UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am a new landlord, we rented our family home out at the end of July this year to someone who was then moving in with his girlfriend and her three children.
Within the first week we had an issue about a lock that had broke, we got a locksmith out to put a new lock in and he said it was unusual for it to break both sides, after which the tenant proceeded to tell us how he picked locks for a hobby? We swallowed that and put it down to wear and tear. The following week we had another call, a pipe was leaking from the radiator in the bedroom, we got a plumber out who said it looked like it had been knocked or stood on as it was bent, we swallowed it as starting hurdles. At the end of the month the first full rental payment was late, only by a few days but we thought ok..... the following month it was over a week late and the standing order was cancelled, starting to get a bit concerned now. This month he has just informed us he can't make the rent payment as he is now about to lose his job and depressed. He has also just had sky dish fitted on the wall above patio doors after we said no.
We are paying rent ourselves in a property and we are dependent on his rental payment to pay ours. We can sustain it for a couple of months but after that if he doesn't pay we shall have to throw ourselves on the mercy of friends to put us up until such a time as we can get our home back. We rented it out initially so we could be nearer relatives rather then sell, now we wishing we had sold. Feeling very miserable as we had never been a landlord before and probably won't again after this. Any advice is really appreciated, thank you.

I also want to add, that we have tried to contact tenant to say that we could mutually end contract early and won't ask for arrears if he leaves within 21 days but he is completely ignoring us and letting agents, so I guess that's a no ☹️

I have strong feelings that being a Landlord with one property, and not wanting to get into the game fully, is hardly ever a good idea. It sounds like you are closer to the beginning of a traumatic time, rather than in the middle or close to the end. Can I ask a few starter questions, first, please?

1) What fixed term did the agreement you signed have?
2) Did you take a Deposit and was it protected properly?
3) Did you reference the Tenant and take out any form of rent payment insurance?

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.
It is a 12 month tenancy, yes the deposit is in a government protection program and yes we got a landlord buildings insurance which also covers non payment of rent. I shall need to get that out to see what the procedure is.

You should issue S21 at the end of November.If he is playing games it might make him take this seriously.If he is made unemployed he would be able to claim housing benefits,but in your position I would bite the bullet,get the place on the market.This is a highly precarious situation,that could arise again at any time with future tenants.Good luck,I hope your insurers pay out!

In the future, try your best to provide a 6 month fixed term tenancy agreement. It doesn't mean they're limited to 6 months, but it provides you with an opportunity to serve a Section 21 earlier. Right now, if you wanted to evict, you'd be looking at a Section 8. These are more complicated (in that they can be challenged and sometimes rely on the discretion of a Court, depending on the Grounds selected). I have never gone down the Section 8 route, I would prefer to swallow the situation until the time that I can serve the more cast-iron Section 21. I would investigate your insurance for sure... that could greatly ease your concerns in the real world. The Insurance folk (I don't know) might also provide some advice of their own here.

Sorry,did not notice it is 12 months.Nonetheless,surely if the landlord needs to sell or return to live there it should be much easier to get them out? Personally,I would find this current hand-to-mouth balancing act unsustainable.