Bloody tenants - Advice needed!!

[Chickadee]

Bugger mate, hope you get short of the useless free loaders soon.

Some tennants are wonderful and some are absolutely horrific, references or checks on tennants is all I can suggest. Any sniff of trouble and time to give them their notice (2 weeks if you could work it as was previously suggested) then you're not in limbo for so long getting really f*cked off! Totally sympathise.

There was a neighbour over the road (we thought he owned the place) who drove trucks. He lived there for at least a year or so. Didn't see much of him around, then one day the truck was gone. Apparently he was a tennant for a good while, stopped paying rent, did a runner. We saw the landlord having to send the troops of local handypeople in (paint, new carpets, cleaning) - he must have been stripping engines and living like a total disgusting slob from what we could read between the lines. I dare say the repairs to the property to make it rentable (bearing in mind we're in a good area) was around 5-10K.

Good luck with the saga, hope it ends asap so you can get some GOOD tennants in there to make you think being a landlords a good thing.

[Delerium]

Dont fuck about. Evict them. Put in notice of terminating contract now. You run the risk of them trashing the place before they leave but if you dont evict, they will get further behind and the place isnt well kept now with them in it. when You evict you MUST have a baliff to execute the eviction and turf them out. not the cops, a baliff. Change the locks at the same time so have a lock smith turn up too.

I went through the same thing.

[Patrick]

(2 weeks if you could work it as was previously suggested)

90 days... you can say two weeks and sign it, but 90 is the figure, no matter what you agree to...

Dont fuck about. Evict them. Put in notice of terminating contract now. You run the risk of them trashing the place before they leave but if you dont evict, they will get further behind and the place isnt well kept now with them in it. when You evict you MUST have a baliff to execute the eviction and turf them out. not the cops, a baliff. Change the locks at the same time so have a lock smith turn up too.

I went through the same thing.

The eviction orders will be in place on the 16th July... The house is actually being well looked after by them and if it is trashed, will have to go through this shit saga with the TT all over again for that and orders will again be made... Quite right about the bailiff and the locks... Police can attend "to keep the peace..." Might need some there while I am present, waving goodbye without all fingers extended...

[Conquiztador]

Years ago I was a landlord. Never again.

Had a tenant who did not pay rent. Messed up the place. And same problems as you have. Would take ages to sort out the legal way. Sooo...

I did some research. Found out what crowds she hang out with. And contacted some patched friends of mine who did hang out in same circles. Asked if they could do me a favour and have a "chat" with her. They did and she moved out inside two days. I got a phone call from her saying that she was going and could I please tell my friends. I never asked what they did say (or do?) to her. Some years later I was asked for a favour back and I did without asking.

All happy with outcome.

[scumdog]

and when she had her packed her stuff i accidently kicked one of her bags across the room which was full of our towels, sheets and other stuff.


here are some pictures of the day before i kicked her out

Bad - But see worse on a regular basis.

[inlinefour]

We are not of wealth, but have a mortgaged rental as a future nest egg for our kids (and us too I suppose when we are old and crusty...). We are fairly new to the landlord game.

Awesome tenants until this last lot. Moved in in Sept 06, have not paid rent recently for 10 weeks, but managed to get a WINZ payout for the first five weeks, so we were all square back then, but they are out to 5 weeks behind again as we speak, without paying a cent themselves since.

After the first weeks rent was missed in this latest 5 weeks arrears round, we gave them the 10 day letter to rectify. After that 10 day period, we applied to the Tenancy Tribunal only for TT to send it to "mediation," which was a further week off. There were promises promises etc etc, but nothing....

Just had that mediation meeting today (now 5 weeeks behind), and it turns out that the tenants ("conveniently?") went to the wrong address, even tho the address is clear on the letter they sent to us both.

Now, the mediator sends it to the "Adjudicator" at the court for a hearing, which won't happen for another 10 days. By then, assuming they won't pay, the rent will be 7 weeks overdue on that day, assuming they can get us in on that 10th day...

The adjudicator will order possession of the property to us and we can then give them the boot, immediately, and orders will be made for rent arrears and costs.

Courts advise we can only apply to the Court (after a further 48 hours after the Adjudicators ruling), for an order for them to be bought before the court to assess their means to pay and/or to seek a distress warrant so we can seize the new car they have just bought, which was bought coincidentally on the day before the first day of rent due was missed!!!

Being an old schooler, I just want to go around and pick them up by the scruff and throw them out the door right now. (I am happy to leave it closed as I do so and pay for the damage afterward myself, as I would consider it money bloody well spent!!!), but the law says I can't do that.

Landlords appear to have little rights, tenants have all the rights, can stay and drag it all out, then disappear if they want to and not pay, as without any forwarding address, the bailiffs won't be able to serve documents on them for the rent arrears etc..

