UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all,

I am very new to letting....would really appreciate any and all advice, please!

I am currently leasing a flat.

My tenant paid me her deposit and 1st month rent on March 1st. I didn't register the deposit, ( because I had no idea that I needed to )
She has no paid me rent for the month of April and is ignoring all my calls etc....

I dont really want her to continue living there. Not only has she not paid me, but she also has a cat in the premises, and the contract strictly stated that no pets are allowed.

We agreed to a short-hold tenancy agreement of 6 months...what is the best course of action I can take to have her removed from the property before this.

Please Help!!

Thanks, Jen 

You are now in a lot of trouble ... You really should have done your research before entering the PRS. You have not protected the deposit within the required 30 day limit so you are now liable to up to 3* the deposit (there is no defense for this). My opinion would be to protect the deposit now to try and help your case down the line.

In retrospect, if you'd just asked for two months' rent in advance  instead of calling it a deposit, it would have been less of a problem, but we are where we are.

I wouldn't say you're in a lot of trouble. You've cocked up and it's going to cost you, but it's not the end of the world. Given that it's your first tenant, that you sinned in ignorance, and that you're going to protect the deposit and issue the prescribed information this week so it's less than a month late, it's unlikely that a court would award your tenant much more than 1x the deposit when/if she sues you, so you'll be able to negotiate on that basis.

Assuming you protect the deposit, the earliest you can get her out via a Section 21 is six months from the start of the tenancy. If she falls into arrears of more than two full months, you can make a Section 8 application to evict her before then. There are also other grounds on which it is possible to use Section 8 but the cat probably isn't enough on its own to constitute a material breach of the terms of the tenancy agreement.

If you return the deposit then you will not expose yourself to being sued for not protecting it.  you have to wait until the rent is 2 months in arrears then you can serve a section 8 notice.  How long is the agreement for?

I'm not so sure about that, andkay: the deposit's been taken. It hasn't been protected within 30 days. A sueball is very much still on the cards even if it's handed back now.

The only way to avoid that would be if it turned out the deposit wasn't a deposit after all, i.e if Jen were to contact her tenant and say something like, "Sorry, just to clarify, this £x you paid me at the start of March, was that for the first two months' rent or was part of it the deposit?" and the tenant says it's the rent, then that might be enough to take legal action off the table, albeit at the cost of not having a security deposit and postponing the possibility of a Section 8 for arrears by another month.

Thank you so much for your advice, I very much appreciate it.

I did ask around - but yes I didnt research as thoroughly as I could have.

I checked references for my tenant. She was brilliant with paying on time with her previous landlady but since leaving has left a trail of unpaid rent for last 2 months and all her stuff behind.

- What is the best way of protecting the deposit? What do I need to do? custodial or insured?

- Is this site legitimate  - https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/

- Once I am a bit sure of this, I can sort it by the end of the week.

- If the tenant doesnt pay me on the 1st May....can I issue a section 8 application to have her evicted, as she will be in arrears 2 months....April and May. if yes, How can I do this?

I will contact her and see if I can get her to agree that the deposit was the rent for April - but this is difficult as she will not answer her phone....

Grrr

Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate all your help

Quote from: Jen on April 25, 2017, 12:03:03 PM

I checked references for my tenant. She was brilliant with paying on time with her previous landlady but since leaving has left a trail of unpaid rent for last 2 months and all her stuff behind.

Maybe see if you can talk to her, knock on her door and talk to her face to face, it can cut through a lot of stuff that being detached my mail, email, text etc won't. Perhaps bring up her not having a problem paying her previous landlady and ask what the problem is/what's changed. Seems strange to me that she was brilliant with her last landlady but not with you, not that I'm suggesting its down to yourself. Would be interesting to find out what's going on here.

Hi Snowflake

Thanks for the reply

Is it okay if I just pop round and the knock on her door in the evening?

I wont get into any trouble will I?

She might set the cat on you.

