dukeoffenland

I took a month plus 100 quid in a prprotection thing

salsa-king

I've had same sort of thing happen with tenant not paying rent or wanting to talk with me.

I had to bit the bullet and cut all contact with them, got solicitor involved to serve them a Section 21 form.....

You can only do this if they are two months behind on rent then a you can also claim they are in breach of contract (that they signed).

Cost me £168 in solicitors letters (it never went to court - thank God, as that could have taken ages to arrange). But they did leave in the end when they trashed the house and blow the electrics, hence they couldn't leave with no power.





Theonly other time I've had this when someone has only been in a month and starts not paying, with no intention of giving me any money rent.
I said I can do it officially to evict you as I have enough money that I can ride this out, I will also make your life very difficult. So it's up to you, I'll give you to the end of the week to clear all your stuff out and leave.

They left!!

BaojeeX

Landlordzone are a nice helpful bunch online! Definitely register yourself on their forums. You learn a lot!

dukeoffenland

Cheers

salsa-king

credit check mean nothing if the tenant is going to be a bad one.

If you take a deposit it has to be put into one of the TDS (Tenancy deposit schemes) now.

A lot of landlords don't take deposits with the hassle it creates proving the tenant shouldn't be entitled to it back (it takes about a month to sort out) so instead they take a larger amount of advance rent, that way you are at least a good month in front on the rent when they move in.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

DO NOT send them any silly letters, DO NOT threaten them with anything at all. DO NOT listen to SN keyboard warriors. There is some great advice above from the clearly seasoned Landlords, but you need to consult with a solicitor and follow their instructions. Simple.

stevie1982

iTrader: (16)

Pal I have no official input to put in, other than what seems to happen is the moment someone who is in the right then goes down the wrong route (threatening, cutting off power, general taking matter into their own hands) quiet often ends up in a worse position, ends up getting screwed more, mentally, emotionally and in most cases lands up financially worse to. Stick to the correct avenues, legal letters, have the agents issue written cancellation of tenancy and try to get them out as quick as possible. With any luck you won't be out of pocket to much and the damage to the property will be as little as possible. Then accept it, it's one of life's lessons that in an ideal world we shouldn't have to deal with yet we don't live In one so try to live and learn, move on and with any luck the next tenants will be better.

Hope you get it sorted

stevie1982

iTrader: (16)

That the gist I was going for

Marietto

iTrader: (13)

My wife is an independent inventory clerk. As long as you had an independent inventory done before they moved into the property and you get an independent check out report when they leave then you should only have to refer to the Dispute Service if the tenants disagree with the check-out report. If they are "players" then chances are they will dispute it. The dispute service arbitrators are red hot but they will only make a judgement based upon the evidence in the inventoy & check out reports. The important thing is that they are done by an independent company. Did you have any of these done?

dukeoffenland

Yes all done by rics surveyor day before they signed
Thanks for input I will update when I speak to solicitor

salsa-king

+1

Mcintyre19

I'm a tenant and although I have never missed a payment on my rent in the last 3 years since being in rented, this wouldn't show on a credit report. It's hard enough trying to get your foot in the door of rented accommodation. One months rent up front (reasonable), one months rent as a deposit (again, reasonable) however, still difficult to save up for the first time. It's when landlords/agents start charging processing/admin fees. Which a private landlord should not be charging or in theory an agent as their fee comes from the rent paid each month.

What I am trying to say is, don't let a bad experience put you off, because at the moment, property is the safest bet for investment. The rental market is stronger than ever, there is a high demand for new properties in the rental sector. Which as long as you find a good tenant will work out better for the investor as there are a couple of developers who offer 5 years warranty.

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

Try posting on a landlord/tenant site, unless they are trying to pay with an Impreza FFS

dukeoffenland

Well hedgecutter your a helpful fellow .... Better than some of the **** posted on here
Don't have anything helpful ti say you should do as my tenant and **** off

Octoposse

THIS!

Consequences of doing any of these is you having to cough up compensation for an 'Illegal Eviction'. We're just going through the same thing - no rent paid for three months AND he moved a dog in (in breach of his tenancy AND our leasehold agreement, plus we get phonecalls from other occupants of the block complaining about him at 3am . . . just what you want when we both work full time and have a toddler!). Irony is we've always let it out a little cheaper than market rent, so we get a 'good tenant' (ho ho) but my wife was in a hurry, stressed at work, busy at home, etc.

He'll be out in another three weeks. We're fortunate - in 'bad' years we rely on the rent to pay the mortgage on our house (the flat is all ours, paid for) . . . but times are good at the moment so it's more the aggro and stress than the dosh. Weekends will be given up when he moves to deep cleaning, re-decorating, new carpets, etc.

Citizens Advice and Shelter are just interested in tenant's rights - their advice to him is just sit tight while we go through the legal process.

salsa-king

yep, the law is all on the tenants side.

dukeoffenland

Guys cheers for all your help and messages. Solicitor send letter at 10 am delivering by hand he phoned solicitor saying his wife has gone I can keep deposit and he is moving back up north end of month

Just waiting for it in writing

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Result.

A mate of mine had this happen, so he had an iron gate made, waited till they went out fitted the iron gate and had a few burly lads on stand by with a big van, just to help them move out of course

Cost him about £1k but they left there and then.

But the legal route as recommended above is the way forward.

SRSport

Do you not have included in the contract a clause that stipulates that all legal fees accumulated due to breaches of contract will be passed on to the tenant? This is common practice now and can be useful in encouraging them to pay monies owed within a given timescale in fear of having to pay additional fees later.

SRSport

The greater irony is that you are appealing to the sort of opportunist tenants that you are setting out to avoid. By setting it at market value you encourage tenants to move in for the right reasons rather than those motivated by financial gain.