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?

And that’s exactly what many of them are doing.

Meanwhile, people like the OP’s tenants will be evicted when she “goes and finds another job” only to find there’s absolutely nothing available they can afford. The house will be swallowed up by someone who can get a mortgage - taking yet another cheap rental off the market.

That’s the reality and it’s happening now - have a look at how many rental properties there are in your area. It’s alright bleating about LL’s being “held to account” and being unreasonable for not installing a brand spanking new kitchen in a house with a perfectly serviceable one which brings the Op very little, if any, profit. But meanwhile in the real world there is nowhere for people who can’t get a mortgage to live - and unfortunately it is going to get much worse.

Both the front door and the kitchen doors could be spray painted if you wanted to freshen it up, people often prefer to choose their own kitchen. I have BG home cover and my boiler was into it's 19th year. A power flush was recommended as my sitting room radiator didn't get hot. In Dec BG updated the quote but kept the additional discounts offered in the spring but were able to offer the Worcester Bosch package and free finance. I had the system balanced and with the saving on elec heating and home care cover it pays for itself. In your situation that's what I'd do. You say the houses are getting £375 a month more than your tenants pay. Could you increase that over 3 years say?

I can't speak for the rest of the 'Sp&G Police'. Maybe I'm a PCSO not a PC then because I just backed someone else up. Maybe OP responded to a mistake about grammar with a typo. Quite unfortunate. I don't think it's about rejoicing in an occasion to be 'special", (though yes, i do helieve my grammar is better than average), it's more about correcting glaring mistakes. I generally leave it but on this occasion for ME it wasn't about Sp&G it was about arguing a correction (which might well have been a typo).
Still, all sorted now.

It is really disheartening here to see the lack of compassion expressed by landlords in the private sector. With the exception of the OP. The constant banging on about ‘market rent’ with a lack of understanding of how far that falls bellow LHA rent is really disturbing. If you don’t like being a landlord, just sell up. Find some other aspect of privilege to moan about endlessly. Really?

@FoxInSocksSatOnBlocks whoops on you. Go back and read her comment. She said she can increase rent WITHOUT notice.

If you don’t like being a landlord, just sell up. Find some other aspect of privilege to moan about endlessly. Really?

As I pointed out before, if all our LLs sell up, the stock of rental housing falls and prices rise. Then renters really will have something to complain of.

Posters are as imbecilic about LLs as they are OW, speaking as someone who has never been either.

Whoops on you. Go back and read her comment. She said she can increase rent WITH notice.

That’s fiction. And ludicrous. See also, utterly self serving and ridiculous.

You can never increase rent without notice. Ever. You can’t evict on a whim either.

My close friend has a rental property. After his last tenant, who had been there for about 7yrs, the estate agent gave him a huge list of things that needed doing before agreeing to list it again. It doesn't sound like you're in a position to do all the necessary work, in one go, to make it viable for further tenants.

Sorry. But no. It’s all out there for you to Google and read. Owning a lot of property isn’t a public service. Market rent is absurdly high. I’ve had really good landlords. And bad ones. Some of the pejorative language and attitude towards tenants here is dreadful. Having been a tenant for a long time, I would not be so unpleasant, ever, as to own a property someone else might call home and lease for above LHA rent.

Or, purchase prices plummet making ownership viable for millions more.
Or, local authorities are able to increase their housing stock due to price falls and extend their rental offerings for those that prefer not to buy.

Your ignorance shows here - as it does by many on this thread.

If that is the case, why isn't it happening now?

Landlords ARE selling up in droves - there is a huge shortfall in rental properties and it's getting worse.

Its laughable that you think this means those properties will then cause house prices to fall dramatically and everyone will then be able to afford to buy. That isn't how it works.

Even funnier that you think local authorities will be clamouring to buy these properties to offer to the social housing market.

If op raises the rent to £600 as I suggested, it would still be below the Birmingham LHA cap, which is £143.84 per week on a 2 bed or £623.31.

This is just how low the rent on her property is!! Now that the cap has been mentioned, she could raise it by just shy of £150 and still be within that range.

Agree completely.

Offer them the opportunity to stay on at the rent you want to achieve for the house. If they can't afford it, serve a section 21 notice and rent the property to someone else. It's got to be a business decision, even if they are lovely people.

Nice to know you “helieve” that, whatever that means.

Sorry, that’s quite a low blow from me but I couldn’t help it considering 🤭

This level of naivety slash ignorance is tragic really.

The last time I refurbed a 2 bed it cost me 17k. Then there’s redecorating in between tenancies and massive change over costs. Kitchens and bathrooms may (hopefully) last 20 years if the tenants have looked after them, could be less but there are a plethora of other maintenance needs. Carpets and flooring need changing more regularly, general maintenance of the internals, such as periodic decorating with long term tenants in situ, kitchen and maintenance, replacement taps, ovens and so forth. Tenants in private rentals expect to do zero maintenance so a wobbly curtain pole will cost me a call out charge.

The add on costs therefore to keep a property in top notch condition are well over £100 a month on a 2 bed. Then there’s EPC’s, gas safety / electrical safety certificates, legionaries checks, agency fees with vat, hedge trimming and so forth almost trebbling that figure. Unless you were mortgage free or were prepared to leave the property in disrepair and be one of those much maligned landlords, you’d be running at a loss.

For every 1k my tenants pay, I probably see 50% and I have to then pay my mortgages. I’m not actually making a profit despite my properties being well above the LHA rate as they’re for professionals. I chose properties in desirable locations and have always targeted this demographic btw. Good job I did as I’d be coming unstuck right now like so many other landlords, who have and are selling up.

As a private landlord, I cannot offset the loan against tax btw, unlike housing associations for example. There isn’t a level playing field and the government has done this to tenants, not me. This is why so many landlords are selling up.

If the property is being sold, it's because there's a buyer. Weird how someone so well informed apparently doesn't understand this. If it's acquired by another landlord then the overall availability isn't falling, if it's a residential owner then that owner isn't a participant in the rental market.
Central government set the rules on property acquisition for councils, no reason why those rules should remain the same.

But you could just sell up?

Agreed. The only people benefiting from the current position are the very wealthy and large corporations able to diversify into purchasing housing stock.

the budget for LA acquisition of dwellings is NOT set by central government. That is wholly incorrect.

Well either they're your values or they're not? Do they have children? Would you evict children, and probably force them to move schools? Only you know that about yourself.