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?

The tenants can go to CAB ask for help with benefits check, look online checker
Not landlord role to check if they’re claiming all benefits entitlement

It’s probably in the OP’s interests though.

Always better to have tenants you know than have the faff of finding new ones

Do you mean you’re considering serving them legal notice - an S21?

Eviction would be if after serving legal notice, they did not vacate, and going down the legal process to have them removed by the courts.

Sounds like the property needs lots spent on it. If you serve them notice, before re-letting you will need to spend large sums, that it sounds like you don’t have. If you put up the rent, they might not be able to afford it and leave (although presumably other rents will be high elsewhere too).

Personally, once I have a tenant who is a good tenant, I don’t tend to out up the rent until they move on. Keeping good tenants is usually worth it, as the costs of voids and especially if a lot of money will need spending between tenants, can mean it takes more than a year to recoup those costs from the rent of a new tenant. However, if it is many years, a small increase might be needed.

I would talk to them about an increase. Given their position and that you can’t afford to spend lots of money on the property, I’d be looking at a small increase, so it still isn’t at market rates, even for the condition. This could mean they stay and can afford it and you also have more money and don’t need to spend the vast sums on upgrading it. Otherwise, it might be best to decide to sell and give the tenants as much notice as you can and plan to market it when vacant. Do not attempt to market the property with tenants in it. That would be greedy and is problematic in lots of ways and more likely to result in a lower price being achieved and sales falling through. Here are lots of threads about this.

Check your tenancy agreement and the gov.uk website to make sure you give the correct notice of a rent increase. The increase needs to be fair and proportionate, you're not going to get £800pcm if your property is not up to the same standard as others charging that much.

Check also that you have all paperwork up to date and correct - tenancy agreement, safety certificates, etc. Make sure they've been given a copy of the How To Rent Guide and that their deposit is in an approved holding scheme. If you do need to move to eviction then you can't legally proceed unless this is all done.

Another option is to sell it with tenants in situ, estate agents locally will be able to tell you if they have prospective landlords on their books.

I would give them notice for a fair rent increase and advise them to go to CAB. However, if they do stay & pay, use the surplus to sort out the house. If they don't, you need a plan B.

Out of interest what happens when they don’t pay full amount & pay late ?do they owe rent?
Late or amount owing is breach of tenancy conditions and reason to terminate agreement

A Tennant that is no bother is worth their weight in gold.
Being a landlord can easily become an absolute nightmare and turn into a stressful money pit.

I should have added, I have a long term tenant, who can only just about pay his rent by himself. He split up from his wife maybe 5 years ago and I agreed for him to stay on even though he failed credit checks by a few pounds and left the rental amount the same. He’s been a tenant for maybe 7 years now and didn’t increase in all that time.

His ds is working now and has been for a while. In that time, I’ve redecorated and changed the bathroom. The kitchen was brand new. I paid for a week in a furnished apartment for the work to be carried out, which cost the same as a months rent. Until a couple of weeks ago that meant he was paying £255 below market rent. I increased it by £105, which equates to 15% below market rent. A dad and his ds in his 20s should be able to work that rental amount out imo.

He is from a Western African country and travels home for a month every year. I decided in the end, his need to travel home shouldn’t impinge on my right to charge a rental figure, which represents the current situation. If rents decrease 10% or even 15%, he still won’t be paying over the odds.

Unless it's in a very rough area, £475 does seem cheap for a privately rented 2 bed house in Birmingham.

You say it needs a new boiler, kitchen & front door - but are these more wants than needs? If so, maybe increase the rent half way between the current rent & market value and use the extra money to complete the work?

Anyone legally living & working in the UK should be able to get help with housing costs shouldn't they?

Evict is not really the correct word to use and can give the wrong impression. You are asking if you should serve notice on your tenant to vacate the property as per the terms of the tenancy agreement. If they do not vacate then you would go to court. If you were granted vacant possession and they did not move out then you would ask for them to be evicted and bailiffs would attend. Pedantic maybe but this word is used incorrectly by many including national newspapers.

You’re shooting yourself in the foot by not increasing the rent so it is in line with local market, allowing for the state of the house of course. I’ve heard of situations from our letting agent where tenants are accustomed to low rent that they can’t afford the increase and have some kind of legal leg to stand on. I also think your husband has a point, he’s probably fed up of these tenants taking the piss not paying rent on time or in full.

OP the benefit in having long term tenants is having a reliable income stream, but it doesn't seem that yours offer you that as they aren't reliable payers.

If you were to evict them, as they won't be able to afford higher rent, are you in a position where you could get a loan to make the necessary updates and, therefore, be able to rent out at market value?

Your low rent reflects the condition of your house. Renters would expect good decoration, decent kitchen, and in a few years a new CH system. You need to save up for this, have a plan to do it in, say, 2 years. Give the heads up to your tenants that in 18/24 months they will have to leave as you’re upgrading, in the meantime explain you are increasing the rent, but to nowhere near what you consider the market value (that’s for houses in good condition). Tenants paying market value expect quality and will be on the phone immediately for any problems, you’ll value your accommodating and understanding tenants once they’ve gone.

