UK Landlord Forum / Life

  Hi I am a new LL we couldn't sell our property so decided to rent it until the market had picked up a bit. The first Tennant was in the flat for 6 months and she was a delight. She moved back home and now we have another. 

I have recently installed a new boiler in the property and trying to get the kitchen wall fixed up to make it look nice again. I met a workman at the property today and I was extremely embarrassed.   The house is filthy, cooker is disgusting, bathroom shower black mould, dirty dishes some with mould on, cat litter tray full to the brim with cat dirt and also the cat had damaged some wood in the kitchen ripped all the wallpaper. 

I don't no what I am allowed to do about the state of the place. She did not get permission to have a pet in the first place.

I am attached to the property because it was our first family home and it pains me to see it in such a state.. even the workman commented on it... it stinks!!

I would be grateful for any help x

How long has she been there?
Have you protected the deposit correctly?

Having a pet is a breach of your AST I presume?

Arrange an inspection visit while she is there and tell her what is and what is not acceptable, can't do much about dirty cookers or dishes, some people are slobs but tackle the other things and see what she says.

Hi she moved in January 14 I did do inspection after 3 months and it was ok (ish) then but terrible now!

Yes I have protected the deposit but reading up on some posts I didn't know I have to take pictures of everything with dates and times on them. I only have basic pics of how the house looked before she moved in. 

Yes she has breached the AST,  but she has had the cat now for about 4 months I let it go but now I've seen the damage can I still say she has breached it 4 months down the road?
X

Thank you for replying!  ☺

Has your AST moved into Statutory Periodic phase yet, and if so, did you reissue the Deposit Protection "Prescribed Information" to the tenant when it did.

This might affect how you deal with her.

Quote from: boydy382 on October 31, 2014, 03:39:16 PM
Hi she moved in January 14 I did do inspection after 3 months and it was ok (ish) then but terrible now!

Yes I have protected the deposit but reading up on some posts I didn't know I have to take pictures of everything with dates and times on them. I only have basic pics of how the house looked before she moved in. 

Yes she has breached the AST,  but she has had the cat now for about 4 months I let it go but now I've seen the damage can I still say she has breached it 4 months down the road?
X

As Martha says - need to know if she is still in a contract or is on a rolling contract. 

2 choices

Evict her

or

Inspection with expectations and reinspection for eviction or continue as you are

Hi she is on a rolling month to month contract now.

Thank you for your help I will speak to my husband and decide what to do. Might try selling again.x

Quote from: boydy382 on October 31, 2014, 03:18:36 PMI am attached to the property because it was our first family home and it pains me to see it in such a state.. even the workman commented on it... it stinks!!

I am going to sound harsh and, maybe, unrealistic in your mind... but you cannot do this. You cannot let out a property you are attached to, it is a recipe for disaster... it is unlikely that anyone (almost) would look after it to your standards. By "cannot" I mean "should not" as in - it is a very bad idea.

You cannot dictate to a Tenant how they live either... you can ask one person what they think of as clean and then ask another and you will get different answers - cleanliness is a subjective thing, after all. All that you can do is require the Tenant to leave the property in the same (hopefully clean) state they were given it in when they eventually depart. You aren't there to pass judgement on their personal levels of cleanliness or enforce your own standards on others. We don't know, but you might have the OCD condition where the C stands for "cleaning" as with the TV programme.

Now, I realise how that might sound - harsh - but it is all true.

As for breaching any terms of the AST you have signed with the Tenant, you really should (and you accept this) brought it up much earlier. There is a reason many Landlords try to put absolute bans on pets into their agreements. Pets and property often don't mix very well and it can be a real pain to get things back in order.

So...

If you cannot live with the situation as it is - and the Tenant is on a statutory periodic tenancy - then issue a Section 21 and have it over and done with. Then you can either rent to someone who is hopefully more like the previous Tenant or try to sell again. As the Tenant leaves, you can ensure the property is left in the same good state it was handed over in, or you can deduct from the deposit if it's obviously not so. It sounds like you might be OK on what you've done with the deposit and even a basic Inventory, with pictures, should help you if it's needed.

It sounds to me like you cannot live with the situation as-is, so I think you need to move towards an eviction, no reason need be given.

Lastly, although more difficult to do than say, you do not have to be embarrassed about the way a Tenant lives their life. You are not related to the Tenant. I would try to be calmer, more objective, more removed.

Yes you do sound harsh but I agree with everything that you say.  I don't think I'm cut out to be a LL so going forward we are going to get the Tennant out take the hit with the mortgage payments and try and sell.

I don't have OCD ☺ I'm just a clean and tidy person  and can't understand how someone with small children can live in such disgusting squalor.   I haven't said anything to the tenant about the mess as thought I would seek advise first of all.

Thank you all for your help.x

As Hippogriff says perhaps a more detached approach may give you greater peace of mind, and indeed as Riptide says, you have two choices. They may both seem unpleasant but you will need to choose the lesser of two evils. From your posts it seems that the situation does seem to be quite upsetting.
Feel free to PM us if you decide to go for Riptides option A. and need some help.

See, I think you should be attached to your place.

Its this pride you have in it which is informing your actions, and making sure that the standard of the accommodation is something you can be proud of.

There is a great benefit in this when the tenant actually looks after it and has got it "looking nice"

However I would guard against chucking her out! If the rent is being paid on time, then I would leave it for a month, give her lots of notice of your next inspection, be nice, and wait and see. In my experience I think if you do this, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Quote from: boboff on November 01, 2014, 07:11:15 AMSee, I think you should be attached to your place.

Nothing wrong with that... but what I really meant was - if you are overly attached then you are likely to be always disappointed. Letting out the previous family home is what a lot of Landlords do, right? It's how they start out, mostly. But it requires a level of detachment that says "it's someone else's home now". As Landlord you just need to make sure it's not materially damaged and it is looking its best for the next time you want to let it out.

Detachment doesn't mean that you tolerate filth and squalor that could, potentially, cost a significant amount of money to put right. A professional cleaning service (post tenancy), for example, cannot get rid of infestations or (dangerous) mold. I think when you do an inspection you have to distinguish between untidiness and actual issues of health and safety.

Possibly, but we actually know nothing about the realities of this situation. The Tenant might just be a bit untidy and the Landlord might have a form of undiagnosed OCD. It's the Tenant's home, regardless, and they can choose how they want to live their lives... the Landlord is not their mother, their nanny, their keeper or their boss... the Landlord is a service provider. The Landlord assesses the property's condition on check-out and rectifies anything that needs rectifying. Intra-tenancy inspections can be for things like damage, maintenance, real issues re. health and safety (important, as I think you may think dirty dishes are such) etc. but not for telling someone how to live their life. The OP has admitted that they have an attachment to this property and I am clear that this is not a good idea... I think, anyway, the OP is now coming around to the conclusion that selling-up is best for them.

I mentioned on this forum once, when I did an inspection on a 26th floor apartment, I found a large plastic garden bucket full of litres and litres of water in the living room... just sitting on the real walnut floor (underfloor heating) and it bemused me to the point where I questioned - "what the hell is that doing there?" - it was removed, I didn't get a satisfactory answer as to why it was there, but I'm sure (at the time) it made some sense to the Tenants. That is a proper issue, safety, insurance, what-have-you... the fact that the toilet had dirty skidmarks in it that made me want to gip did not give me the right to say they should go and buy some bleach... and use it... bloody animals!

If tenants are easy to find, then I would replace her asap. Sounds awful. My sympathy to you on this dirty person who is  a cheat and broke the agreement you have. How can you ever trust someone like that again!