Tenants and Gas Inspection

[Irishgurl]

We have given our tenants notice that we are not renewing their lease when it expires in May. This is more than the required notice. We have asked repeatedly (Texts and three letters) to allow the gas company in to undertake the required gas checks which are due for end February. Tenant doesn't reply. Obviously we will not just enter the property but what else can I do? Tenant has previously answered texts, always paid on time. We are aware they don't want to move and have lived there 4 years but we are going to sell the property so cannot extend the lease when it runs out.Have offered to give them a good reference but I'm now very disappointed with them.

Your posts make it very clear what you think of landlords. Perhaps they should ALL sell, then when you can't find a home to rent you'll really have something to bitch and moan about.

I'm not against private tenancies. They are an important part of the UK housing market and they do offer important flexibility for those who need it.

But: private tenancies should be the exclusive domain of properly regulated companies and housing associations. These would be much less likely to end tenancies for personal reasons - as in the case highlighted by the OP. While companies do go bust sometimes, generally 'illness in the family' doesn't lead to the short-notice expulsion of tenants from their homes.

If all landlords sold their homes tomorrow, property prices would fall to a level which would see more people able to buy their own properties.

In reality many houses would be sold to companies, housing associations, and local authorities. Properly regulated (safeguards would be needed against vulture companies - I'd rather see all property go to HAs and LAs), these bodies would be far better landlords than the amateur landlords we hear from on threads like these.

Best of all they could offer private tenants proper security of tenancy, as the systems in many European countries do. Most renters in this country are on between 2 and 12 months' notice to leave their houses at the discretion of their landlords.

I have no idea of your age, but I’m guessing you’re not more than 30?

Guess again. Average age to purchase well above 30 now. Higher still in the south east.

Perhaps we should adopt the Germanic system where nobody really cares to own, everyone rents.

Yes please

jimmyhill- Your rather idealistic concept of the housing market still doesn't remove the fact that I'm trying to be responsible and have the gas checks carried out whilst the tenants are flouting the regulations. I don't think the tenants have any moral high horse to sit on?

Most people don’t want to rent hence when given the opportunity to trade their secure council tenancies for a mortgage that could risk repossession millions jumped at the chance. So actually what I suspect is really wanted is not secure tenancies at all but affordable housing which I think we can all agree would be a huge step forward.

Your rather idealistic concept of the housing market still doesn't remove the fact that I'm trying to be responsible and have the gas checks carried out whilst the tenants are flouting the regulations. I don't think the tenants have any moral high horse to sit on?

I didn't say they did. You discharge your responsibilities; they make their choices.

Really, however, nobody should be letting property if a simple family illness can precipitate the end of the arrangement. It creates an entire housing system in which (usually poorer) people rely upon the whim and personal circumstances of (usually richer) landlords.

You are being responsible within the parameters of the system the law defines. It's a shitty system for tenants. Be aware of their feelings. Help them out as much as you can. And forgive them their irritation. Things may not be as rosy for them as they say they are.

In the end, you're casting them out of their home because the arrangement no longer suits you. That is the bottom line, however much it's not your choice, however much it's a painful time for you.

I know it's a difficult circumstance for you, but the law should have prevented you from getting into it in the first place. Property investment is bad for tenants.

Most people don’t want to rent
said who?

Most people I know who are renting do it by choice, for the flexibility, because the market is crashing and it 's safer, for a dozen other reasons.

I rent, I want to.
I also rent out my house to someone who could purchase a house outright but currently chooses not to.
There are lots of reasons to rent as well as to buy.
If I couldn't rent my house out currently I would just keep it empty. This wouldn't help anyone particularly.
OP try and talk to your tenants and get things back on an even keel.

*If I couldn't rent my house out currently I would just keep it empty. This wouldn't help anyone particularly."

Where I live you'll soon have to pay triple council tax to do that

jimmyhill- I appreciate that you find the system frustrating but some people like renting. I know this tenant does. It is a beautiful house and she has had a good deal. It is her decision to rent. It is also her decision to ignore the gas certificate.
Incidentally,it is not 'a simple family illness' precipitating the sale. It is a devastating diagnosis for a beloved parent. Please don't be so easily dismissive of other people's problems.It's not a case of all landlords being evil and all tenants being pure and innocent.

Not criticising you, criticising the system.

For example. Our landlords gave notice because their landlords gave notice, now they are selling our home to buy a different house of their own.

For the second time in two years our family must move, at great expense and not of our choosing.

It's fucked up and all landlords share some responsibility by benefiting from the system.

Guess again. Average age to purchase well above 30 now. Higher still in the south east.

Yes, several colleagues are still living with their parents, for whom I feel very sorry. In your position, I would have considered a cheaper area before having dc. My school friends up north were all out of the parental home and renting very early on. My goddaughter is buying her own place this year, she’s 24. It’s very do-able elsewhere in the country. You cannot blame the private ll for the choices you made.

