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 exactly are you using a letting agent if they're then passing of all of this crap onto you? Surely that is the whole point of using them.

I'd be looking for another agent who is better practised at dealing with tenants on your behalf, tbh.

With the best will in the world, on what basis is it relevant to your tenant that you have a newborn? That’s nothing to do with your role and obligations as landlord which you have a third party able to deal with but who you choose not to use because of pricing. You are after your cake and eat it I fear

I’ve got a few landlords who didn’t realise a yearly electrics check was needed!

Which country is this for? Is the legal requirement not a minimum of every 5 years for both parts of EICR for England now (I'm not in England btw). Of course you can do it more often than that, but legally that is what I thought was the latest position for England. Maybe different for HMOs?

OP it's hard for people to be sympathetic when you're being so evasive about the details. I rent and recently went a month without hot water, can't make use of a third bedroom even though we require it because of very bad mould, currently have a pest infestation in the attic due to holes and such the landlord has failed to fix yet I've had to pay for pest control myself otherwise the pests could make their way into our house and destroy our things/spread disease. We don't have a working shower and the letterbox is broken/partially missing and so have a massive draft coming through the living room. That's only the tip of the iceberg and this is how the house was when I moved in, couldn't check the house in person because of covid I wonder if my landlord thinks I'm a troublemaker too when I ask for these things to be sorted and is looking to evict me!

OP, another LL here. I’m sorry- I imagine you’re at the end of your tether and that’s affecting how you’re engaging with other posters. You have an agent who you’re presumably paying anywhere from 10-20% commission to... if their contractors are routinely (much) more expensive than reliable local tradespeople then either sack the agent or have the agent ring your preferred tradespeople for jobs that come up.

I have one property a fair distance away in a cheaper area, another very close to home that I manage myself. The quotes for repairs on the former are always laughably high - I expect the tradesmen see “estate agent” and “landlord” and crank it up, and perhaps there’s (cynically) money going back and forth to stay on the agent’s books. For major works it’s been cheaper on two occasions for my trusted handyman to drive 45 minutes into Kent, charging me for his travel time, to do the work, than for a local person recommended by the agent to do it.

I still don’t have a clear picture about whether your tenant is asking something reasonable of you. I hope you do, at least.

You’ve my sympathies! My parents have a house that they rent out. It’s not much but it’s a badly needed retirement income. And they’re so much less resilient in their older years than they used to be - I’m always terrified they’re going to get a tenant that upsets them. I’ve lived in plenty of rented places and have occasionally had housemates who treat landlords like they’re a new set of parents. I’m so ashamed that when I was younger I did indeed get a landlord to change a lightbulb because the ceiling was so high

I’m so ashamed that when I was younger I did indeed get a landlord to change a lightbulb because the ceiling was so high
And you'd bristle at your parents having to deal with the same nonsense?
That's logical.

No she is ashamed of it and hopes her parents get more competent tenants fgs

At the end of the day, you’re not responsible for someone else. If you decide you want to sell YOUR house, for whatever reason YOU chose, that’s absolutely fair enough.

All this two years crap is crazy. What would they do if you didn’t pay the mortgage and the bank repossessed it anyway?! Pretty sure a bank wouldn’t have to wait 2 years if someone didn’t pay their mortgage!

What if a could split up and need to sell the house they rent out? It’s crazy they have to wait that long. 3 months notice test should be adequate.

It’s like one of those crazy laws that would allow trespassers to break in to and live in someone’s house whilst they were on holiday and the owner could do fuck all about it and have to wait months and nights at their own expense before they can get them out....

@TableFlowerss

It might be her house, but it's her tenants' home.

@suggestionsplease1

I’ve got a few landlords who didn’t realise a yearly electrics check was needed!

Which country is this for? Is the legal requirement not a minimum of every 5 years for both parts of EICR for England now (I'm not in England btw). Of course you can do it more often than that, but legally that is what I thought was the latest position for England. Maybe different for HMOs?

Legal requirement is at least five years (unless electrician has serious concerns - but Gov website is not entirely clear on this point). It's certainly not every year as Hubstar suggests (and worryingly, sounds like they're an agent).

A few other incorrect pieces of 'advice' on here as well. This is the problem with the BTL market and non-professional landlords.

@Covidmum20

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

Being upset is not a legal reason for evicting a tenant.

Sorry! I was thinking of a similar post!

Ignore me. I meant I had a few landlords who didn’t know that houses needed one now. Not one ever year. Thinking of something else at the time and typed it.