Put the rent up, as per notice period in your tenancy agreement. You are not running a charity, you are not being heartless, there is no reason for the rent to be so far below market rate, even if your property needs some repairs, assuming you’ve protected the tenants deposits and complied with all the other legal necessities.

If the tenants can’t afford it (and sounds like they can’t) that’s not your problem, you don’t have a duty to help them with rent, benefits or anything else.

If they are struggling they probably won’t be able to afford market-rate rent, so mostly likely you will have to through court process to regain possession. Be prepared for this to take a while, and you may not get any rent while this is happening cos they maybe miffed about being evicted and decide not to pay rent during this period so budget for this.

Your tenants problems aren’t your problems.

@PuddlesPityParty
I don't have a major issue with literacy on a forum such as this. What I have issue with is glaring errors being pointed out and people still insisting it's correct. It isn't. OP herself has now acknowledged that she should have said bought not brought.

I haven’t heard that one and been doing this for over 20 years. What I will say is that I’ve been reviewing my 3 long term tenants rent to get them up to 15% below market rate in anticipation of a labour government putting rent caps on. They’ve all been hit with £100 increases, which I feel so guilty doing. It’s fair really though as I’ve changed windows, carpets, front doors, decorated and so forth.

The tenants problems will be the LL problems though, if they serve notice and they can’t afford to go elsewhere and it takes a year to evict them, and during that period don’t pay rent.

If the OP served notice. She will also need to spend big sums on the property bringing it up to scratch…..which she doesn’t have.

So actually, she doesn’t have much choice I’d say.

Good LLs are those that are in a financially solid position to run their business. That means they can afford to do the maintenance needed. This LL can’t. In a sense they are lucky there are tenants in there who are paying a low rent and some money is coming in. They could shoot themselves in the foot and end up with no money coming in, plus no ability to upgrade the property and re-let it. Is that better??

It sounds like you need to spend a lot on in. In excess of £10,000. I would be tempted to sell it as is.

If they are struggling they probably won’t be able to afford market-rate rent, so mostly likely you will have to through court process to regain possession. Be prepared for this to take a while, and you may not get any rent while this is happening cos they maybe miffed about being evicted and decide not to pay rent during this period so budget for this.

Thats also why it’s in the interests of the OP to help her tenants.

Evicting them costs a fortune.

If they’re entitled to benefits that they’re not getting then an hour or to of help will save the OP an absolute fortune in fees and hours of hassle.

While she has no obligation to do so it’s certainly worth her while considering it.

@PuzzledObserver @ZeldaWillTellYourFortune @Nanny0gg What the anti-landlord brigade wants is for tenants to live in a good standard of housing, with regulated landlords who do their job properly. I wouldn't mind landlords so much if they were properly regulated and did what they were supposed to do, but it's shitty to become a landlord when there's such an imbalance of power.

The OP has even admitted that (a) she's barely done any maintenance work on the property, which should frankly be illegal, and (b) she actually acknowledges the only reason the tenant has never complained about the state of the property is because they're scared of getting a revenge eviction (a very real fear, it happens all the time), and yet she hasn't done anything about it for years. Feeling bad about it doesn't let you off the hook if you don't do anything to fix it. Damn right I'm anti-landlord.

For most landlords, pleasant, reliable, undemanding, long term tenants have a value all of their own.

For a good landlord, knowing you are providing a decent, secure home for people has a value all of its own.

I think it is unreasonable to suddenly raise rent by a large margin or to evict tenants without good reason.

On a house that needs work, I would give them notice of a small and reasonable rent increase in line with inflation and leave it at that.

If you want top market rent for the area, you need to invest in the house and do the work on it. Make a plan of the work and how you are going to finance it. Think about a realistic timescale because in some areas good tradespeople have long waiting lists. Then have an honest conversation with your tenants about whether they would want to stay, and give them plenty of notice. It can take many months for tenants to find another home, especially an affordable one. Making someone homeless without very good reason would not sit comfortably with me.

It isn’t unreasonable to expect rent at least at local LHA levels. And that would make you far more generous than most. I spent most of my adult life in private rental. I was lucky to find a property where my children could enjoy stability for eight years. Right up until we bought. We were also able to have pets. But repairs were not undertaken properly if at all. I didn’t moan much because I couldn’t face the prospect of fighting the inevitable revenge section 21 if I did. A lot of tenants live like this. You don’t need a reason for a Section 21. But if they push back and you’ve not met your obligations, there will be consequences. Do you issue them regular periodic tenancies or are they on a rolling contract? I do have issues with private lets. It is an unfair system. But I’ve had some great landlords too. £475pcm for a two bed anywhere is ridiculously cheap anywhere in the UK currently. I’m near to Birmingham (ish) and £1110 pcm is a good deal currently. Why don’t you just sell? Or get in touch with the local authority. Most will manage your property for you if you’re prepared to accept LHA rates. Your current tenant should speak to housing advice at the council too. It might be that you can work out a means of the staying at LHA rates if they’re at risk of homelessness.

I would evict and then sell the property as it is if I were in your position.

I’d hope it’s not as simple as I put it because that’s worrying, I’m sure it gives them an argument although as others have said why aren’t these tenants working or claiming benefits. I also wonder if this is all above board with actual tenancy agreements etc. That’s a very interesting point and I agree with you it does sound fair.