Tiny violins out - private landlord having trouble

[roarfeckingroarr]

I own a flat that I rent out because it no longer suits my needs to live there and I couldn't find a buyer without making a substantial loss during Covid (due to no private outdoor space).

I try to not be a dick - e.g. I charge under market rate, I don't increase the rent unless in between tenants, I get everything fixed as soon as I can (via management agency), I allow pets/children etc. All things that should be standard but too often are not.

Anyway, I have a tenant who is playing games. Every month for the last three she has had a problem paying the rent. First of all she wanted to move the payment date (fine, circs change, but she was a week after the agreed date), then she was late again, then she decided unilaterally she didn't have to pay because the boiler had broken and I couldn't get a new one installed over night. I reimbursed her for heaters to keep warm and had it replaced as soon as a reputable tradesman could install one - about a week in total. I get this isn't ideal and I offered a £100 discount as a goodwill gesture. She eventually paid.

I hate being a landlord and I am v shortly going on maternity leave with my second child so I need to sell especially as the income is now unreliable to use the equity to buy us a family home.

But I'm scared to put it on the market in case she takes that as free reign to stop paying altogether.

Does anyone have any advice that doesn't include "private landlords" and "scum of the earth" in the same sentence? I wouldn't expect her to let people traipse through her home at short notice and would hope to arrange maybe two open house mornings in Jan to minimise inconvenience - but I also expect her to stick to her side of the contract and pay the agreed rent during this time.

I wrote a detailed list and then got worried it might be too identifying.
So short list: new floor, two new windows, roof hole repairs and dodgy electrics including live exposed wires none of which was due to us damaging anything.

Wow. I rented for 12 years with four different LL’s and never paid to fix anything, I went straight to my LL’s and asked them to fix it. I suppose I’d have reported them if they didn’t, but it never came to that.

I’m seeing now that I was lucky.

Ah yes, I remember you now on another thread complaining that taxes are too high.

How wonderful that you've been able to 'put away' 15 THOUSAND POUNDS for your maternity leave. I'm sure that will warm the cockles of your tenant's heart as she and her kids end up homeless.

The problem with reporting to the council for enforcement is you get revenge evicted. A friendly neighbour told us all about the LL and how he’d revenge evicted a lovely family two tenants before us. With a disabled DC it’s a nightmare changing doctors and schools and so having to move is very difficult. I think we got used to making the best of a bad situation for too long. For reference rent was £1500/mo for a 3 Bed home not anywhere near London.

We have a good LL now they are fixing everything from the inventory when we moved in. Most of it is done, only a few items left. Before the bad LL, we have had decent LLs. It’s not a nice experience, but when I read the housing statistics from Shelter, it seems to be getting more common than not to have a bad LL.

@HamBone, yes some over egging of the souffle there alright.

We went without heating and hot water for 3 weeks, and got a £100 reduction on the rent. I mean completely without heating and hot water, as we couldn't afford to buy heaters in the interim. It took 3 weeks because the landlord thought the first quote was too expensive, so wanted a further one. This one was obviously better, but had a waiting period, on top of waiting to have the actual quote done.

Not that I was happy about the £100. I wanted a bigger reduction because the inconvenience was fucking ridiculous of having multiple people out to do quotes, 2 days to do the work (because the boiler was so fucking ancient and inefficient, flooring etc had to be pulled up), and of course needing to take leave from work on multiple occasions, to be home for this (and my work gave me a fucking really awful shitty bollocking for it), and just the sheer amount of time this took to actual get hot water and heating. Unfortunately my rather passive OH had already agreed to the £100 reduction so that was shit.

Been late with the rent once, couple of months or so in, when my OH was inbetween jobs and they had delayed his payment. It was between 1-2 weeks late. More than 5 years ago, less than 10.

We do most repairs that we're able to do in the house. Landlord has replaced a washing machine. There has been black mould problems that were there since we arrived. Crack in the window doesn't help with that, that was there when we moved in.

But, she allows us our pets, gives us peace, charges relatively low for the area, and doesn't bother us often, so we try to do the same and not bother her about repairs and just do the work, and pay for the supplies, ourselve, where we possibly can.

How long has your tenant actually been in the flat? What could be the sudden difficulties in making the rent? Perhaps the rising cost of living? Is her heating as efficient as it could be? (I say this as the shitty ancient boiler our landlord had until this year cost us a fucking fortune to run, since installing the new boiler our heating costs have gone down, despite the rise in energy prices).Is your tenant approachable? Could you ask if there's been a change in circumstances and if there's anything you could do to help? I don't mean forgoing any of the rent of course. But personally, I'd do that before selling up on her.

