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Original poster

Serving notice on tenants

14 replies

hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 18:11

Hi all,

We have had to serve notice on our (lovely) tenants today as we need to move back in to our house for financial reasons.

I decided to write a letter to the tenants instead of calling them as we were given notice ourselves before Christmas and I was glad it came in written form and not over the phone as I was quite upset and needed time to compose myself.

Anyway,I've had a voicemail from somebody (MIL?) on the tenants behalf asking if I can let them stay until the end of the school year (another 3 weeks) so they don't need to pull their daughter out of school before the end of term.

Of course I would love to do this but I will have to pay another month's rent on our own house in order to do this and that will be £1500 which we frankly cannot afford.

What can I do?!

OP posts:
Original poster
hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 19:28

anyone?

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Dropdeadfred · 04/05/2012 19:31

I think you just need to be honest and say that regretfully you cannot accommodate their request

GiveTheAnarchistACigarette · 04/05/2012 20:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheCokeMachine · 04/05/2012 20:29

Have you served them two months notice (Section 21) - if so then I think that's more than enough notice for them to sort themselves out and make arrangements for themselves and their daughter.

I would try and talk to them though, and explain why you have to do this - it may help them to understand your predicament and ease any bad feeling that could arise.

Hope it all goes ok for you.

oreocrumbs · 04/05/2012 20:35

I would let them stay the 3 weeks for all the reasons TheAnarchist said. Getting rid of tenants if you have to evict them is long and expensive and soul detroying, trust me.

Rather than pay another months rent yourself could you store your furniture in some ones garage (or at your tenants house perhaps) and stay in a travelodge or premier inn. They do family rooms for £30, sometimes £20 so you would be looking at less than £1000, rather than £1500.

Or you could let them stay at an incresed amount. Explain the situation - that you will be homeless and will have to pay for accomodation yourselves. Not sure how successful that would be but it might be worth a shot.

Failing that you can say no they must leave by X, but if they want to play the game it will cost you a lot (it cost me thousands in legal fees) and take months to get an eviction notice. And places like shelter and CAB inform tenants of how to play this out to get the maximum time in the property (so that they genuinly don't end up on the streets).

Its not a nice situation to be in, and I feel for you, but forwarned is forarmed as they say.

Original poster
hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 20:36

Yes, I have given just over 2 months notice and served a Section 21 by recorded delivery which arrived today.

We don't have any friends or family here we can stay with (my mum lives with us and other fam are overseas).

I will have to borrow the money to pay another month's rent if I give them another 3 weeks and as I have already given notice on our house I will have to speak to our LL as well. There's nothing to stop them giving me 1 month's notice at any time as well if they do find somewhere suitable which worries me as I would have to act very quickly to then give my own LL notice or I would have a period where I would be paying rent + mortgage.

I am not understanding why they would need to pull their daughter out of school anyway but my children are not at school age yet.

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Original poster
hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 20:40

Would a family with 2 kids really risk formal eviction proceedings? Wouldn't this make it virtually impossible for them to rent privately again in the foreseeable future?

I hate this.

When we were asked to leave our beautiful house just before Christmas I was gutted and it still makes me sad thinking about it but I accepted the fact that they had given us 2 months notice as per our contract and moved on.

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Original poster
hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 20:43

Perhaps increased rent to cover some of our costs and this to be paid up front at the beg of last month (so month + 3 weeks). I doubt they could afford this to be honest though.

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oreocrumbs · 04/05/2012 20:52

They might not, but a single mother with 2 kids did in my house. They probably won't, but I'm just pointing out the risks.

I too am a bit confused as to why they would have to take their daughter out of school, unless they will be moving away - but since they only just found out it can't have been on the cards.

Now that they have had the letter and have some time to process it, why don't you give them a ring on Monday and see if you can call in for a chat. I wouldn't be going through the MIL, deal direct with your tenants and explain whats happening. Good communication is a good problem solver.

In my first flat I was a tenant, we had been in 2 weeks - just got unpacked and my flatmate rang to say the LL had been on the phone and wanted the flat back. I was all for saying no way, she can have it back at the end of the tenancy untill she came round and spoke to us - she had moved in with her bf and he had beaten her up, so she had no where to go and needed it back. We left and found somewhere else. It was clear she was doing it through necessity and not just being an arse.

Original poster
hopeless123 · 04/05/2012 20:56

Yes oreocrumbs I had also thought I might leave it until Monday to give them time to think things through. I am not sure why the MIL (or whoever) made the call on their behalf but agree it's best to deal directly with tenants.

It's not as if we are kicking them out to make a fast buck or anything, we have just hit hard times and need to move our family back in.

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thomasbodley · 05/05/2012 10:27

I think if you can explain your circumstances to your tenants they will be much more understanding and accommodating than you're anticipating. Try to work out a compromise and meet halfway on the notice they've requested and the one you need, for example.

How old is the child? If she's having exams or some such then you'll need to be very sensitive, but if she is only very young, I'm not much inclined to be sympathetic TBH - she'll miss sports day and a few daytrips at the end of term, but you stand to lose £1500 and your peace of mind. I'm also a bit confused as to why it was the MIL to made the extension request. If stability was so important to the parents, they'd have negotiated a fixed term contract that corresponded to the school year.

BTW, tenants who refuse to move out once their s.21 expires are usually doing it to ensure their council takes responsibility for re-housing them. They can't be seen to have made themselves "voluntarily homeless", and an s.21 is not an eviction notice.

Original poster
hopeless123 · 05/05/2012 11:12

The child is 6 or 7 years old...

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Original poster
hopeless123 · 05/05/2012 11:15

I just can't understand why they would remove their child from school because they are moving house anyway. I presume they will look for a new place in the same village or surrounding areas anyway (this is a rural area) so worst case senario is they have to drive her in for 2/3 weeks!

I'll try and speak to them on Monday.

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thomasbodley · 05/05/2012 11:25

They may be moving in with friends or family elsewhere or the MIL may be pulling a guilt trip. I'm dubious, I must say. As I said, if stability were that important to them, they'd have insisted on a tenancy that corresponded to the school term.

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