Tenants taking advantage?

[Applecart12]

I have a rental property and despite them passing all referencing have been a nightmare.

1. They have consistently sub-letted (breaching the contract) the property numerous times to various people and the agent has had to move them along. But they've consistently lied saying they are only temporarily living there or they are family.

1. Breaking things in the property and then claiming it is not them, and not taking responsibility.

1. They all do night shifts - even the new ones they have moved in after the original tenancy agreement and have no consideration when they come back in the middle of the night, stomping up stairs, using the dishwasher, washing machine and blender at any time between 12-6 am. There are currently 4 people living there when the tenancy is for only 2.

1. Rubbish and mess are left at the front of the property and if the foxes do get into overflowing bins they just leave it sitting there.

1. Parties - children running, stomping at 11-1 am.

1. Domestic arguments where the neighbours can hear every word between the two adults

As the landlord I have spoken to them many times, the agent has spoken to them. The neighbours have knocked on their door.

Their 12 month contract ended recently and I was not willing to renew. However, they requested an extension because they said they had found a place and could not move till x-date.

X-date is approaching and they have now said they are still looking. Lies again

Now the question: neighbour this week had to knock on their door to ask for the screaming and running kids to stop and that they should be in bed at 11pm. They also mentioned about the domestic arguments that they could hear.

Tenants duly rang the agent next day complaining that the neighbour was aggressive and that they didn't like them talking about their children.

However, on speaking to said neighbour - they said that the tenant did not look upset when she mentioned the children (smirking and not bothered) but it was only when they mentioned the domestic arguments did their expression change.

How do I navigate this.

Unreasonable = neighbour
Not unreasonable = tenant

They're not moving out until you serve them with the 21

This was predictable 🤷‍♀️ - you knew this

Serve them and don't fanny about

YANBU. Get them out!

What's stopping you serving them a Section 21? (ideally before it's abolished!)

@Butchyrestingface guided by the estate agent to wait to their stated move out x-date within the next two weeks. Or should I just do it on Monday (I feel if I do they'll think they do have another two months under s. 21 to do anything.

Just get the section 21 underway

You should have started the formal eviction process to coincide with the end of the contract, but that's water under the bridge now.

Your agent sounds shit tbh. Landlord action are pretty good for this stuff, give them a call.

1 and 2 are enough to serve them notice.

This will not end well.

Next time let the agents do their job, for which you pay them, and stop communicating directly with the tenants.

Start the eviction process. They may well stay in the property until the bailiffs turn up if they want any help from the council. However, they’ll be out of there eventually so that’s probably your best bet

Hmm. I definitely not recommending it. And I didn't do it - I was abroad at the time - but I might know who did. We had tenants like this on the street, and the landlord was struggling with them. Someone reported them to Social Services. Domestic violence and abuse, with children in the mix, does get their attention. They moved out within 48 hours of the social workers calling.

As an aside, she was the worst and her name was - I joke not - Heavenly. Dear God her parents really had no idea.

Your estate agent sounds rubbish. Get started on getting these tenants out asap, and then take the opportunity to find a new agent.

Evict them ffs, don't be such a doormat! They don't say when their tenancy ends, you do! Its your bloody house fgs.

Serve the s21 notice and expect them to stop paying rent and wait to be evicted and potential further damage to the property but at least you will get it back. Let the neighbours know when you have served the notice. Ignore letting agent if they try to dissuade you!

This.

If you want your tenants to leave you have to service notice. If you want it to be at the end of a FTC it needs to get issued 2 months before.

A FTC doesn't mean a tenant has to leave at the end if it. They don't even have to renew the fixed term if they don't want to. At the end of a FTC it just automatically rolls into a monthly periodic tenancy. The tenancy doesn't end!

Your agent sounds utterly rubbish if they don't know that.

Bear in mind as well that your tenant doesn't have to leave either when the S21 elapses. They can choose to stay on. You then have to go to court to have them evicted. The only thing that means a tenant definitely has to leave is a court order!

Your agent has badly misadvised you.

Serve S21 now today.

These fuckers aren't going anywhere quietly and will be arseholes to the bitter end

Change agents and always meet your tenants in person (my mother taught me this after learning the hard way)
It's short term inconvenience to avoid long term pain.

Serve them s21 first thing Monday morning, get them out legally & correctly. What a nightmare.

Get those disgusting people out asap and have some consideration for the poor neighbours!

Then I would change agents before letting out again as the current ones are useless!

You really need to ask? Your tenants are awful so get rid. The agent is useless so change them.

I forgot to add, subletting is normally a significant breach of contract sufficient to end the tenancy on its own

You can serve different types of eviction notice in parallel, you don't have to pick one. But absolutely fire the useless agent and hire people that specialise in eviction paperwork because one tiny error means the clock resets. You could be looking at months with no rent income.

They have that amount of time anyway. The longer you delay serving the notice the longer it will be before you can apply to evict them (if you need to)

The funny thing is that they are on an immigration visa (healthcare) so I had expected better. The agent did say that the tenant was worried that they wouldn't get a good reference, but he has said he will give them one so they will leave.

What's the cost of the s. 21 notice?

Surely if baillifs get involved this impacts their visa somewhat?

The s21 notice doesn't cost money
Their visa is none of your concern.

You should have served notice when they first breached their contract.

Stop enabling them.

Sack your agent. Why give them a good reference so they can pull this crap on someone else ?

@Willyoujustbequiet I do feel gaslighted by the agent. I have appointed another one

@RowanMayfair my point about the visa is that they wouldn't want baillifs and court cases impacting their visa status and ability to work? I know in my line of work I can't have any ccjs, bankruptcy etc so I wonder if it is the same for healthcare, particularly if you don't have indefinite leave to remain.

Just trying to work out the likelihood of them pushing it through all the way

your poor neighbour

having these as neighbours

having you as the ll of the property

Exactly!!
But to be clear, serving notice to leave a property had zero effect on a visa.

You got really bad advice from your agent. I'd probably start a complaint against the agent if I was you.