If she continues to be shit and won't communicate with you regarding the issues then fair enough.

You wouldn't be subsidising the tenant what a ridiculous thing to say. The house is an investment - your investment - the income is investment income not employment income. Being a landlord is not a job. If your prices rise you investment falls just like in the stock market

I would like to put to bed the notion all landlords are wealthy I certainly wasnt. Due to a shitty ex I was left needing to get another job elsewhere to financially survive and couldnt afford to sell up as i would have been in negative equity. I left an immaculate house and got a trashed filthy house, with a disgusting roof space, shed and garden back. They even cut down beautiful shrubbery of mine. Their rent just about covered my mortgage and the miniscule surplus was kept for any needed repairs. I definitely wasnt living off any proceeds. After their handywork I ended up selling because I couldnt afford to fix the damage and risk it happening again especially as they didnt pay the last 3 months rent. They had 3 children in that squalor. I loved my little house. But i could never look at it the same way after.

I initially had intended to only rent out for one year and made this very clear at the outset.

How, even from a decency perspective, anyone could do what they did is beyond me. While I was left with nothing the renters had their foreign holidays and abundant presents at Christmas all loud and proud on Facebook.

A work colleague at the time similarly rented out a beautiful home. After the year her husband wouldnt let her into the house until he had cleaned it up. They had rented out her house when they got married as a favour for a friend of a friend. She sold it because it was totally trashed. She had gone out of her way to leave things perfectly for them.

I also know an agent who oversees rentals in another part of the country who can recount many horror stories of renters trashing property, not paying rent and generally being a nightmare.

So please dont tell me that all landlords are wealthy and bad. Many many renters abuse their position and are far from the poor and downtrodden.

As a young adult i rented with friends, we always kept clean well maintained surroundings and paid our rent on time.

That is shitty. As there are shit landlords, there are also shit tenants.

The issue is people seem to think renting out a property is a simple, risk free solution to the issue of funding the retention of a property they no longer wish to live in. It isn't. It is a business decision that can come with significant risks and expenses. For example what you are prepared to put up with a homeowner is not reasonable to inflict on a tenant.

You can mitigate these risks through pre tenancy checks and inspections but they are still there. If you think you cannot bear these risks then entering the landlording business, regardless of the reasons, is not for you.

I will repeat, tenants are people who want a home (and those people can be good or bad) not a convenient mortgage repayment vehicle.

I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. In a solid morning, I can earn the gross rent I'd get - and that's without tying up a load of capital and always wondering if the phone will ring with someone bringing problems to me. I like property as an investment in many ways, but dealing with the tenants and their personal problems (yes, even via an agent) just isn't worth it to me.

Yes, because prospective buyers are famous for stealing tenants' Lizzy Duke...........

@whitefieldsforthecows thank you for your kind and thoughtful advice and good wishes.

@RunYouJuiceBitch I’ve taken on board what PPs have said about viewings. I understand what you’re saying about it being hard times for everyone right now, which erodes good will. I’m going to ask her to vacate – through the proper, legal processes – and then put it on the market. If she thinks it’s so I can move back in rather than sell, especially with a new baby, she might be more likely to be decent and continue to pay the rent as agreed until her tenancy ends.

@PotatoScollop 3 weeks without heat or hot water is awful – if my tenant had been left in that situation I certainly would have offered a significant rent reduction and provided heaters straight away. I think sometimes there’s a delay in the agent passing on the problem to the LL. I respond to every query immediately and will always pay to get something fixed as soon as it can be. It’s just the decent thing to do, surely.

I don’t get the impression my tenant has money troubles, more that she feels paying the full rent on time each month is up for debate. I’m waiting to see what she says when it’s due at the beginning of January to work out how to proceed.

@catwoman300 totally agree re the perception that all landlords are wealthy. Total bollocks! Tiny profits these days and many people in our situation – where we don’t have a string of BTL properties, just one that we rent out to avoid making heavy losses when we need to move area. Who is responsible for this perception? The media / some politicians talking about evil shitty landlords who abuse tenants? I would like to see the law changed to protect both sides – secure tenancies, enforcing legal obligations for landlords to fix problems quickly, but also the ability to get non-paying or destructive tenants out quickly and painlessly.

It's interesting to see nothing has changed in the last hundred years. George Orwell wrote about how the worst landlords were the small private landlords. Contrary to expectation the people who make it their business are usually better because they're more business like in how they deal with things. With smaller private landlords there's a greater risk of not being able to afford maintenance and suchlike. More than that there's the emotional aspect - as the OP shows, "accidental" landlords tend to be over-invested in their property.

