UK Landlord Forum / Life

 :-[hi everyone,
i have been a landlord for all of 14 months now and am agreement was written up for 12 month's. recentley i decided to have a look at the old agreement and have noticed that where myself and the tenant signed the agreement is wrong, it has not been signed in the right place, is it still valid? and could i still serve a section 21 for a periodic agreement? thank you for your replies.

hello jan2

The purpose of a contract is to record the expression of will between two people.  If you've signed in teh wrong part of the page, it's perfectly reasonable to argue the contract is still fully in force.  After all, since "not signing" the agreement, you've let the tenant live in your house and they've paid the rent.  In this instance, your actions speak loder than your words and bind you both to the contract.

So a Section 21 will be fine.  Just out of interest: If your tenant is fine (I assume they are because you don't mention any problems with them), then why are you issuing a Section 21?

Hello Jeremy,

Thank you for your reply, it was worrying me. in answer to your question, the tenant is forever late with the rent and always has an excuse why it has not been paid, she is again a month behind at the moment.
all this is very new to myself and when i let the house out i did not protect the deposit until 14mth after, as i did not know about it. i have since found out that i will be fined up to 3 times the deposit and possibly have to pay her solicitors fees. my tenant knows all this and is rubbing her hands she has even threatened to prosicute me if i try to get rid of her and i won't have her hold threats over my head so i am trying to get as much info as poss before i go ahead and do it all.
she has told me she won't leave so i know it will go all the way to court (which i can't afford) but i am going to borrow the money just to see the back of her.

Yes is 100% valid no worries :-)

Landlordrepairs!

Hello Jan2,

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

You are right to evict this person.  The landlord - tenant relationship should be one of mutual trust.  She's spotted you've made a procedural mistake, whilst stil acting in good faith with her deposit money.

The relationship has become abusive, rather than forgiving something which makes no odds she's using it to leverage non-payment out of you.

My only final advice is to do this via a solicitor.  The law tends to take a dim view of people who take a two wrongs make a right approach.  Like the landlord will get short thrift from a court if they fail to undertake repairs just because the rent is in arrears.  So if your tenant is trying to leverage your ommission to protect the deposit as a reason not to pay rent, and you can prove it, then you may be treated more sympathetically than a shark landlord.

Please let us know how things go.

hi jeremy,
thanks again for your advice, the problem is, i do not have to money for a solicitor as the rent from the house is my only income and what she has paid had to go on roof repairs etc so now i'm left with just enough money (i hope) to pay what ever i will be fined. if she was to keep paying the rent there would be know problem but she doesn't. i am hoping she will keep paying between now and january next year and if i save it then i may be able to get a dolicitor to do the forms for me but it looks like little old me in court on my own.
i will keep you up to date. and thank you again.
jan2

That sounds a nightmare first tenant.  Do you have any insurances covering the property (landlord insurance etc.)?  These may possibly cover some legal expenses, so worth looking at.

Shop around the solicitors.  Costs may vary a fair bit.

However hard it is financially just now, when you get tenants such as these you really do have to just grit your teeth and press ahead with the eviction.  They do NOT get better, so there is little chance of your finances recovering whilst you struggle on and they are only paying rent if/when they feel like it.  Believe me, I have been there.  About a year ago now I managed to get shot of a tenant from one of my properties who also only paid the rent sporadically.  He always brought it up to date eventually, but in his own time rather than mine.  He gave me a few grey hairs in the process too, as we had to deal with banks etc. because funds became irregular.  For your own sanity, draw together all resources you can, be that bridging loans, pre-agreed overdrafts etc. and get rid of this lowlife of a tenant.  You will only regret it if you do not.

She is not entitled to withhold rent just because you were unaware of the rules regarding the deposit.  If she does so then you are fully entitled to pursue her via the County Court.  As I said on your other thread, you are not the first who didn't realise deposits had to be protected and you won't be the last, but it was an honest mistake and you rectified the situation as soon as you knew.  You are a well meaning person and certainly no shark.  You have a shark of a tenant though (putting it politely, as I could certainly think of much more colourful language to describe her sort).