Evicting a tenant

[Covidmum20]

At the moment, this is one possibility of many and I am wondering if anyone can advise me of the legalities here.

Our tenant is good in many ways but is becoming increasingly demanding with regard to both what we do and the timescales in which we can do them, snd it’s causing a great deal of strain and stress.

What is our legal position here? I’m fairly sure we can’t ‘just’ evict - I’m sure I read something about this.

@Covidmum20 you are not answering specific questions that you have been asked, so how we answer specifically?

Do you pay the agent for full management service? They should have a spending limit within which to organise repairs and only refer to you for higher amounts. What sort of repairs are we talking about? Reasonable wear and tear? Have you rented it out to tenants previously?

That’s because they are not relevant to what I’m asking here sage - meant politely and not rudely!

You don’t have a tenant problem, you have a house falling apart problem.

And an attitude problem.

If you are getting the rent and not having the place wrecked then be grateful. While most tenants are normal people, as there is no comeback for landlords beyond eviction (currently stalled) be very, very grateful if you have those things.

Sorry , but that's how it is.

And for the knee jerk brigade - I have lovely tenants in a well maintained property.

If you are going out with a newborn on a cold January night to fix something non-urgent when you're paying your letting agent 18% or whatever to save yourself the bother of having to do that, you do have a letting agent problem I'm afraid!

You sound totally fed up OP which is what you're paying a letting agent to avoid.

Unless you have a massive dripfeed you DON'T have a tenant problem. They are perfectly fine, you just need a managing agent to deal with them directly. Typically landlords need a lot of nudging to do repairs so yes they might speak robustly about the timelines. No need to be mortally offended by them.

Sounds like you're causing yourself a tonne of extra hassle because you don't have a decent property manager.

Further info - in England landlords cannot end tenancies. If your tenants dont want to leave , that is their absolute right and yes you do have to go to court.

@Covidmum20

That’s because they are not relevant to what I’m asking here sage - meant politely and not rudely!

Yes they are!

I wouldn't be asking them if they weren't relevant to the advice you are seeking.

Ignore the people questioning your motives and respond to the specific questions about the tenancy agreement. If you don't and you act on the more general advice given you risk the whole eviction being completely thrown out.

@Covidmum20

That’s because they are not relevant to what I’m asking here sage - meant politely and not rudely!

They are because posters don't want to assist someone to evict a reasonable person because they ask for repairs. And you being vague does rather imply you're unreasonable, since reasonable people would say, "example, they asked for new wallpaper throughout and when we said next year, they threatened to kill us".

BTW I've been on both sides of this and know there are unreasonable LL's and tenants.

I think you all need to trust that if someone is upsetting me then I am upset, and that’s that tbh.

Tbh if you didn't want to discuss the wider issue and just want someone to cut and paste the relevant regulations around LL evictions you could have just used Google rather than starting a thread?? Quicker

Whoa @GoldilocksAndTheThreePears, of course you should mention them! The landlord will want to know. You deserve a working oven and both you and the landlord will want those leaks to be fixed. That is in no way unreasonable. I think OP here is describing a very different scenario. Unless you are a landlord, you won't understand how different tenants can be from each other and how widely expectations vary. Some, like you, are extremely afraid of mentioning issues others will demand improvements well beyond repairs. Some rude, some grateful. Your landlord has a responsibility to repair faults. Both of those that you mention are genuine issues for them to correct. Let them know and enjoy your new oven!

Possibly but Google often throws up conflicting info and I personally find it much easier when I can ask further questions and clarify meanings.

Of course if you feel I am misusing the board you can report to MNHQ who will take it down if they agree.

Xanaduyourenotthatfar

I'm happy to provide detailed advice, but if the OP keeps ignoring my requests for details on the type and length of contract etc then I can't.

If your tenants are upsetting you, it is because you allow them to! We rent three flats and pay a managing agent. We don't even have direct contact details for any of them currently. If they have a problem they report it to the managing agent who checks with us and arranges a contractor to fix the problem. The agents have a 24 hour emergency number but if a tenant called that out of hours with a non-urgent problem they would be told to call back the following day so how/why the agents contacted you and you felt obliged to attend out of hours is anybody's guess.

I’ve answered tent, please don’t make up lies about me.

If I went with the contractors the agents use I would actually be operating at a loss!

@Covidmum20

I think you all need to trust that if someone is upsetting me then I am upset, and that’s that tbh.

Well then this is your issue and nothing to do with the tenants'. I would advise a managing agent and some counselling.

But @TentTalk isn't lying, you haven't answered her questions about the type of tenancy you are talking about.

@Covidmum20

If I went with the contractors the agents use I would actually be operating at a loss!

Ah a landlord who thinks they are owed a living off their tenants and want things doing on the cheap, thanks for the additional information OP

I’m fairly sure I’ve answered it twice now. I’m sorry though, that was rude of me. Since I have the relevant info, shall we draw a line?

@Covidmum20

That’s because they are not relevant to what I’m asking here sage - meant politely and not rudely!

The type of repair and time frame is relevant. If you are leaving a tenant without a working toilet for days or no heating for weeks, you are evicting them for asserting their statutory rights. You are the one being unreasonable and the problem, not the tenant. The problem isn't going to go away with a new tenant.

If they are complaining because they expect you to come out at midnight to fix a broken shelf then they are unreasonable but, as you are employing a letting agent to manage the property, I would say that you have a bigger problem with the letting agent than the tenant. They should be fielding this and the problem will go away if they do their job.

Hi, I'm a LL. If you have a fixed term contract with tenant which has a specific end date you should give notice to end contract 4 months from tomorrow before contract ends. State under Section 21 you wish them to vacate property under no fault departure. Tell them you will give them reference stating all rent was paid on time and in full every month. Tell them they will be getting full deposit back from TDS.
Tell them you need property vacant to do upgrade work. Make sure you issued right to rent booklet at start of tenancy, have current gas, electric and energy documents and both carbon monoxide and smoke alarms preferably on each floor. Without these up to date you don't stand a chance. If on periodic tenancy you can give 4 months notice from tomorrow but on date rent is usually paid, under section 21. Again stress there is no fault and you will give them helpful reference stating all rent paid on time and property kept clean and tidy. Up until tomorrow you had to give 6 months notice due to Covid so issue section 21 at same time as signing rental agreement just in case they become problem tenants but if good tenants retract it later.

@Covidmum20

If I went with the contractors the agents use I would actually be operating at a loss!

AHHHH here we go lads. So you refuse pay for repairs done in a timely fashion at the going rates, you want the dodgy lad who'll "maybe" do it next month or you'll give it a shot yourself. And the TENANTS are the problem.