(I hate the term "accidental" landlord by the way. Nobody "accidentally" becomes a landlord. They might decide that renting their property out is the least bad option but that is their choice, there's nothing accidental about it.)

Just in case it hasn't been said on here, if your tenancy agreement requires access to be given during currency of a s21 notice and thereafter for viewings, this is a reasonable and legally enforceable term.

Anyone who says she doesn't have to give access doesn't know the law. The right to peaceful and quiet enjoyment can be interfered with reasonable terms and access for remarketing/selling is reasonable (the Office for Fair trading used to think so too as they had a guide for fair and reasonable terms in tenancy agreements). Even Shelter agree.

The reality however is that if a tenant refuses access you can only enforce with a court injunction for specific performance for breach of contract. Even going to the cheapest solicitors will cost £1-2k and will take time.
better to try to negotiate a video viewing for prospective purchasers if she won't give access.

It is neither greedy nor outrageous to request access in the end months of a tenancy for this purpose.

Agreed @Dotjones the best landlord I had was a businessman who owned the block of four flats where we rented and the two shops below.

He had tradesmen on account so things were repaired quickly, he decorated the place in neutral colours with hardwearing fittings and expected to repaint and deep clean/ replace after every tenant, he was aware of all his legal obligations. Most importantly he never acted like my friend or like he was doing me a favour. I paid him money for a service and he delivered it. That was it.

He was hard nosed but fair to negotiate with when we were buying a property and had some uncertainty about when we might want to leave.

I only think the legal obligations matter not the reason why anyone is a LL - accidental or not

Some posts below set it out

I had the same thing in the 90s

I have an issue with someone just letting out their house because they're moving for a bit, or don't want to lose a bit of money if they sell this year. It's not fair to tenant that they're not in it for the long term. They should make it clear that it's only for 1 year/18 months etc.

So many LLs only consider their financial position and not the fact that people's living conditions are at stake.

Or those who are moving in with a new partner and don't want to sell their house in case it doesn't work out. I mean, I'm sympathetic to that but I'd hate to be a tenant in that scenario. Imagine losing your home because someone else's relationship goes wrong?

This is why I prefer renting from BTL landlords who have a portfolio - as maligned as they are. At least they have no sentimental investment in the property (which can jeopardise your quiet enjoyment, if they're complaining about you changing the curtains or something), and they won't need the place back if their circumstances change (though of course they might sell).

Unfortunately, in the current rental climate one can't afford to be picky about the motivations of your prospective landlord.

Yes, I will be as I will be paying more in mortgage payments than she pays me in rent. That is what subsidising means. I have to do that out of my personal income, my investment is tied up in my tenants home.

Most buy to let mortgages are interest only, mine is.

@mondaytosunday yeah mine is interest only. The idea that the tenant is "paying off my mortgage" is just so untrue. Their rent - for a well maintained home they chose to live in - pays towards the interest, maintenance etc. There's no noticeable profit here.

I made it clear it wasn't a long term rental up front.

@Movinghouseatlast You are not subsidising her. You are failing to run a profitable business.
If you buy a cup of coffee from a coffee shop and it is costing them more money to provide you with that coffee than you are paying them, you would rightly say it is a poorly run business.

LL's didn't decrease the rent when interest rates went lower, they made more profit. This is why it's a long term business. If the intent was to rent it out for a bit before selling it profit has nothing to do with it.

And I agree, you are not subsidising her. You are charging her market rate for the property.

I was an unintended landlord for a number of years. We put our 2 bed apt on the market, was sale agreed and purchased our new home when the crash came and buyer pulled out. The apt was in over E100k negative equity so we couldn't sell and rented instead. We had many many very stressful years with poor tenants. The market rent was E500 per month and the mortgage was E1200 due to rising interest rates. It was costing us E700 per month to keep the mortgage on the apt and another E130 per month on service charges. The alternative was to relinquish the apt and destroy our credit rating (which we very much considered). If I had know the extent of what we would deal with, I would have taken this option.

It was extremely difficult trying to keep both mortgages going. We eventually sold the apt last year and the weight off our shoulders was enormous.

OP we served notice on the tenant, redecorated and sold with vacant possession. We lost about 3/4 months rent but I think the sale was quicker and we got more money as the apt was freshly cleaned and painted compared to the state it was in when the tenants were there so was more beneficial in the long run.
Good luck

@Diorama1 You are not an unintended landlord. You made a decision to buy a new house even though you had not sold your flat.
I can't stand people not taking responsibility for decisions they have made. That may have been the best decision for you, but it was a decision.