I rent out my property to total twats - is this my fault? Probably, but I want to grumble anyway LANDLORDS SUPPORT THREAD

[RattysPicnic]

Right, I realise that being a landlord resides somewhere around Tory Politician/Lazy Female Journalists/Fruit Shoot Marketers on MN but... I wanna whinge about the horrid people in my lovely house. Please let me.

I have utter wankers for tenants. Bad payers with attitude. I've been really, really nice to them. Four months in a row they've paid late and I've just said OK. After four months I asked that they set up a Standing Order for the rent and now they insist they're entitled to a 'payment window' of 15 days. Grrrrrr. They even had the cheek to send me back a copy of a friendly email I had sent saying 'fine' when they paid late last time - on the grounds that it proved it must be OK to pay late every time!

They have a contract btw, they just use the phrase 'notwithstanding the contract' as though that magically melts the lease away. The guy is a Prize A prick.

Anyone else need to let off steam?

OP I think there is some law where if tenants are persistently late with their rent, even if they rectify it, you can give them notice. Also, how long is the tenancy agreement? Also, I was under the impression landlords can give you notice because they feel like it, as it is their house. Could you think of some excuse why you want them to go? Could be wrong, and of course there would be the hassle of getting new tenants.

Tenant here - RattysPicnic your tenants sound like entitled, rude wankers.

I wish the same thing the other way round, sugar!

I'd love it if there were some kind of registry for good landlords/tenants - if people knew they were being reviewed, maybe they'd behave better. As a tenant, there is no way for me to get a sense of how good a prospective landlord might be, and I don't get the impression that recommendation letters from previous landlords are considered very important, especially by lettings agents.

Yuck.

DH lived for a couple of months with three friends (now 'friends', if you catch my drift) whose rented place was just filthy - sticky carpets, crusty towels, etc. They said happily that it didn't seem to matter to the letting agent, it was fine, etc. (They'd been there a long time). I believe the letting agent got the entirety of their deposit when they moved out, but I don't know how far that would have gone as the place would have needed deep cleaning in all the rooms and probably some of the stuff replaced.

It's crap, because it gives the rest of us who live normally a really bad name. At the same time, I had a landlady who'd let herself in and if we'd left anything out (I mean anything - coffee grinder, saucepans, bowl of leftover veg) on the kitchen worktop she'd bin it or put it beside the bin. She was quite obviously nuts and drove me up the wall, but I reckon she'd have been a perfect match with our 'friends' and maybe she'd had tenants like them before.

SugarMousePink, where in the country are your properties?

SugarMousePink that's where we are too. And we're nice tenants! Let me know if you'll have anything going in May-June

My tennant always wants something. ALWAYS. I cannot remember the last time I received the full rent from her, but I keep quiet because it's paid on time by her company and the silly girl is paying me £1050 a month for my lovely little 1.5 bedroom house in Surrey - the fool.

I am always slightly bemused by landlords calling their tenants friends and saying they have been really friendly with them etc. dont. you are running a business. treat them like customers, not friends. you both have a side of the contract to stick to, you both fulfil that, end of.

DH has just reminded me of our friend whose house has been thoroughly trashed by tenants. They've done serious, deep structural damage by converting his property into a drugs factory. Marijuana in those tomato bags - industrial. Every floor including attic utterly sodden with water from hoses set up on ceilings. Whole place collapsed in time for 12 month lease to be up.

I tell myself: much worse tenants are Out There.

(So excited to find this thread still going , it had dropped off my Threads I'm On)

Rattyspicnic - that happened to a friend of mine as well - she was a part-owner of a couple of places in rural Wales. They only found out when there was a fire in the property - only a small one but when the agents went to investigate the place was empty except for a tv and a microwave and a hell of a lot of dirt. It had been a hydroponics marijuana farm - the fire was an electrical one - and the neighbour said they were disturbed late at night by the "tenants" bringing a big van to clear out all the produce before the inspection.

It's not that rare!

Just out of interest our tenancy ran out a few days ago, the money for this month hasn't been taken out the bank and we haven't heard a thing from the landlords.

is that normal? the last place I was the rent just kept coming out the bank until we stopped it.

Hello all

Just to let you know I've asked MN if they could move this to the Property topic.

RP x

Well, Ratty'sPicnic's tenants are leaving. Turns out they're skint.

God, it could all have been so much more pleasant if they'd just told me that earlier instead of crazed emails from them ranting about my responsibilities.

Phew.

Can I ask a question here? I do the accounts for a landlord, but he is clueless and I am concerned things are getting deeper and deeper into trouble.

House rented out through an agent for the past year. (Previous tenant was there for about 10 years, paid DD every month and no problem.) I noticed that we had not had the correct amount for a few months, contacted agent, who said they told tenant to catch up payments. He is now owed nearly £2000. He went to see her last week and she sent me an email in response giving him 3 options as to what she could do:

1. she pay off the amount monthly on top of her rent.
2. he lower her rent so that she can pay it back quicker.
3. he lower her rent until the £2000 is paid back, then it can go back up to what it should be!

I cant believe her cheek, but he is a softy and I know he will let her off. Agent has done absolutely nothing to get this money.

Any idea what I can tell him to do to get the money back? As I say he is a softy, but needs the money.

TIA.

Is the agent still involved? Because if so then this should be the agent's problem.

If not then your client will need to firm up fast. Option a) is the only acceptable and he will need to write to her to give her a time frame (i.e. three months) by which it will need to be paid back and specifying the amount per month.

What is the position with the lease? He should consider serving notice if the required amount doesn't arrive in the first month.

Thanks Ratty, yes agent still involved. She has suggested paying back £20 a month, which will take years to repay it.

I will steer him towards the agent and see if he gets anywhere. He is a lovely guy, but just the sort of person who some would take advantage of. He has been lulled into just ignoring it after it all went so well for 10 years. He needs to man-up and be firm. - I fear not though!!

I know it is not really my business, i just hate the idea that she is going to get away with it!! GGgrrrr!! He's too nice!

Who's the agent?

A local estate agent who does Lettings.