Making a tenant homeless

[Plsenterausername]

I feel sick to my stomach…we’re not career LLs. We have been lucky and fortunate enough to buy 1 BTL in addition to our home. We have also been very lucky in that our tenants through the years have been wonderful - paying on time, looking after the flat. In turn we have raised the rent by just £25/pcm per tenant (3 in total) in 10 years, repairs (of course) immediately, replacing furniture immediately, getting their buy in with new sofas/mattresses - we have tried to be decent LLs.

One of our tenants hasn’t paid rent since Aug ‘24 and said he was looking for work and would make good on his arrears (he has done this in the past though the arrears were over a couple of months). He owes £5000 in rent now. I kept chasing asking for job interview updates, what his plan was, but got slow, non committal responses. Sadly, in January I had to tell him I would have to issue him with a Section 8 notice, unless he was able to leave voluntarily. I gave him 4 weeks notice. I have now found out he is going to be homeless as a result of leaving. I am beyond devastated that I have caused this to happen to someone.

We are planning on selling the property this year, so it would have just kicked the can further down the road…the room is going to remain empty…should we just let him stay till it sells? What message does that give the other tenants though? Such a mess over this ☹️

Any advice greatly appreciated x

Is there no guarantor ?

It’s hard @Plsenterausername but no, if you let him stay he will be a bugger to get out when you come to sell. You’re out of pocket £5k already, he’s an adult and has to take responsibility now for himself, you’ve lost enough.

Is it a house of multiple occupancy?

Hard but you’ve been reasonable. You can’t provide free housing at your expense

You don’t want to not be able to sell because of him. You have been more than reasonable. His choices, his outcomes to deal with. I say this as someone with a close relative who lives a similar lifestyle. They will take everything they can get.

If this tenant is unemployed they would be able to claim housing benefit for a single room. He should have been paying this to you.

It sounds like you are a HMO landlord. This isn’t your fault OP so don’t feel any guilt - in fact you’ve been more than generous letting him live in your property without paying rent for 7 months.

What you’ve got to remember that this is your business and you’ve got to put personal feelings aside - you’ve done what you can. The tenant has had more than plenty of notice. He needs to go to the council and declare himself as homeless and they’ll help him.

Are you planning to sell the property with tenants in situ to another landlord or will they have left before the property goes to market? You’ll find it harder to sell with tenants in the property than not so you need to take this into consideration. Some buyers will be put off by this arrangement.

There was not as he was in full time occupation at the time of signing the tenancy agreement.

Erm, more like you have a homeless person a place to stay for free for months. At a cost of £5K to you. The last thing I'd feel is guilty!

Don’t feel guilty, evict! He won’t be homeless forever he will find a new solution. The solution isn’t living off you for free

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

@Keepingthingsinteresting, @Haggisfish3, @eurotravel @MN2025 - My first thoughts but finding this out made me feel so awful I doubted myself. Not cut out for this 😔

Hi - yes it is. 3 tenants in a GF converted flat.

Thank you. I was not aware of this - and I think nor he given he is an EU national with right to reside.

Thanks @BucketFacer @Daisyrainbows - your perspectives make me feel less like a heartless witch.

@Plsenterausername “I feel sick to my stomach…we’re not career LLs.”

But you own an HMO?

Did you not have insurance to cover rent arrears?

I've been a LL for 15 years, I am responsible for ensuring quality housing, abiding by legislation and being available to tenants for repairs/issues - they are responsible for paying rent and, with any luck, somewhat looking after the place.

I might feel sad for their circumstances but with my business hat on, of course you can't let someone stay for free.

It’s our first home, a ground floor garden flat in a Victorian terrace, which we were lucky enough to retain while we purchased our forever family home. It classifies as an HMO under additional licensing schemes where it has 3 people from 3 separate households residing in it. We haven’t purchased anymore, with no intention to. We don’t use an agency to manage, didn’t charge any ludicrous fees to do reference/ID checks, I’ve known 2 of them for 7 years and they leave fruit and biscuits out for me when I visit, and we send them chocs and wine for Christmas. We gave them half off the rent while they were all furloughed during Covid. I appreciate we still came at it from an investment/financial perspective but we tried to be as fair as possible while running it.

So you don’t have insurance to cover arrears?

It is ok to evict someone to homelessness - it's the kindest thing to do because the local authority will not lift a finger to help someone struggling until they are evicted and made homeless. Go ahead with the eviction, but make sure he has access to all the info he needs to get help. You are not responsible for providing that help.

@applegrumbling @Upbiffa we do have insurance - where normally I purchase it and have it land in an inbox solely for this property, DP did (as we’ve had a baby and was helping with the mental load) and used his personal email. I have asked for the details several times to see if we can pursue but he has yet to do so.

Your tenant has been in arrears for months and your DH won’t give you the details to claim on your insurance? That’s really worrying.

Thank you so much for your kind response. I wasn’t aware of this. I’ve messaged this morning and believe he is couch surfing so not completely on the streets as I was first made to believe. It’s been an eye opener at how quickly circumstances can change for people…

I appreciate your concern - we do definitely have it as we purchased the freehold last year and have a legal obligation to hold it now. And the payment came out of the account used to manage the property - I just don’t have the policy documentation. Gah I hope I’m named on it!

Its nice that you aren't completely heartless about this while also not being taken for total mugs BUT you also need to realise that while you may have other jobs too being a LL IS Business and while its possible to do it with compassion if you can't make the difficult decisions too you shouldnt be doing it.
I hope you have insurance that pays out and you find a new Tenant asap.

Have they been claiming benefits and not putting it towards rent? You heed a thicker skin. being out of work does not give him a free pass. You need to enforce his notice and eviction.