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.

Why are you bothering to pay an agent? All of this should be their problem.

For what it's worth I have a tenant who keeps asking for a bike shelter to go in garden which I think if she wants one she should buy it herself. She requests this about every 2 or 3 weeks. I just refer her to tenancy agreement which is for house and does not mention or include a bike shelter. I have suggested she stores it in understairs cupboard. It always amazes me how all other tenants are happy but as bike shelter?

cheshire I don’t want to go into the exact details on the off chance the tenant is on here. Maybe that’s stupid but it’s how I feel.

However I am clearly not disputing for a moment that sometimes things stop working and that they need fixing. That’s life, whether you live in a home you own, one you rent, whatever. And we are very responsive to this, but things have become very tense. That coupled with demands that are totally reasonable but the timeframe is not, and things that tbh I don’t think are reasonable - demanding a particular type of white goods as an example - is making me feel it is more trouble than it is worth.

I don’t want to have to endlessly explain or justify myself here. I have the info and thank you.

@Covidmum20

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?

No you haven't.

I've asked whether the tenant is on a statutory periodic or a assured short hold, and if the latter what date it ends. I've asked how often the tenant pays rent. You haven't answered a single one of those - "he's been there a long time" isn't an answer.

I haven't once questioned your motives for eviction or suggested you are unreasonable. There is no reason to get shirty with me.

People are trying to help on the thread, OP, but you're being very defensive and prickly. If this is how you deal with the tenant's messages, I wonder if that's part of the issue, that it's become a combative relationship? I don't mean that rudely – I think it takes a certain person to be a landlord and I ended up being an accidental one a few years ago and HATED it. Every time my phone rang and it was my tenant my heart sank. If it's making you this unhappy I'd sell up (I did).

If I went with the contractors the agents use I would actually be operating at a loss! - then change agents! Agency contractors shouldn't cost more but generally have the advantage of responding quickly to some of the very small problems which tenants can request to be fixed, simply because they know that overall they will get a large volume of work from the letting agents. However if you are having to find your own contractors to go round every time the tenant tells you a curtain pole is coming off the wall a door handle is loose then it probably IS taking too long because most tradespeople simply aren't interested in jobs of that size.

I would refer them to the terms of your tenancy agreement and what your responsibilities are.

Explain that you are fulfilling them (if you are) and say how you expect correspondence to go. Aggression isn't to be tolerated from either party. Ask for everything in writing.

Haven’t RTWT however, before you consider evicting, you need to make sure the following are up to date and rock solid:
Gas safety certificate
Electricity report EICR done within last 5 years
EPC given to tenants in moving in
Deposit protected, info re protection scheme given to tenants within 4 weeks of moving in
How to rent guide given to tenants within 4 weeks of moving in.
If you are at all shaky on any of these, think very carefully as it could backfire wit( them suing you for compensation.

@Covidmum20

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

Sorry @Covidmum20 this is the issue.

If you don't want the inconvenience of dealing with the tenant and organising repairs, it is going to cost you more. If you are arranging the repairs yourself, it still has to be in a timely manner. You can't make the tenant wait until your cheap mate can come and do it. As you don't want to say what the repairs or timeframe are, I am inferring like others that it is probably you who is being unreasonable and the tenant has grounds to complain. If that is the case, you will probably have the same problem with any future tenant.

Not really loudest I’m just a bit fed up today.

I’m not asking for people to criticise me

Then you're probably on the wrong forum, OP
You may get some good advice from measured posters, but on the whole LLs tend to get treated like the devil incarnate on here

Do tell me where my cheap mate is coming out cheshire

This is exactly why I’m defensive because I know whatever I say it will be wrong and actually I just wanted factual info. Thanks.

However if you are having to find your own contractors to go round every time the tenant tells you a curtain pole is coming off the wall a door handle is loose then it probably IS taking too long because most tradespeople simply aren't interested in jobs of that size

I think OPs earlier comment about being out in January for the tenant indicates OP is the type of landlord who waits till the BIL is free to come over to do a botch job and the tenant has to put up with it, I doubt OP uses a letting agent or property manager

That is the issue puzzled and in my case it definitely isn’t true.

I have had professional tenants for years and most have been lovely and reasonable. However, one set never told me when something broke and that isn’t great, because when they moved out I needed to redo so many things. The worst tenant was a pregnant lady who complained about everything and would ring 5 times a day about things like changing the windows in a Grade 2 listed building, because she could not sleep or she did not like the shape of the taps, or the carpet on the stair was too rough on her feet or she did not want to change a lightbulb herself, in case it was dangerous. So you do get bonkers tenants and I was so relieved when this one left of her own accord. She essentially had a chip on her shoulder about renting rather than owning, any instructions we gave her as to when eg the bin days were/instructions from managing agent were met with “stop treating me like a menial tenant”.
Some tenants are very demanding and unreasonable, just as there are rogue landlords. A good landlord will be happy to fix anything quite quickly so it does not deteriorate and will be aware of their legal obligations.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I’m not asking for people to criticise me

Then you're probably on the wrong forum, OP
You may get some good advice from measured posters, but on the whole LLs tend to get treated like the devil incarnate on here

I find good landlords on here get treated just fine because they are as rare as rocking horse shit the ones that do get a hard time tend to be the parasitic middle men who do nothing but exist off the hard work and sweat of the tenants need for a basic human right of shelter

Yes I have a Princess and the Pea right now. Had to grow a backbone and say no to very unreasonable demands, which like OP I will not list here due to privacy issues. While of course ensuring I am at all times in the right side of the law and acting fairly. Some people don’t respond to respect and reasonable treatment in kind, but see it as an invitation to push for more.

To be fair my tenant looks great compared to that sunny!

Sorry, cross posted with your reply @Covidmum20.

Demanding a particular brand of white goods isn't reasonable but surely it just takes an email saying no and that you won't discuss it further?

If you don't want to say what the repairs are, you could give an example of what you think is a reasonable timeframe for an urgent repair (no loo or hot water) and a non urgent repair (broken kitchen cupboard door or washing machine). Or just consider yourself whether you might be being unreasonable about timeframes. Are we talking days or weeks? Emergency repairs really do need sorting immediately, even out of hours, a broken washing machine needs dealing with ASAP, not in a few weeks.

I find good landlords on here get treated just fine because they are as rare as rocking horse shit the ones that do get a hard time tend to be the parasitic middle men ...

In that case I'd ask why you immediately leapt to the sneery "OP being vague because shitty landlords don't like admitting being one", but there probably isn't much point

I don't pretend to know whether OP's "shitty" or not, but it seems a shame to just assume it. However, as said, that's MN for you on this particular subject

This is exactly why I’m defensive because I know whatever I say it will be wrong

Why will it be "wrong" if you aren't doing anything wrong? If you say you would send an emergency plumber in the evening if their heating has broken on a cold night or you would send temporary heaters, that wouldn't be "wrong". If you say you've made them wait several days without a flushing loo or weeks for a replacement oven or washing machine, then people will criticise you. People are assuming the worst because you aren't responding.

If your communication with your tenants is anything like your communication on here, then I think we can understand where the issue lies...

I leapt to sneery as you called it because someone who wanted actual advice would have been more open but OP likely knowing they are at fault was being vague as hell, they could have given plenty of examples of what would have been a similar problem without it being outing in any way OP comes across as a revenge eviction type landlord

Because it isn’t relevant.

Thank you flowers