Help! Nightmare Tenant!

[thesaint]

Serve a section 8 and Sec 21 notice as soon as possible.
Are the council paying you directly, yes or no? Your previous answer was wishy washy.

[Claymore]

Snorkerz tends not to do section 21 dates any more - it kind of conflicts with my business interests!

But he is very reasonably priced and this includes getting the dates right :-)

[Habygirl]

My tenants are in rent arrears and as the tenenacy agreement is a fixed term, I cannot evict them until the tenancy agreement ends in July, 2013. If they continue to not pay rent, they will owe me in excess of £2,000.00. by July, 2013 and I have been advised that as they have no money, I would be wasting my time taking them to Court. As the property is let as furnished, do I have any rights to remove any of the furniture? Am very frustrated as I have gone out of my way to support them over the past 16 months.
Many thanks.

[JK0]

Don't take away the furniture. Once they have missed two (monthly) rent days, you can issue a section 8 notice, the first stage towards eviction.

[westminster]

My tenants are in rent arrears and as the tenenacy agreement is a fixed term, I cannot evict them until the tenancy agreement ends in July, 2013.

Not under s.21 you can't, but you can under s.8 Housing Act 1988. When there is at least two months' owing and unpaid, that will give you a mandatory ground upon which to seek possession. I recommend you contact http://www.tenancyservices.co.uk/ (which is run by one the forum's experienced members).

If they continue to not pay rent, they will owe me in excess of £2,000.00. by July, 2013 and I have been advised that as they have no money, I would be wasting my time taking them to Court.

You're assuming they'll leave at fixed term expiry. Assuming this is an AST tenancy, then they are not obliged to vacate at fixed term expiry; if they don't, a statutory periodic tenancy will automatically arise under s.5 Housing Act 1988, replacing the fixed term tenancy. The only way you can end the tenancy is by obtaining a possession order. That means going to court.

As the property is let as furnished, do I have any rights to remove any of the furniture?

No.

[Habygirl]

Hi

My tenants have always been in arrears with rent but I have alwasy been lenient as they have a young child. They have now blantantly told me that they have spent the HB on other bills. They are 5 weeks in arrears so am I correct in that I can't do anything until they are 8 weeks in arrears?

[theartfullodger]

Are these the same fine tenants as in your other 3 posts??

You can issue a Section 8 grounds (IIRC) 10 or 11 for either late rent or persistent late rent. However those are discretionary grounds - i.e. judge may or may not grant possession. Might have the advantage of "encouraging" tenant to pay.

Does the tenancy agreement state rent is payable weekly, monthly, 4-weekly please?? Yes I know it is paid HB/LHA 4-weekly but what does the tenancy agreement state (depending on answer ground 8 may not be usable anyway...)

Hoe (email, voicemail, letter) have they "..blatantly told .." you??

Have you written (yes WRITTEN - keep copy) to HB dept at council with rent statement & requesting payments to yourself ?? (Albeit this has downsides also...)

How was the tenant credit & reference-checked??

Cheers!

[Snorkerz]

In addition to the section 8, grounds 10 & 11 Artful cites, if your tenants are no longer in the fixed term of their tenancy agreement (or it will soon end) you should consider section 21 which is simpler, takes around the same time and can cost less than s8. Its disadvantage is that there will be no court order for unpaid rent even though they remain liable for rent until the end of their tenancy.

As mentioned above, grounds 10 & 11 are discretionary grounds. If a tenant has owed a fiver and been 2 days late with his rent twice in the last 12 months, that is unlikely to result in eviction. On the other hand, a tenant who is late every month and owes almost 2 months rent would be more likely to evicted.

The council have to divert payment to you once the tenant is 8 weeks in arrears, but some councils will take action much more quickly. With regard to eviction - section 8, ground 8 (for a tenancy where rent is due monthly) is 2 months unpaid - 'unpaid' and ;arrears' have different meanings.

[Habygirl]

Thanks for your reply. Yres, these are the same tenants referred to in my previous posts. The tenancy agreement states that rent is payable monthly in advance by Direct Debit. They "blatantly told .........." in a telephone conversation and I have written to the HB Dept at the council with a rent statement but they can only pay the HB direct to me when they are 8 weeks in arrears. The tenant was also credit and reference checked.

Thanks for your help.

[Habygirl]

Many thanks for your helpful reply.