To come down like a tonne of bricks

[thisisasurvivor]

Hello all

So I rent a house out

Semi reliable tenants

Xmas rent late by ten days
All they could pay was half
So I said fine
Pay half no probs

Now - rent late
So they can only pay half this month

I have been very fair
Rent is 200 less than market value as I don't want to put any pressure on them

Say nothing and hope it won't happen again?

They have been there 3 years so only some issues since dec 22

Plus everyone is struggling financially now :(

Local housing associations are snapping up ex private rentals in my area. They says cheaper and quicker than building new

You can send a solicitors letter all you want, it’ll do jack shit. If they don’t have the money they can’t give you it there and then and you’ll still need to go through court proceedings to get them evicted - and even then you’re looking at months and months of this and in the mean time they could stop paying rent and trash the place entirely. You’re not unreasonable to go through court proceedings if you no longer wish to be a landlady but be prepared for a hell of a long wait to have them out.

Once you start accepting late/less rent that’s it. You have to be businesslike sorry to say otherwise you’ll end up in a mess. I’m speaking from past experience where I let tenants be late with a payment. It went rapidly downhill from there.

Well I'd be homeless then so thanks for that! Qs a single childless woman I'd be very low priority if the local HA bought them all up too.

I'll never bash LLs, even those that don't have a clue. It's a tricky business and far from "sponging".

OP normally you serve Section 21 2 months before the end of their tenancy, but if they can't or won't leave you'll have a fight on your hands to get them out. It takes a long time. Best to sell once they're out tbh.

You were kind at Christmas. Now they're taking the piss out of your kindness.

I doubt they are. More likely they are massively struggling and lying awake at night with worry about which bills to pay. This isn't the OPs fault but a little empathy and recognition that this is likely to be a very difficult time for them would go a long way.

Learn about the eviction process and be prepared to use it if necessary.

Have a look at 'dealing with rent arrears' and 'if you get a section 21 notice' and 'if you get a section 8 notice'. All written from the tenant's point of you but will give you a good picture of what you can do.

Shelter website also has lots of information.

My daughter too, would be homeless without private landlords. As a single 21 year old who moved to another city due to the lack of jobs here she would never be entitled to any kind of social housing.

Sorry, no such thing as an accidental landlord.

It's a planned decision people make for one reason or another. People always have a choice as to whether they become a landlord. A lot of the time its because their idea of what the property is worth doesn't coincide with the rest of the world thinks.

It can also be a very expensive choice, in terms of both money and time/hassle.

@user1477249785 saying they can only pay half the rent - they exact same amount they could 'only' pay 5 months ago?

No request for a payment plan etc? No suggestion of how to make it up to OP?

OP, your tennants are (essentially) strangers - theyre not your freinds. There are few circumstances where Id give a near-stranger several hundred quid, particularly without knowing why they needed me to. Allowing them to pay part-rent is in effect giving them money, its not cruel to arrange a time to meet with them to sort out a repayment schedule.

IMO, you need proper advice, soneone who will check the tenancy agreement, make sure your deposit protection is right, male sure the property is up to standard, make sure youre filling all your obligations. And its time to stop being an "accidental" landlord and put things on a proper, professional footing (you can be a great fair landlord AND do it by-the-book).

Wonderful! But if that's the case, why are there-in many areas-so few places to rent.

If the private rental market went under, there would be serious consequences for renters as not everyone would be able to afford to buy and, despite wishful thinking, housing associations and councils do not have enough properties to meet demand.

Some half wits seem to think that if private rentals didn't exist, they would all be able to buy a three bed semi with a garden but, then again I suppose that's why they're half wits!

Firstly you need to check that you have done everything correctly - protected the deposit, annual gas certificate, correct contract in place.

You seem like a nice person so if it was me, I would ask them what the issue is. Ask them how long they envisage it going on, and that they are applying for all the benefits they are entitled to.

Once you know whether this is short term (job loss) or long term (illness) will give you an idea of what next steps to take.

OP if you don’t know what you are doing you need proper legal advice. You can’t issue a Section 21 to ask them to leave until more than 2 months late with the rent. Have you given them all the prescribed information, right to rent, etc? Is the deposit protected? If not they can take you to court for 3 times the deposit amount. Is there an EPC? If they don’t pay and you need to evict them it will get thrown out if you have not done all this.

You should also be looking at raising the rent to be more in line with the local market, perhaps in small increments over the next couple of years. What does the tenancy agreement say?

You need to talk to the tenants and get some proper advice.

Contact them, say full rent is due and ask them to transfer it ASAP. If they say they can't then you can try the agreed payment plan route but that'll only work if whatevers caused the problem is a one off and xmas suggests otherwise.

In the mean time start looking into your legal obligations as a landlord and make sure everything is up to scratch (deposit protection, contract, any insurance/safety certificates etc). Hopefully that's all done anyway as being an accidental landlord isn't an excuse for not doing this properly, but make sure everything is correct as you sound unsure on here. This is for both your tenants sake and yours.

depends on the city tbh, there are of places with available social housing but no one wants to move there :)

I became an accidental landlady so I don't know what the best thing is to do

Use an agent to manage the rentals for you and take out insurance against non payment of rent.

It would be best all around for you to sell your property to a professional landlord who has a proper understanding of the law and knows what they are doing.

You selling the property doesn't automatically end their tenancy. You can only end their tenancy with a court eviction order. If you were to attempt to sell to anyone other than a landlord, their solicitor would insist that the eviction process is completed and the property empty before contracts could be signed (unless they were a really crap solicitor).

However it's perfectly possible to sell with tenants in-situ and sell it as an investment with a known ROI.

It's frankly rather weird that you just waived half a month's rent in Decemeber. More normal would have been to agree and then to insist that in future months the payment is £50/£100pm higher until such time as the shortfall is paid back. No wonder they thought they would try that again!

I thought accidental landlords came about because they inherited property. But in this case OP has a mortgage to cover... regardless, I'd be speaking to the tenants preferably face to face in the house if you can, and see what a bit of brainstorming can do (and also see whether they're pulling a fast one - prioritising unnecessary expenditure over essentials, but I'm naturally somewhat cynical). PPs have said that when you gave them the Christmas inch they've taken a mile but talking to them will help clarify if that's the case.
Selling can be tricky as you need vacant possession and ideally that means before you put it on the market unless you sell as an investment with tenants in situ? Good luck.

Seriously they're struggling so you expect them to find more money to pay late fees?

No such thing as an accidental landlord - at some stage, you must have actively chosen to do it.

My sister and I bought it

She moved away

Asked me to rent it out

Tonne of bricks? Yeah, crush the tenants!

Yes, so you CHOSE to rent it out. You need to step up and treat it as it is: a residential lettings business, not just a hobby to get money here and there.

Wise up or these tenants will eat you for breakfast.

Jizzle 100 per cent wrong

Mortgage is 580 a month
House insurance is 300 a year

The tenants pay 600 a month

Houses in the area (as of valuation today) go for 900 to 1100 per month

House is in great condition also

So def no greed here
Totally the wrong avenue you have gone down