I was at the drs and thinking of something about a smear!

@caringcarer

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.

Four months notice is from 1 June 2021, not tomorrow.

Also, you couldn't issue S21 when AST signed as you've described in your last sentence. When Covid rules changed, ASTs effectively became 10 month minimums.

Why give advice that's not correct?

A lettings agent once explained that a “reasonable” time to fix stuff was the time you might take in your own home. So no heating and a small baby...pretty quickly. A loose door handle or similar might wait till other jobs needed doing.

That's a good rule of thumb @Needmoresleep but I would add the caveat that a tenant shouldn't have to wait more than a few weeks unless there is a valid reason eg parts out of stock. I could happily manage with a broken shower in my ensuite by using the family bathroom or taking a bath for months, having to waste a day waiting in for a workman would be far more of an annoyance to me so I would put it off , but I wouldn't expect a tenant to put up with the inconvenience for that long.

I’m very tired. Bloody brain.

@suggestionsplease1

I’ve got a few landlords who didn’t realise a yearly electrics check was needed!

Which country is this for? Is the legal requirement not a minimum of every 5 years for both parts of EICR for England now (I'm not in England btw). Of course you can do it more often than that, but legally that is what I thought was the latest position for England. Maybe different for HMOs?

Ignore me. I meant to say landlords didn’t know some needed it done. Not that it needed doing every year. I was at the drs and was thinking about something that I needed doing in a year. But wrote it on that page.

@TableFlowerss

At the end of the day, you’re not responsible for someone else. If you decide you want to sell YOUR house, for whatever reason YOU chose, that’s absolutely fair enough.

All this two years crap is crazy. What would they do if you didn’t pay the mortgage and the bank repossessed it anyway?! Pretty sure a bank wouldn’t have to wait 2 years if someone didn’t pay their mortgage!

What if a could split up and need to sell the house they rent out? It’s crazy they have to wait that long. 3 months notice test should be adequate.

It’s like one of those crazy laws that would allow trespassers to break in to and live in someone’s house whilst they were on holiday and the owner could do fuck all about it and have to wait months and nights at their own expense before they can get them out....

The law doesn't agree with you so you can rant all you like but it's totally irrelevant to the question at hand

[quote Freecuthbert]@TableFlowerss

It might be her house, but it's her tenants' home. [/quote]
but the landlords circumstances could easily change and they could need the home for themselves.....

All this two years crap is crazy.
It’s like one of those crazy laws that would allow trespassers to break in to and live in someone’s house whilst they were on holiday and the owner could do fuck all about it and have to wait months and nights at their own expense before they can get them out....

It's not 2 years in law. The notice period was increased to 6 months because of COVID. There is a backlog in the courts because of COVID so a process that would normally take 6 months or so is likely to take 2 years.

Wanting repairs done isn't grounds for eviction. They'll be paying you a bloody fortune and you want them evicted because they'd like things doing to their home in a timely manner? Judging from the obtuse and petulant way you reply to people on here I'd say you're the problem.

The law doesn't agree with you so you can rant all you like but it's totally irrelevant to the question at hand

@Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Pretty sure the law doesn’t take two years to evict someone! Also pretty sure you wouldn’t be so passive if someone camped a tent outside your house and had a right to stay there.....

@chesirecat99

All this two years crap is crazy. It’s like one of those crazy laws that would allow trespassers to break in to and live in someone’s house whilst they were on holiday and the owner could do fuck all about it and have to wait months and nights at their own expense before they can get them out....

It's not 2 years in law. The notice period was increased to 6 months because of COVID. There is a backlog in the courts because of COVID so a process that would normally take 6 months or so is likely to take 2 years.

I’m sure they’ll start firing through them faster now the covid situation is almost over

@TableFlowerss

*The law doesn't agree with you so you can rant all you like but it's totally irrelevant to the question at hand*

@Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Pretty sure the law doesn’t take two years to evict someone! Also pretty sure you wouldn’t be so passive if someone camped a tent outside your house and had a right to stay there.....

But op won't say why she wants to evict these tenants, which is why people suspect they've actually done nothing wrong.

I'm on the other side of the table and would just like to say thank you to those giving good quality information in attempt to help the OP as it's helped me to learn a bit more about an impending notice seeking p that I'll no doubt be recieving on 1st June, particularly the timescales for when the tenant contests it. So although the OP has ignored most of it, it is undoubtedly being helpful to others, so thank you.