UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello everyone,

This is a post from a desperate and unprofessional landlord:

I am trying to evict tenants from my property. Have already used 2 solicitor companies one to serve the S21 notice of possession and another to serve a court possession claim which resulted with a defense where the tenant not only indicated that the S21 is invalid but also claimed the penalty of 3 times the deposit for failure to comply with the initial requirements of protecting the deposit.
My losses are piling up and I am nowhere near sorting out the problems

The facts:
I first signed an STA with the tenants on the 15/12/2009 when I received the deposit.
I first registered the deposit on the 15th of June 2010 - the deposit was placed in an insured tenancy deposit scheme for 6 months and I forgot to renew the insurance.
I signed new contracts every 6 months until June 2013, so the tenants are now on a periodic assured tenancy.

I kept the rent way below market rate as tenant couldn't afford a rent rise but when it became over 62% below market rate, I emailed tenant  first on the 7th of March 16 – tenant refused to raise and I decided that I need to terminate the tenancy and seek help to evict the tenants. I was not aware to the formal S13 for rent rise – so was trying to raise the rent via emails.

Instructed by my solicitor I registered the deposit with a custodial protection scheme on the 19.5.2016 (solicitor said this would remedy the fact that I haven't registered the deposit within the correct timeline of 30 days), I delivered the deposit certificate and the deposit-related prescribed information on the 9th of June 2016 and posted section 21 notice was posted on the 11th of June 2016 and hand delivered it on the 13th.

My understanding is that there is not yet an outcome for the possession claim. The court forwarded a defence where the tenant indicates not only that the section 21 is invalid, but that he also requests the penalty of three times the deposit due to failure to comply with the initial requirement of protecting the deposit within 30 days.

I am now in a position where I am looking to recover from the unfortunate position I found myself in. I don't feel I can trust solicitor companies, as was let down by 2 companies already. It has been suggested 2 options:
1.   To discontinue the current possession claim as it was apparently based on an invalid section 21 - paying all the tenant's and the court costs, somehow deliver the deposit to the tenant (although he would probably refuse to take it?)  in order to be able to then serve a valid S21 (and possibly also avoid the penalty of 3 times the value of the deposit).
2.   Do go forward with the formal S13 – raise the rent to the market figure and then service S8 – when there will be rent arears.

Could you please help me???

Thanks, S A

I would go forward with the formalised introduction of a rent increase regardless of anything else.

The Tenant obviously has the right to object to this, on the basis of it not being reasonable, but then the ball would be in their court. The Section 13 is a notice informing them it's happening as opposed to a request for it to be agreed.

If they start to pay the increased amount then maybe your financial position could improve.

If they do not, then you should be able to proceed with the second part of your plan.

A Section 21 is generally preferable to a Section 8 as it is a "no defence" termination of the tenancy by the Landlord - there's nothing the Tenant can generally do about it, unless you have not done things by the book yourself... which seems to be the case. You will obviously be liable for some kind of penalty for non-protection of the deposit, depending on what the Tenant is aware of.

Rent increases can often be done successfully via email and agreement... you resort to the Section 13 if that has not worked, so no big deal here.