Evicting tenants - Any advice?

psd99

psd99

psd99

Soldato
Joined
7 Sep 2008
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Hey OCUK Folk,

I'm trying to evict my tenants from a property I own.

They never pay their rent on time, it is often late by 7-10 days but the last 6 months have been an absolute nightmare! I get the feeling the man has lost his job and I want to get rid of him ASAP!

He's been there almost 2 years. The property has been let out via an estate agent who collects the rent on my behalf. The last 6 months have been very difficult financially for me. There was a period where he didn't pay rent for 3 months and we kept chasing him up. He is very unresponsive and his silence angers me greatly.

He is up to date now on the rent payments (this is like a tactical thing maybe) but his rent is being payed by another family member. This arises my suspicions about his employment situation.

I had enough of the scenario so last month I served him notice under section 21 4a (it is a monthly periodic tenancy right now)

This notice is due to expire next month but I get the impression he will not leave on time and cause me further aggravation.

He is older than me and I get the feeling he knows how to "play the system" and knows that generally tenants got more rights than landlords do! He is the kind of person that would exercise every right he has and be tactful about it.

So as an avid fan of "can't pay or we'll take it away" on channel 5, I really don't want to go down the legal route but according to the government website I could get an accelerated possession back for the property:

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-evictions/accelerated-possession

Anyone got any experience or wisdom on this situation and do you have any tips for me?

Cheers!
 
If your paying the estate agents to manage it, why aren't they dealing with it? To answer your question, if they don't leave after the notice period is up your going having to go down the legal route to get them out. Anything not done by the book could mean the tenant gets to stay even longer.
 
MikeTheNative said:
If your paying the estate agents to manage it, why aren't they dealing with it? To answer your question, if they don't leave after the notice period is up your going having to go down the legal route to get them out. Anything not done by the book could mean the tenant gets to stay even longer.
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oh they are dealing with it. what I meant is EA served notice on my behalf.

Thanks - yes everything by book so far.
 
The legal route will just be a nightmare, take ages and will cost you a small fortune. I'd be down the estate agents telling them to earn their high fees! It should be down to them!

hopefully if you just give them whatever notice you have to legally give them and get the agents to stick it on the market and take people round for viewings, whether the current tenants like it or not, hopefully they'll take the hint and go.
 
Surprised you didn't get the notice served around Xmas/ New Year given the story, so the property would hopefully have been vacant by around March, quick spruce up and then on market for the time of year when I think most consider moving.
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
The legal route will just be a nightmare, take ages and will cost you a small fortune. I'd be down the estate agents telling them to earn their high fees! It should be down to them!
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It's his only option if the tenants refuse to move out at the end of their notice though, no estate agent will deal with this it's all down to the LL.
 
UTmaniac said:
Surprised you didn't get the notice served around Xmas/ New Year given the story, so the property would hopefully have been vacant by around March, quick spruce up and then on market for the time of year when I think most consider moving.
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I regret that but you can't get time back

I wish I gave him notice then but no point crying over spilt milk int it
 
If there's one phrase I can't stand using because it's more worn out than Paris Hilton's lady purse, it's the one I'm about to use. However, given the circumstances and nature of this thread, I think you can all excuse me for stooping to single brain cell levels of posting for this brief moment when I say:


Poop through his letterbox.
 
tom_e said:
It's his only option if the tenants refuse to move out at the end of their notice though, no estate agent will deal with this it's all down to the LL.
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I have not had this yet with any of my properties but it is a concern. We do pay an additional 3% a month (on top of the management fee of between 8 to 9% - depending on the property) to cover the rent if the tenant does not pay in time. This policy can be executed after 28 days of non payment and will bring the account back into balance and hence forward for a maximum of 9 months in a 12 month tenancy. Excess is 50% of a month's rent.

The cover also provides us with 25k worth of legal expenses to force removal. I have no idea if this would be enough if it ever came to it.. I like to think it would be!

One definite risk we would have is if the tenants decide to hammer the hell out of the property to more than the deposit is worth.

Once you get this issue dealt with it might be worth considering it going forward.
 
My line of thinking would be give him the benefit of the doubt.

He is up to date with his current payments, and the agency should be chasing any issues if they should arise.

Other questions arise like, how long will it take you to replace this tenant?
What if you get someone worse?
Does he generally look after the property?
 
So the tenant lost his job, but is now up-to-date with his payments albeit paid by a family member? You've had a hard time financially over the last few months but you're running a business and should have provisions for cash flow problems such as this.

Sounds like the tenant has fallen on hard times and is doing their best to stay in their home.

Next time, I hope you really do get a problem tenant; one who wont pay their rent for 10+ months and then leaves taking all the electrical wiring, plumbing and boiler with them (and you to clean up all the human & dog faeces). Welcome to the world of renting.
 
George Hincapie said:
Wait until they go out, call a locksmith and have him change the locks. Hire a van, fill it with their things and drive it to where they need to go. Simples.
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And welcome to being on the wrong side of the law. This is how it should be able to be done for the really bad tenants but there you go.
 
danielanthony said:
So the tenant lost his job, but is now up-to-date with his payments albeit paid by a family member? You've had a hard time financially over the last few months but you're running a business and should have provisions for cash flow problems such as this.

Sounds like the tenant has fallen on hard times and is doing their best to stay in their home.

Next time, I hope you really do get a problem tenant; one who wont pay their rent for 10+ months and then leaves taking all the electrical wiring, plumbing and boiler with them (and you to clean up all the human & dog faeces). Welcome to the world of renting.
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Renting is a business, and as a landlord it can be risky. The OP has the right to try and protect his business and mitigate loss and potential loss as much as he can. Its an unfair comment to turn around and compare his tenant to the tenant from hell. On that basis EVERY tenant is a dreamboat.

I think the issue the OP has (and I would have as well ) is lack of communication. If he was honest about the situation I would take a different view and perhaps the OP would.
 
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