To evict my tenants

[Landlordbyaccident]

Name change due to personal info possibly given.

I brought my first home in my 20’s and quickly paid off the mortgage on a 2 up, 2 down terrace in Birmingham. Nothing special and it always needed a new kitchen. I invested very little money in this house as I was so unhappy there.

I brought my current home in 2018 and we are paying a manageable mortgage although other outgoings has become a strain in the current financial climate. We owe around £75k on a house worth around £250 (not sure if this is relevant). My previous house has been rented out to a friends friend for around 2 years before this it remained empty.

They are paying £475 per month, other rentals in the area go for around £800. Some months they pay late or come up short. I know they are struggling. They are from a Caribbean island so I am not sure what benefits they are entitled to to help them.

Anyway my husband would like to ‘evict’ them. Ideally I would like them to increase the rent and remain in the house as they are no trouble and really nice people. I am going to be transparent in saying the house could do with some work being carried out but they never complain as I assume it’s because I am in a position of power and they fear I would evict them if I do.

After writing this I am not sure what I am asking? Would I be heartless in evicting them (goes against my core values) or raising their rent ? Should I just continue with the current contract and seek to cut costs in other areas.

what would you do?

You brought it? From where to where? How did you bring it, brick by brick?

If they are decent enough tenants I'd be tempted to keep them but do think about putting the rent up. I can't see any reason why you'd keep it as low as you do. You don't need to bring it up to market rate but it sounds like they are getting a bargain. Maybe with the extra funds you could do some improvements.

Curious what you mean though about definitely brought your houses. The word is most certainly bought as the pp said. Brought means to bring.

Can you explain where people who either can’t or don’t want to buy a house are supposed to live, if there are no landlords?

Do you however have an up to date Gas Safety Certificate which is a legal requirement absence of which will prevent you from legally evicting your tenant?

Eh? I don't care really about this shit but brought means to bring. Was it stuck on wheels and dragged across town to it's current spot? Boggles man. Bought means to buy.

You can't put your rents up to market if it's a shit hole OP. Your bloke is a knob just wanting to evict people for no reason.

This is a bit confusing - what is your husbands reason for wanting to evict them? Surely if it is to charge more rent you would still offer them first refusal at the increased price?

Brought is the past tense of ‘to bring’. ‘I brought a gift to the party.’
bought is the past tense is ‘to buy’. “I bought my house with my own money.”

Don't be ridiculous! Where are people who can't get a mortgage supposed to live then?

I’m a landlord op. With long term tenants, I have a policy of keeping them 10-15% below market rent. It’s a respect and loyalty thing. Rents have increased massively in the last year or so and you’re renting for peanuts.

I think you should increase the rent or sell up. Say for example, if the house is in top notch condition, it would be worth £800 pcm. In the condition it’s currently in, you’re looking at perhaps a market rent of £680 (ie 85% of the top notch rent), could be a little bit more depending on the state of decor. That is a long way away from £475.

This surely? You wouldn’t immediately jump to evict them without trying a rent increase first.

I recently put my rent up but am still well below the current market rate . However my tenants always pay fully and on time.
You are effectively giving them a present of £400 a month . And unless you are likely to have an empty house for a few months it's a no brainer.
Landlords are not the charity/ scum that they are portrayed on mumsnet.

YABU for not doing any essential repairs for habitation.

But I think you do need to evict them, as it’s not sustainable and one day you will find you cannot afford a really big essential repair like the boiler conking out - and you will HAVE to pay for this. As it doesn’t matter how little rent you charge them, they have the right to live in a certain standard of housing.

To be fair to them you need to give them as much notice as you can to evict, and then if they are struggling they may opt to wait for social housing and so you might have to go through the courts as often the council will not just give them a place unless they are homeless. So it could take months and months.

@Landlordbyaccident sorry for the confusion , I tried quoting a post but it didnt work.

You are in a catch 22 position - rent not high enough to enable you to afford the needed repairs - raising the rent to be able to afford the repairs means your current easy going tenants may not be able to afford the increase and have to leave and you may end up with PITA tenants after .

Providing the house is safe and has all the up to date regs and safety requirements I would have chat with the tenants and explain that you need to increase the rent by x amount ( i would say around 7/ 10 % ) then carry out the work bit by bit .
But you need to be prepared for them to move out and you have no income and still need to have the work done , though if this is the case you can remarket it at the going local rate and recoup the funds reasonably quickly .

Give your tenants the choice , don't just evict them because you think they cant afford a increase

Lots of landlord obligations these days
You mentioned the boiler is old
New rule for landlords coming in this April re boilers
Think you need to make sure everything that could be potentially dangerous in the prop is up to date with all its checks etc re landlord obligations

You might find it’s not financially worth keeping it anyway.
If not you need to issue a section21 on them

😂 before the grammar police crucify me. That should have been corrected to bought. My apologies

I would start by working up your numbers.
if they paid the full rent you are currently charging, would it cover your actual expenses? you aren’t doing all the repair work and upgrades that should be done, but surely there is some maintenance, inspections, taxes?

in my country, the word “eviction” means you were asked to leave for cause. It isn’t a neutral term that simply means the landlord decided to end their side of the rental agreement. If you have an eviction on your rental record, renting again is extremely difficult. Hence the quotes makes perfect sense to me as a caveat that it wouldn’t have to be an actual eviction.

If you sold the house, would it clear your current mortgage?

She brought it by not being a boring annoyance over small SPaG errors 🙄

This!

why don't you sit down with then and advise them to get advice on whether they are claiming everything they are entitled to? Its in your interests to have tenants that are looking after the property but not paying late each month.

The price they are paying could well be cheaper than council rents on a similar 2 ed property, so its unlikely they would get a cheaper deal if they could get social housing?

Yes, I always wonder what the anti-landlord brigade thinks will happen.

It's mostly spite from people whose early adulthood life choices now preclude them from homeownership, I think.

Ok.you want £800 pcm but concede the house is shabby & need work done. Do it up,then raise rent to a rate the market will tolerate

You want £375 pm increase ,well you need to spruce it up to match that level of I don’t see that you can increase rent by £375 and do no work. So there you’re issue will you spend the £thousands you need to
in term of gas boiler, look at an air source heat pump instead as the legislation regard boilers will change

They are good tenants,no problem to you. That is worth a lot in term of no hassle.

You could give them a whole year of notice and say that the rent will be going up to, say, £650 in Match 2024. If they leave (before or in March) you can refurbish and make the rent higher.

Does that seems fair.

Where did you bring it from if you brought it ?

Notice to increase rent is what I would do. Legally with a contract landlord would need to give 2 full months notice. I think that is reasonable.