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Original poster

Non paying tenants in our UK home

16 replies

Mamaka · 06/05/2017 19:49

Has anyone had this happen to them? We rented out our house while living abroad and this month is the first month our tenants haven't paid the rent. They emailed to say they have had a change in circumstances and would pay at the end of the month instead. They also questioned the rent amount saying they'd discovered it was too high for our area (not true).
I'm freaking out because we used nearly all our savings to move and don't have any extra to pay mortgage next month in case the situation goes on. We have rent guarantee insurance that we can claim after 2 months consecutive of non-payment.
Any advice to calm me down?

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 06/05/2017 19:52

Do you have a managing agent?

I would serve notice. It sounds like they are going to be difficult and, at best, try and negotiate the rent down.

SavoyCabbage · 06/05/2017 19:56

How long have they been there?

LIZS · 06/05/2017 19:59

They need to miss 2 months at least before you can evict and it has to be done according to a specific process. Get agent to chase, if you have one. If you have to evict it could take a long time to get them out.

Original poster
Mamaka · 06/05/2017 20:03

They've been there 4 months and the contract is for 6 months. My dh wants to serve notice already, I don't fancy going through the finding tenants process again so soon and would like to give benefit of the doubt til the end of the month. No agent, I had read bad things about agents' tenancy referencing process and so we referenced, credit checked etc ourselves.

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 06/05/2017 20:52

I'd say it was impossible to rent out UK property when you are overseas if you don't have an agent. Ours was a godsend. How do you propose to deal with emergencies? Serve notice now that you won't be renewing at the end of the six month period.

theothersideoftheworld · 06/05/2017 20:56

Having no agent when living abroad is crazy. We had our property fully managed by an agent , and thank god we did as we did have some issues getting our tenants out.
I hope you have protected their deposit properly etc? Even if the contract ends at 6 months, you still need to serve them a section 21 if you want them to move out.

TupperwareTat · 06/05/2017 20:59

They agreed to pay the amount as stated on the contract.
Maybe they want to leave?

Original poster
Mamaka · 06/05/2017 22:42

We didn't use an agency because my dm offered to deal with emergencies, and she also has her own properties that she manages herself so she has experience. Think we'll be using an agency after this though!
Yes we've protected the deposit. Does the section 21 need to be served 2 months before end of contract?

OP posts:
theothersideoftheworld · 07/05/2017 08:46

I'm no expert but our contract was for a year and at 10 months we had to serve the section 21. The agency did all that for us. If you are going to do it make sure it is absolutely correct or it will be void .

JoandMax · 07/05/2017 08:52

I would serve a section 21 now for them to leave at the end of the tenancy term. Once they've got away with not paying on time or at all the cynic in me says they'll do it again.

If you decide to let them stay then definitely get an agent or appoint someone
to deal with it for you in your absence.

It's hard being a landlord overseas when you get issues with tenants, we had non-paying tenants last year which we had to have evicted. We had a great solicitor who dealt with it all for us but it cost a lot of money and took over 6 months to sort out. Hugely stressful and we actually ended up selling the house afterwards.......

Original poster
Mamaka · 08/05/2017 05:25

How do we do a section 21 correctly, is there a specific wording or something?
As tenants haven't even bothered replying to my very nicely worded email back to them, we've decided to give notice just after the date they say they will pay rent, so that at least if they are going to stop paying after we give notice we might get this month's out of them.
If they do stop paying the rent for the last 2 months can we just keep the deposit?

OP posts:
peukpokicuzo · 08/05/2017 06:15

If they do stop paying the rent for the last 2 months can we just keep the deposit?
But then what recourse do you have for making good any damage?

theothersideoftheworld · 08/05/2017 06:17

If you have a look the Landlord Zone web page, that will help you out a bit more. Good luck!

GloriaV · 08/05/2017 06:29

I would say give notice now. Haven't they broken the contract by not paying? You are allowing them to do that if you don't start getting them out. I had a tenant who didn't pay, didn't pay, then did pay, then didn't etc. Then by the time I'd let them off a few times and given the 2 months notice they owed well over the deposit.

Original poster
Mamaka · 08/05/2017 06:44

Yes they've broken the contract by not paying but said that they would pay on a different date instead. Am I naive to hope they might actually pay on that date and then resume paying as normal?

OP posts:
GloriaV · 08/05/2017 07:03

They might pay but are obviously having difficulties (or chancing their arm) and their difficulties might not be solved by one late payment.

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