Advice for landlord trying to help tenant

thebeeches

Long term poster under another ID.

I considered posting here as this is a debt problem - though not mine, yet.

I am a landlord with a property let to a very nice lady with one child ( who attends a school near to property) and a big dog (that I am supposed to think is just visiting!). During the first year of tenancy there were no problems and in view of this I renewed tenancy without increasing the rent. Tenant and I signed a new 12 month tenancy at existing rent.

The property is a 2 bed house, there is a shortage of rental properties in the area. We are now nearly 2 years on from the time she first moved in and the tenancy is coming up for renewal. There are few 2 bed houses available at that sort of rent in the area and to find a property now she would be looking at a 2 bed flat for the same money or paying more for a house.

During the year the rent has been late on a number of occasions. Never by more than 2 weeks. The excuses have always been offered that the bank had messed up or more recently that the council had messed up her claim. I presumed from this that she has transferred from HB to LHA, though I may be wrong. This month the rent is again late.

Now I have a dilemma, I don't want to give another 12 month tenancy as if the rent payments get more sporadic she may have to be given notice, this would be easier by issueing a section 21- 2 months notice than using a section 8 for non-payment. The tenant would prefer the security of a 12 month AST due to schools etc. I am happy to allow the tenancy to become periodic.

I also need to increase the rent. If I was now looking for a new tenant I would be asking for 10% more than the tenant is currently paying. Clearly the tenant is having difficulty finding the rent (which is annoying given that she receives LHA or HB). If I increase the rent by 3% (the minimum I have calculated I need), she is still going to struggle as she is struggling at the moment.

So what do I do? Tell her the tenancy is going periodic and the rent increasing?

This is what I need to do, but how do I advise her to seek help for her debt problems?

I really feel I have been more than accomodating with the late rent payments (which have made life difficult for me) and ignoring the presence of the dog and the rent guarantor that turned out not to be. All things that would make it difficult for her to find a new home.

If she can sort her rent out I would be happy to issue another AST but I feel she needs to show she can sort her rent first.

If she had a particular problem that she wanted to share with me, I could offer advice and agree a way forward. But I'm her landlord not her advisor.

Any advice welcome.

standupguy

It is very commendable of you to think about the needs of your tenant in this way.

However, I think you should do whatever is best to protect your own interests first.

Everyone's cost of living is going up at the moment and we all have to deal with what life throws at us.

Could it be that the rent has been late because others have shouted more loudly for their money?

You have an investment that needs to pay its way.

You said it - you are her landlord not her advisor - do not feel guilty!

She may have to consider down sizing if it really is a problem but there is plenty of help and support available to her.

superjaggybunnet

You obviously know what you have to do.

I would say that you have to do what you have to do even though it makes you uncomfortable. After all, you are not running a charity and you are not responsible for your tenant's issues.

**Amy**

As other poster said you need to think about your own interests. Although it is lovely for you to think of her.

My sister receives housing benefit and the council are forever messing up payments etc. It may also be the case that she is having to meet part of the rent payment, which if you put it up would mean she would have to pay for more (obviously this is just speculation on my part).

Im not sure what to suggest on how to approach it.

x

Incisor

Let it go periodic. And in a diplomatic way, tell her why. I think you can manage it in the best way.

OberonSH

I think it's great that you would want to help your tenant this way - shame more landlords aren't as responsible. Have you considered sitting down with her and discussing this? - yes you're not her advisor, but you are responsible for the most important part of her life - her home. It's a house to you, but to her it's much more, and believe me the worst thing is to feel unsecure where you live.

Ask to sit down with her one day, explain you need to put the rent up to cope with the rising costs, and mention that the late payments have caused problems. Ask her if she is having problems as it is, and if she is, to let you know so you can work things out. You say you're otherwise happy with her - consider the alternative of having to find another tenant who might not be so easy to manage.

Are the Housing benefits payable directly to you If not, this could be an avenue to look into.

If worst comes to worst, and she admits she can't afford it could you put her in touch with someone else that has property to rent?

Conor_3

thebeeches wrote: »

So what do I do? Tell her the tenancy is going periodic and the rent increasing?

Exactly that and increase it to the fair market rent. Make it a standard 6 month short term tenancy. As you've said, you've already given her more than a few chances as well as turning a blind eye to some of the breaches of the tenancy agreement.

It's a business and not a charity.

thebeeches

Offering to speak with the benefit people is a good idea, I will try that. If the problem is benefit payments needing to be sorted then I can wait for them to be sorted. A rent increase will mean that she has to find a top-up. Getting the benfit paid to me is a possibility, though I expect she has to at least agree to me speaking to the benefits people to enable that.

It may be that her general living, utility and food costs have been eating into her rent benefit and this has left her short.

Going round to chat is a bit awkward as I will need to get her to agree to a visit and then she will feel the need to hide the dog.

I may phone her and arrange a proper time for a telephone conversation.

This thread has been very helpful and crystalizes my thoughts.

The bottom line is that I feel the property is ideal for her. A young, single Mum with a little house and garden bringing up her child very nicely in a decent area attending a local school. Add to that, that private rentals are not that common and the council list is too long to be practical......so I don't know where else she could find.

I am slowly realising that she probably can't afford to live there. I need to investigate this further. If she has a short term problem that she can see her way out of, then I can give her time. If this is a long term inability to cope with living costs and rent etc then I can't afford to subsidise her. She needs to be open with me if we are to agree a way forward.

I just hope that she hasn't been using rent money to pay off other bills because those creditors are shouting louder.

Thanks for all advice.

MrsTinks

I WILL say be strong and stick to your guns on this. Firstly she IS technically in breach of the tenancy agreement by having the dog there... I've rented houses with cats nd have always gotten the LLs permission in writing and sometimes paid an extra security deposit in case of damage. I hasten to add damage has NEVER been a problem but some LLs just feel better if they have that guarantee and another part of the deal was I had the carpets professionally cleaned when moving out. Fair enough if you ask me as next tenants might be allergic!
I think it's lovely that you want to help her, but don't get too emotionally involved here! You might be very kind, but that doesn't sadly mean she will appreciate it... Be generous by all means, but do not put your investment at risk... Otherwise YOU could end up out of pocket...

Ames

She wont have been moved onto LHA, existing claimants of HB stay on the old system until there's a change in their tenancy. So that's not the cause of her late payments. Don't have much to say about the rest of the problem, although I wish I'd had you as a landlord instead of the gits I did have when I was renting privately.

Just had a thought, but maybe she could go on the council housing list and you could use that as a reason for the change in tenancy, that you want her to be able to give notice if she gets a place?

Eager_Elephant

You may not be able to speak to the Benefits team unless the tenant has signed on her form that she gives them permission to speak to you.

If you are able to speak to them they will only be able to tell you how much they are paying each week for the property, thye won't be able to give out ay personal details.

When she has stated that 'the council have messed up' is this because they pay every 4 weeks and not monthly and this is causing problems in that she may have spent the money in her account from one month and is waiting for the next lot to come through.

As you probably know HB can be paid to a landlord if the tenant wishes but if this happens you will have to spend a bit of time working out what is comign in and whether she has to top up.

If she does happen to get more than 8 weeks behind you can write to the benefits section and ask for payments to be made directly to you.

Personally if I was a landlord I would prefer the payments to come direct to me as then you know where you stand. Some landlords have clauses in tenancies to say HB payments must come to them although with the new LHA this is not always possible.

HTH

EE