To the person who said the onus for communication lies with the tenants, I don’t agree.
Op as LL wants her rental business to work. Being proactive in communication is always vital for this - YOU drive it by communicating.
These tenants asked for a rent reduction and were given it. They asked for a further 3 months and were given it. This was all during extraordinary times, acknowledged by government support to help people get through and maintain stability. The usual law about notice for eviction has been chNged by it not being possible for several months and then 3 months not 2 being needed from the end of Aug.
With all these changes in regulations and support, no-one could assume any tenant would be sure of what the LLs next steps would be, if they hadn’t been explicitly stated. Saying tenants must know eviction is coming is wrong. Lots of LLs are extending flexibility and will do so for months. There is no certainty and previous rules and expectations have been thrown up in the air.
Op needs to recognise this huge disruption to norms of eviction, rent reduction requests and LL response.
What had the tenant actually heard? Yes, you can have a rent reduction for 3 months
Yes, you can have another 3 month reduction given your circumstances.
Have they been explicitly told, that at the end of that period there will be no further reduction but notice will be given? If not, I suggest serving notice now, will indeed be a bombshell and tenants of 3 years who have always paid their rent, including the lower agreed rent, meeting the terms agreed with the landlord, don’t deserve it.
There might come a time when it is right to serve notice. The pandemic climate MUST be considered when doing this in the same way all businesses must consider it and adapt how they carry out difficult actions during it. It doesn’t mean eviction will never happen, but it should mean that the timescale when this is served should be made very clear. There should be no bombshells and if eviction hadn’t previously been identified as a possibility in an explicit way, given LLs have been strongly encouraged and supported to be flexible, it would be a bombshell.....and I think unacceptable.
There are LLs who were about to evict non-paying tenants who trash their houses back in March who are still waiting. Feel sorry for them. Everyone’s a loser during Covid and we all need some element of patience and compassion in our business dealings at the moment, even if the difficult choices can’t be avoided.
So Op, think really carefully about how much of your planning to evict has been in your head and how much has been spelled out. Make sure any actions have been spelled out in advance because of these changed circumstances due to law and circumstance.
Your tenants probably think you’re a good landlord. You have been flexible on rent for 6 months. If at some point they have to go, it would be good if they can say ‘well she was always fair and made clear in advance just how long she could be flexible for’ rather than
‘She seemed such a good landlord, saying she had got a mortgage holiday and being willing to give us a rent reduction. It all seemed fine and that it could be ongoing until we were sorted out, but then one day out of the blue we just got told she was serving notice. We had no idea she was about to do that and were devastasted’.
Think about what has actually been said. Make no assumptions about their understanding of what’s coming next unless you’ve said it in words and sent it by email, with a sesnsinle timescale given the pandemic.