UK Landlord Forum / Life

For personal reasons, we desperately need our tenant (of several years) to leave by February. The tenant owes just under a year in rent arrears and we issued a Section 8 last year - we are awaiting a court date but realistically he won't be leaving before then.

We are less concerned with the money owed - we just need the tenant out. So we wanted to ask whether it was possible to come to some kind of formal written agreement with the tenant to write off the arrears they owe, but only if they left by a certain date.

Assuming they would accept the offer:
Would this possible/common to do?
How would we go about doing this? Who would we need to speak to? (i.e. a solicitor?)
Could this negatively impact the eviction process if the tenant was to reject the offer?

The tenant is AST. They have been claiming unemployment benefits for just over a year.

You may need to be more aggressive.

By that, I mean... they've not paid rent for quite some time and they're sitting pretty... using your house for free. They probably know, just like you, that they'll have longer free living before things come to a head. And then what? They are evicted and you slap them with a CCJ? Well, that was coming anyway, right? It's unlikely it would be paid. So where's the real upside to the Tenant with your offer of forgiving the debt in return for a load of hassle today? I don't see it, myself. I think you will need to be more aggressive and possibly considering providing incentive to encourage this Tenant to move themselves on... and how are they going to do that if they have no cash (certainly no cash to pay you your rent - one assumes!)?

How about moving costs? Deposit? First month of rent up-front? What about a positive / glowing reference? What about the challenge of finding a Landlord who will happily take someone in receipt of Benefits? It's a tough ask.

We all know this as "moving the Tenant problem on to some other poor unsuspecting Landlord schmuck"... it's not exactly moral, but you have pressing needs. If you did obtain agreement to anything, I don't think you are the one that needs something drafted and signed by a Solicitor - that's more likely them wanting something formalised and documented about you not chasing them for the debt. All you want is them out... and then you change the locks to ensure they can't get back in. Once they're out they're out... get the key handover witnessed and you're probably golden. All that said... I still don't see that they'd jump at this offer... not right now.

I could just about bring myself to write off the debt,and you are perfectly entitled  to make that offer.You should do so in writing ,with the words "Without Prejudice" in the offer.Personally I could not offer additional money to such tenants,and whilst my moral compass is adaptable to circumstances, I would never pass such a rotten tenant onto another landlord.I've had it done to me.Bad Karma.

"adaptable" and "pragmatic" and "realist" can all be synonyms in the correct context. The danger I foresee is this... the offer to write-off arrears is made, but is not tempting enough to be taken-up...so the Landlord's pressing needs become more... er... pressing... and he decides to up the ante... to something like I suggested... crossing palms with silver... and there's an offer made... but that's a step-up from before and the Tenant may elect to wait and see if that improves, because, well, it already has once.

If a one-time well-calculated and tempting offer is made, then it might fly better. No-one can predict. However, my suggestion was born out of the fact this Landlord told us they weren't expressly concerned about the money. The Landlord's BATNA seems incredibly weak in this situation if the Tenant doesn't play ball... what is it? Just wait for the unknown?

I hear what you are saying,It's certainly a possible solution, but I would have to be bloody desperate and have money to burn,to help people like this to benefit even more.Maybe the landlords will feel differently,it will be interesting to see their response.

The OP did use the word "desperate". 

Well,I suppose that will be the acid test of what they mean by desperate.For me,this is like giving someone the information they need to blackmail you,when they had not even been considering it.I am not even sure that it would rid them of the problem,any sooner than going via the conventional route.If these were decent tenants who had lost jobs due to Covid it might be different,but this does not seem to be the case. What does that emoji mean,should I feel offended?   

Gosh, no... you're lovely and I wanted to soften the blow of me intimating you weren't paying attention by sending along an intimate kiss (a peck!). You're right... the OP's approach now clarifies how desperate they are.

Maybe the OP is not that bothered about money because he is a man of God? They're all rolling in it... all the proceeds from car boot sales and whist drives that don't go towards the leaking roof!

Oh, thank  you.Big kiss x and hug  back to you. Talking of ecumenical  matters,grave robbing is all the rage in my town. Not bodies,but flowers and ornaments.Maybe a little side-line for the vicars?   

Quote from: Hippogriff on December 11, 2020, 09:09:55 AM
You may need to be more aggressive.

