To be pissed off at having just seen my tenants spending a load of cash whilst they're behind on rent?

[JennylovesRosie]

I am fed up to the back teeth.

This is the third month now where they're falling behind.

(I know them by their appearance and we have a mutual friend on a social networking site)

I have just seen them paying for a spa and no doubt it'll be up on social media next week (they like to brag and display all their newly acquired gains in Instagrammed glory.)

Next month my kids won't have the birthday parties they wanted because I'm subsidising these idiots living expenses and incurring charges as for their late/part payments.

Has anyone managed to get tenants out despite then not being 2 months late on rent. The Lettings agency have told me I'm stuck with them . Can I fine them?

They got a 12 fixed contract in January and surprise-surprise they started to default from day one of it.

I'm so upset.

I think I'll keep my neck where it is thanks very much

Well you are the definition of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous

maybe people shouldn't rent or take out mortgages that they cannot afford! It works both ways. Cut your cloth according to your coat

So, like, dont take a mortgage on a second property if your ability to pay is dependant on having the full amount paid by someone else for 12 months of the year?

Letting agents are generally quite stupid people.

Buckin you are spot on with that comment. As a tenant I am dealing with a particularly stupid one at the moment. If only they weren't generally bullies too though.

Martha as I said works both ways.

Yep bullies too. One told me unless I provided a receipt to show I had the carpets professionally cleaned he would take it out of my deposit. You certainly will not I said, and neither am I paying to get them professionally cleaned.
It's in your contract he said. Sadly for you then, you've issued a contract which is completey legally unenforcable said I. He huffed and puffed and I shouted at him which felt good. What kind of idiot makes up contract clauses then doesn't even understand the law well enough to know whether he can ask the court to enforce them? Their problem is they think the general public are as thick as them.

Yes, they seem to think if it's in the contract they can do what they like. They can put that I have to run around the garden naked three times a day, doesn't mean it's enforceable.

You're right there Buckin I've dealt with some good ones but equally some really inept ones. I had one who told my tenants the wrong number car parking space which the poor tenant then used and got clamped for parking in. Agents tried to claim I needed to pay the fine when the tenants were threatening to take them to small claims court. Luckily I could prove it was their error not mine so they had to pay. Felt very sorry for tenants and told them I'd be behind them 100%.

I've had good tenants and bad ones. But that's what insurance is for, when one skipped out without paying rent in the middle of a contract the insurance stepped in and paid the difference.

I'm happily able to afford the mortgage if tenant doesn't pay but it doesn't mean I wouldn't pursue them for every penny because they signed a contract for the service I'm providing. Does that make me mean? No, its my business and I run it professionally. Property is regularly refurbished and kept in very good order.

Sadly though because it's a desirable property in a city location I've had tenants move in and want to live the lifestyle without being able to afford it. I've had late payments and partial payments before but that's what I've pressed my letting agent into sorting out.

Again, no comparison between letting agents and mechanics. Mechanics have to study and qualify. Letting agents can literally set up shop and start trading with no experience or qualifications. Madness to leave anything to a letting agent IMO.

Oh not another ' you have an investment and how dare you expect a return on it' thread.

Or ' I have a contract, the other side have defaulted. AIBU to be pissed off?
' you are a landlord. YABU at all times just for having a house when others... Blahblahblah'

Good luck OP, both with your nightmare, contract-breaching, spending-spree fuckers tenants; and this thread.

So sorry you're going through this OP.

People have been arseholes to you on here.

OP if I were you I'd do what you have to do to get those tenants out and then sell the fuck up while you still can

'the man' has you in his sights, the crosshairs are lined up and he's a fixin to pull that trigger

Letting agents should have to study and qualify and I think we can all agree on that.

100%. But in the meantime, until they are regulated properly, dont trust them with your property/investment! Its far too important to leave to someone who has no legal obligation or any incentive to serve your interests. Or even know what theyre doing!

Letting agents should have to study and qualify

is there a degree course which teaches you how to be an opportunistic middleman?

how to play fast and loose 101?

Letting agents should 100% be regulated and be made to take a qualification before setting up in business. But they don't. So any landlord who trusts them to 1) know and uphold the law and 2) be looking out for the landlord's interests is a fool.