We know where they are right now. The car is there right now. Anyone know of anything I have missed and of what I can do to get on to them now instead of later, while we know where they and their car is right now?

I find the Tenancy Act dead boring to read but have picked out the points I need to know so far.

Does anyone else have any real suggestions???

Don't tempt me with KB parties on their back lawn (which could actually be arranged, as the seperate rear section is actually part of the land title, but not part of the tenancy...) or with middle of the night visits by some of our Armed Forces allies....

We have got on to this as soon as possible and already they have been able to drag it out to 7 weeks by the time the Adjudicator gets around to it, by following the law... What an arse!!!!

Did the tennent thing once and usually it was good but had one bad experience much like yours. Sounds like your doing the right thing and yes the waiting for things to happen really bites. They should be forced to pay the arrears, but its likely to be payed off in smal amounts which are likely to take forever to pay, or you might end up with nothing and have to cut your losses. In future I'd recommend that you be more proactive in making sure that the tennant is paying rental and at the first sign of non-paying get onto it so that it does not ballon out of control. Most people are quite reasonable and in my opinion its a case of choosing the right people to be tennants and not just the first that come along. Trust your instincts, if you do not like someone, give them a wide berth and keep looking. I believe having the property(s) empty in the search for the right tennant is not a bad thing. Especially when you compare it to the hassles of dealing with a tennant like you decribe...

[Patrick]

In future I'd recommend that you be more proactive in making sure that the tennant is paying rental and at the first sign of non-paying get onto it so that it does not ballon out of control. ...

That is exactly what we did, hence the thread... Friday rent due, Saturday no rent in account... 10 day letter to rectify rent arrears served Monday (have to give them 12 days as it couldn't be handed "personally...") with daily text contact because there is no landline and they are rarely home. At the end of that 12 days, still no rent paid, so applied online for Tenancy hearing and a date is given for mediation. On this day, the tenants don't even turn up, so it moves on to an Adjudicator at the court and that date arrives... the 16th July...

We did get on to it immediately and I have been made to jump through hoops while they continue on their merry ways, not paying anything...

They don't turn up, it moves forward, slow step by slower step. I don't turn up, it is dismissed there and then.

THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[inlinefour]

THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as a result I will never own more than the house that I live in again.

[speedpro]

I think you can give less than 90 days notice if you have a family member moving in. 2 weeks I think though that does sound a bit short.

[Nasty]

I think you can give less than 90 days notice if you have a family member moving in. 2 weeks I think though that does sound a bit short.

42 days

[jafar]

And as a result I will never own more than the house that I live in again.

Amen to that. being a landlord sucks , there are other investment opportunities out there that have similar or better returns & you don't have to deal with tenants.

[moko]

Mate of my Brother now owns several properties and told my Bro he allows 10% of his income to be lost because of freeloaders,damage,eviction costs e.t.c. That's a proffessional landlord who knows the score and deals with that kind of crap every day,I suspect many enter the field a bit naievely and being bitten comes as a bit of a shock.Buy to let is very popular in Britain,people borrow up to the hilt to buy a property that tenants hopefully pay for as the value goes up,I'm just glad I'd heard the horror stories before I was tempted.If you've got a few properties and they're paid for or well on the way you can take a bit of the pain that's going to come along occaissionally,if it's you're only place and really need that rent money you're stuffed.

[Biff]

Buying rental properties scares the crap out of me for the very reasons highlighted in this thread. Sell the property dude and throw your earnings into China or Brazil - I've made over 400% in both (China just out performs Brazil at the mo') markets in the last 3 years. Sure there's some risk - but invest over the medium term (5-10 years) and you the chances of loosing your money are tiny.

Oil, sugar and biofuels are the way to go in Brazil. Sugar and biofuel especially - low risk, high yields.

Biff takes no responsibility got any investments made based solely upon this post.

[Kflasher]

I had similar problem, I sold the dept and evicted them, the new owner of the dept clamped their car untill payment was complete of finance was arrainged.
I now have prpoerty managed, but I am all so involved in the screening process. I have always place bond very high, my theory is if they struggle with the bond they are not worth having

PS. some of these people beleive they are above the law, this is how you need to treat them if it comes to that. Avoid using you home address and fixed landline

[kro]

This is fairly typical of our wishy washy, tree huggery, PC bullshit country, where we legislate to the offenders, and hang the victim out to dry. The government need to ask themselves what valuable contribution "no hopers" like the ones in Patricks house, have to offer our failing nation.
Personally, the law needs to favour the landlord, and if the incumbents don't sort their shit out, they within 10 days of the initial infraction, unless an agreeable deal is struck, they get evicted immediately. I think the seizure of property/wheel clamping is a great idea too. If they are seriously messing up the landlords life, then the same should apply to them.