Eviction :- Unregistered Landlord

Associate
Joined
21 Jul 2012
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680
Hello all, if anyone has any advice on the following I would greatly appreciate it.

Firstly, I am not talking about myself here.

Our neighbours are a nightmare, and following months of issues inc. screaming and shouting at their kids at silly times of the morning, burning rubbish and having a dog which they keep locked up in a room all day and leave to bark and howl all day and night I got in touch with their landlord and had a chat with him this afternoon to put my issues to him. He's a lovely guy, and is quite sick at the moment (recovering from pneumonia) - during our conversation he's said that they haven't been good tenants from his POV, and they currently owe him 3 months rent. He's worried that because he isn't registered as a landlord any action he tries to take to get rid of them is going to ensue in him being fined and/or convicted.

I was wondering if any one here had any advice or experience in this sort of thing as to how he could go about, legally, getting rid of these tenants without causing further issues for himself.

Thanks very much if anyone can help, I will pass on information to him.

Cheers
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,059
When you say unregistered do you mean for some local authority licencing scheme or are you in Scotland/Wales where it is mandatory?

I cant help but say the obvious thing is for the person to register, buying ones head in the sand with that issue will only cause more problems the longer it lasts if he is found out.

Why didn't he register in the first place?

Once that is sorted just start the formal procedure what ever that is depending on which part of the UK you are in.
 
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11 Dec 2012
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Location
Bangor - Northern Ireland
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OP
Joined
21 Jul 2012
Posts
680
Hey guys, thanks for the replies - I do appreciate it!

When you say unregistered do you mean for some local authority licencing scheme or are you in Scotland/Wales where it is mandatory?

I cant help but say the obvious thing is for the person to register, buying ones head in the sand with that issue will only cause more problems the longer it lasts if he is found out.

Why didn't he register in the first place?

Once that is sorted just start the formal procedure what ever that is depending on which part of the UK you are in.

I'm in Wales, I can't really say why exactly he didn't register as far as I am aware its only a days course and a couple of £100's to get it sorted. From what I've read online it seems if you aren't registered as a private landlord then you can't issue a 'section 21 notice', which seems to be what he would be entitled to do with rent being in 3 months arrears.

Im guessing he hasnt put their deposit in the protection scheme.

From what he said to me yesterday, he didn't get a deposit from these people when they moved in as they gave him a hard-luck story :/

Or he has the wrong mortgage and is worried the house will get repossessed if they find out he isn't living in it

AFAIK it was more down to him being pretty disorganised, he's a farmer and not exactly a 'professional' landlord type - I'd imagine there is little to no mortgage on the property as it was owned by his wife who lived in it for 20 odd years before she moved in with him. She passed away last year of cancer so there's a fair chance of life insurance and that paying the remaining total.

He went over there and chatted to them yesterday after we spoke and has told them he's selling the house and that he wants them out. They responded by saying the were 'leaving next month anyway' (presumably, moonlight move without paying him any of the due rent). Hopefully they aren't too clued up with their 'rights' as I think he's SOL if they actually dig their heels in, his only option could be to come clean to the authorities and pay his fine for not complying with the registration scheme here and going through what could be a costly court process. We will see I guess.

Thanks again for all the replies :)
 
Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2008
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2,477
When they do move out they'll take as much with them as possible - patio slabs, light fittings, sockets, boiler, hell even the copper out the walls. I've seen it happen.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,059
I wouldn't worry about the headline figure with the fine. I would expect the actual fine for a first offence and a genuine mistake that they put right themselves will be minimal. The human rights act covers things like this to protect people from disproportionate fines.
 
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