By that, I mean... they've not paid rent for quite some time and they're sitting pretty... using your house for free. They probably know, just like you, that they'll have longer free living before things come to a head. And then what? They are evicted and you slap them with a CCJ? Well, that was coming anyway, right? It's unlikely it would be paid. So where's the real upside to the Tenant with your offer of forgiving the debt in return for a load of hassle today? I don't see it, myself. I think you will need to be more aggressive and possibly considering providing incentive to encourage this Tenant to move themselves on... and how are they going to do that if they have no cash (certainly no cash to pay you your rent - one assumes!)?

How about moving costs? Deposit? First month of rent up-front? What about a positive / glowing reference? What about the challenge of finding a Landlord who will happily take someone in receipt of Benefits? It's a tough ask.

We all know this as "moving the Tenant problem on to some other poor unsuspecting Landlord schmuck"... it's not exactly moral, but you have pressing needs. If you did obtain agreement to anything, I don't think you are the one that needs something drafted and signed by a Solicitor - that's more likely them wanting something formalised and documented about you not chasing them for the debt. All you want is them out... and then you change the locks to ensure they can't get back in. Once they're out they're out... get the key handover witnessed and you're probably golden. All that said... I still don't see that they'd jump at this offer... not right now.

I can't thank you enough for your insight.

Our thoughts were that the tenant might see this as favourable because:
1) They will likely be evicted in a matter of months anyway
2) It gives them a chance to find a willing private landlord and not be faced with being housed in a less favourable council estate
3) They don't get their credit rating hammered by a CCJ
4) The tenant does seem to have assets (I.e. a car) which they might not want to lose


FYI the tenant is actually still paying, for now - I assume they have to pay otherwise they risk us getting the council involved to pay us directly.  The arrears has built up over several years (we should have kicked them out a long time ago)

Please let us know your thoughts

We can all be a soft-touch sometimes... but, you are correct, you should not have allowed a Tenant to rack up a whole year of arrears over a multi-year period of time... it's just highlighting to them that you'll not take action. And, when you eventually do, it'll probably surprise them a great deal that you eventually got serious about this. It should have been nipped in the bud, for the objective benefit of everyone.

For 1) agreed... but what is a "matter of months"... no-one probably wants to be thinking about re-housing themselves at this time of year... so maybe they think it's wiser to stay-put and let the Council step-in when required.

For 2) unlikely... unless, as queried before by others, you are willing to lie on any potential reference you give. We (the PRS Landlords as a whole) don't want your troublesome cast-offs, thank you. Even Councils will ask if there are any arrears (I've seen the forms)... are you happy falsifying there too, or if you forgive the arrears are you counting it as not lying?

For 3) sure... but you have to question whether they care. They have a car already. They're unlikely to be getting a mortgage.

So my thoughts are that I don't agree with your plan or course of action... but my answers here must be limited to "the patient in front of me" and I'm only giving thoughts on a potential strategy to allow you to reach your objectives (everyone else be damned). There's a risk factor here... but we do not know your Tenant of multiple years, we hope that you have a better handle on their reaction. I have said for a long time that even the most reliable Tenant can change overnight if things change in their life... rent is said to be a "priority debt"... but many Tenants do not understand this and would put Landlords to the back of the queue, why? Because we can swallow the pain, obviously... and we don't follow-up on debts like a Credit Card company does (not defined as a priority debt, I believe).

Thanks again for your insight, this is incredibly helpful to us.

We would of course not misrepresent the arrears or the situation. We understood from the council that it was possible for the council to pay landlords directly - would this not mitigate the concern about payments for a future landlord? Is this not the case?

It's possible... although rarer than it used to be, especially with the introduction of Universal Credit. However, arrears are arrears... just because someone has had financial responsibility taken away from them doesn't then make them a responsible person. They're still the kind of person that thought it was perfectly acceptable to not pay for the service they received, but still receive the service. So, considering that, what kind of Landlord would want to take them on? I wouldn't. They've already proven that when the going gets tough, they don't address the issues... this could apply to so much more than simple arrears. Add to this - where do they get funds for a month of rent up-front, Deposit, moving costs?

Only you know the disposition of your Tenant... whether they feel backed into a corner and will bare their teeth and make life as difficult for you as possible... or whether they will meekly retreat, tail between their legs.