Your use of emotive language casting them out of their home means others won’t take you seriously.

Really, however, nobody should be letting property if a simple family illness can precipitate the end of the arrangement. It creates an entire housing system in which (usually poorer) people rely upon the whim and personal circumstances of (usually richer) landlords.

Horse shit. Nobody could foresee the illness. You write as though the OP’s sick relative is the reason for the so-called awful housing situation of the country.

God forbid that anyone in your family ever leaves you a property which you can’t for whatever reason sell and therefore need to rent out.

God forbid that anyone in your family ever leaves you a property which you can’t for whatever reason sell and therefore need to rent out

It's NEVER can't sell. It's always won't sell because letting is more profitable.

Changing the law to make letting less profitable would see the end to properties let after being inherited. They would be sold on the open market or repossessed if in negative equity.

need to rent out? Need? A property you’ve been given? Why would you need to rent out a property that cost you nothing?

Apparently it’ll cost her 3 times in council tax if it’s empty around here that would be £8000 a year

jimmyhill - so you’d see a persons life work swallowed up by the banks would you if it was repossessed? That’s not very communist of you.

Just to clarify, I didn't inherit the property. I bought it as a wreck and did it up to rent out. It was rented to a member of staff for several years and the situation suited us all. I then rented it out to tenants. It is not an illegal or dodgy practice and I am a responsible landlord .It is a good use of the skills that I have . If I had different skills I would use those to make money. Usually I sell the properties that I do up, sometimes we move into them before we sell. Yes it has been successful but I work very hard as this is done alongside 3 children and our business. The tenants can leave at any time with two months notice and I then have to cover the costs until a new tenant signs up. It is a business like everything else. Even a private housing company can have changes in circumstances and will sometimes have to sell properties. On this occasion, the property has to be sold to protect our business and employees. None of this has any relevance to the fact that our tenant is flouting the gas laws. Incidentally, until she speaks to me, I can't do anything to accommodate an alteration of the date that they want to leave.

Changing the law to make letting less profitable would see the end to properties let after being inherited. They would be sold on the open market or repossessed if in negative equity.

I know you know nothing about it as a tenant, but believe me, the government has made it very expensive ie not worth it/puts ll in the red already.

need to rent out? Need? A property you’ve been given? Why would you need to rent out a property that cost you nothing?

Because most people aren’t stupid charitable enough to sell a house in huge negative equity and most people-unbelievably-want to make money from property or have to due to inheritance tax=40% over £325 000 (in which case they might well be obliged to sell regardless of negative equity-a colleague just had to find £160 000 to pay his dad’s inheritance tax.) People also consider their dc’s inheritance to be the house in which they currently reside.

Thank you for all the advice. I hope it works out for us and jimmyhill I hope that you sort out your 'forever home'.

Hmmm. I used to living in a housing association flat. They'd send a letter giving me the date of the gas inspection, but if you ignored it or kept cancelling they would send another letter saying that they would be entering to do the inspection and you didn't have any choice . Don't know if that's legal or not?

@Irishgurl I don’t think you need to justify yourself. Very few of us are ll due to inherited wealth. I’m a ll because I’ve worked bloody hard, saved, had no holidays etc and it’s my pension as my work pension is not going to be enough. Instead of buying more years, saving or creating a separate pension, I chose to buy property.

If the house is in huge negative equity how can it be left as inheritance? The mortgage company would have first dibs on it surely?

Provided you have three documented landlord inspection notice attempts to gain access to get the gas inspection done, you should be reasonably safe from prosecution yourself.

It's the tenants home and they've been paying the mortgage for the last four years.

Should they live there for free?

We're renting and we know there's always a risk that the landlord will want to sell. It's one of disadvantages that you have to accept.

OP Why don't you offer to sell the property to the tenant for market value, or just below, and avoid EA fees?

jimmyhill There is really no good reason why any private individual should own a house they do not live in. Yes there is. We were posted abroad with HM Forces and so let our house out. This meant we had somewhere to come back to. When dh got a post HM Forces retirement job abroad, we did the same thing.

Tenancies are not secure abroad, I should know, as we had to move very quickly in 2016 as the l/l wanted the house back as he and his family needed to move back into it. This was despite having a 9+ year lease. There are just as many caveats in a tenancy agreement in Europe (Belgium in our case), as there are in the UK. All the things I am responsible for as a l/l in England, I am responsible for as a tenant, so I pay for the gardener, the boiler service, the chimney sweep, the water softener service, and the buildings insurance on top of the rent. I also have to hand the property back in the same condition it was when we moved in; absolutely no concept of wear and tear here.

The grass is not always greener!

If the house is in huge negative equity how can it be left as inheritance? The mortgage company would have first dibs on it surely?

I think you’ve misunderstood. Being in negative equity is not the same as defaulting on the mortgage payments.