a landlord should be a business, contracts, financial auditting / planning for voids/ maintenance, legal responsibilities etc.... why on earth are you involved in this or not using an agent?

clutton_2

what you have been told about HB is utter rubbish - HB used to be ONLY be paid either to the tenant directly ~OR to the landlord IF the tenant has ticked the box on the HB application form to say "please pay LL" - it will not have been paid to the dad unless he is fraudulently claiming. now it is called Local Housing Allowance - it goes to the tenant

You certainly are in a nightmare situation - you urgently need professional advice here. Your lack of deposit lodgement into a scheme means that if the tenant takes you to court (and if you do ONE thing wrong - they will be round the council housing advice office like a shot) the judge HAS to award that YOU pay them 3 times the deposit back and if you dont you get a CCJ.

join NLA monday morning and let them help you - you really are in the poo i'm afraid - you cannot afford NOT to join - getting tenants out normally is difficult enough for those of us who know what we are doing - you dont know what you're doing and you have created one helluva mess as well.

saviola_2

barnaby-bear

I agree I went into this with limited knowledge, given the chance again I would never ever do something like this without knowing absolutely everything.

I did the basics (regards paying tax, yearly gas checks etc etc) but I have missed what seems to be the main points of the whole thing.

Lesson (still being ) learned.

barnaby-bear

saviola wrote: »

I did the basics (regards paying tax, yearly gas checks etc etc) but I have missed what seems to be the main points of the whole thing.

yeah the tenancy agreement is a main point... the deposit scheme is supposed to be self-policing - did you issue a receipt or paperwork saying you had a deposit (your disorganisation may save you if you haven't) the 3xrent to the tenant was designed to REALLY ENCOURAGE landlords to use the scheme...