UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello, I posted a request for advice recently and received some useful advice which I followed.  So I just wanted to update members on the Section 21 I issued to my tenant giving her six month notice. The tenant contacted me and said I had issued the Section 21 illegally as I had not supplied her with the required documentation, which was tenancy agreement, guide to renting, gas certificate and EPC, all of which I had issued.  She then asked me if I had a copy of the tenancy agreement as she had lost hers???  She needed it for Universal Credit.  I sent her copies of all the documents again.  I then received a call from Salford Council regarding the Section 21, they asked if there had been any anti social behaviour or rent arrears.  I explained that she had originally been in one of my flats and the neighbours were threatening me with legal action and had started an anti social complaint with the council and the police had been involved. So when the house became available I suggested she would be better off in the house.  She's been fine since she moved in there.  However, when she first moved in, she messed up her housing benefit by not  notifying the benefit's agency that she had moved, they stopped her benefit.  Once it was reinstated, she received the payment including back payment and she spent it.  So I told them this.  They said that they would 'nudge' her to get the arrears paid, because they will not rehouse if there are arrears.  Since then I've had a flurry of texts from her about the arrears, she said that she cannot just hand over this money to me as Christmas was coming!!!  She wants me to tell the council that the arrears have been cleared and I can keep her deposit.  Obviously I've declined this offer.  She's got thirteen weeks to clear her rent arrears. 

I have read this twice, to make sure I had got it  right.She was a nightmare tenant in your flat,so you decided the best solution was to put her into one of your houses? For what reason is any of her subsequent behaviour a surprise to you?

I would suggest that the chances of her clearing the arrears are next to zero, so the Council may wash their hands of her. If you don't have any evidence that you served all the required documents at the start of the tenancy (or before the s21 notice was served), then its likely it will be assumed invalid by a judge.