You need to be careful of anything that could be construed as harassment, but one visit at a civilized hour of the evening should be OK. If she doesn't answer the door, don't hang about, just drop a friendly note through the letterbox, along the lines of, "I hadn't heard back from you so I just thought I'd pop round and make sure you're OK and happy with the property, and maybe sort out any problems/misunderstandings with regard to the rent. Anyway, sorry to have missed you. Perhaps you could give me a bell and we'll have a chat. Cheerio, Jen" Be open and friendly and willing to work with her to find a solution. If you avoid backing her into a corner she may yet turn out to be a good tenant that's just had a wobble that she doesn't know how to cope with.

As regards deposit protection schemes, I use custodial but either works fine.

Quote from: Jen on April 26, 2017, 01:45:30 PM
Hi Snowflake

Thanks for the reply

Is it okay if I just pop round and the knock on her door in the evening?

I wont get into any trouble will I?

Why not, you've got a legitimate interest in contacting the tenant directly, if emails, normal mail, phone, etc have failed or even before using these other lines of communication. Stuff like email is all very well for keeping a distance from something that is already heated but that's not the case here (at least not yet). Like Simon says go about it with a friendly approach and keep calm and level headed when dealing with her. Having someone she can put a face to may give her a familiarity rather than an anonymous name of her Landlady on a sheet of paper - this may well have been the difference with her last LL. If she knows who you are and sees you as a person it may dispel a lot of the preconceptions that you might think of each other. The reality of talking to one another on the level may really turn things around, nothing is assured though of course, some people are out & out deceitful, mistrustful, unreliable, etc whatever the approach.

End of the day its your interest in your property that is your concern, why should you get into trouble, you own the freehold and have signed the letting contract so you have a vested interest in trying to establish what is happening. However, it it were me I would take a good quality Dictaphone along with me (concealed of course) just as backup so it can't be claimed 'so, & so said this or that' or if anything out of the ordinary did occur. All of this is just what I would do, its up to you to do what you wish to do as the consequences of doing or not doing particular actions rests with you. I do think though that while caution needs to be taken in regards to regulations & the legal position being too meek & mild might be asking for trouble in this game, but again just my opinion.

Thank you so much.

I have sorted out her deposit.

1st of May has past and still no news or update from her.

I am going to pay a visit this evening or in the week with my brother.

If I dont get anywhere I will be serving a section 8 ...

Does this seem okay?

You'll need her to be two months in arrears before you can serve a Section 8. Rent is paid in advance, so she won't actually be two months behind until the end of May.

It does seem strangely at odds with her reported history. Assuming the referees weren't fake, or overly positive because they wanted to get shot of her, maybe she's somebody who has always made a point of paying on time and never been in a situation like this before (for whatever reason), and genuinely doesn't know how to deal with it. Still doesn't explain the cat though.

If you haven't already sent her the Prescribed Information by other means, wanting to hand it over in person sounds like a reasonable reason for dropping by.

Quote from: Jen on May 02, 2017, 12:41:47 PMI am going to pay a visit this evening or in the week with my brother.

Always be careful of appearing threatening and intimidating. Maybe keep your brother close by, close enough to help if you call out, but out of sight... to avoid any spurious accusations. Tenants who are intent on not paying rent can often be very canny and know how to play the System as a whole.

Read the sentence you wrote. It could be perceived as threatening... if you wanted to spin it.

Thank you everyone.

-  I have protected her deposit. I haven't given her the confirmation letter yet, but will be hand delivering it with a rent arrears letter in the next couple of days.

Her previous landlady and I have have been in frequent touch. ( Tenant isnt aware of this, but has probably figured )

- Tenant has lost  her job ( the place she was moving to for work has closed down. )

- Tenant owes previous landlady some money. Previous landlady will be sending Bailiffs to my property

- Tenant hasnt been paying her council tax for her previous address.

- There seems to be a trial of debt that tenant has left behind according to her previous landlady

The beginning of June, will be 2 months rent arrears and I will be issuing a section 8. I dont think she will be paying me, and I havent bothered to contact her.I just want her out of the property ASAP

What is the process that I need to follow to issue a section 8?

Is there anything else that I need to do?

Thank you all lots for all your support!