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

You have been extremely lucky so far.

You are obviously thoughtful and considerate LLs as we were. But you do come across the (very) odd tenant unfortunately and it is difficult to deal with. All you can do is go through the procedure to get him out and move on. Try not to think so personally about it. I’m pretty sure he will come up with somewhere he can sofa surf when push comes to shove. This is your funding of retirement years at risk.

The council won’t house him until you make him homeless. Why wasn’t he claiming HB or was he claiming and just not passing it on to you

It sounds like he doesn’t know the law. No council will house him if he is voluntarily making himself homeless

It's his decision to not find work. He needs to know there are consequences.

I’ve worked in renters rights for many years, I hear about many crappy landlords. It doesn’t sound like you are one of them OP. There is only so much you can do, it sounds like you have been understanding and generous, there is only so much you can do.

Definitely direct him to advice orgs, but as a single male who has not paid rent he’s unlikely to get much help from the local authority unfortunately. Hopefully friends can put him up until he can get back on his feet.

You aren't making him homeless, he is.

As an EU national with the right to reside your tenant can claim benefits - usually Universal Credit, and will also be able to claim money to pay their rent. These days the rent money is given to the tenant & they are expected to pay their rent. The idea being that this is what happens when people work. I think it likely that your tenant has been pocketing their rent money (known as the Housing Element).

You've given your tenant notice, they haven't paid rent for 7 months. I would consider that they've had plenty of time to find alternative accommodation &, if they've chosen not to pay rent or even attempted to pay some rent, that they are making themselves homeless. The council may view it the same way if they try to get social housing.

His circumstances may be different to my tenant - but I had a tenant who was described to me as a single mum with 2 young daughters. She moved into my old home when I left London, and moved in her boyfriend, her adult son and two huge dogs as well (didn't allow pets in the agreement). She paid rent to the management company in cash every month - but then became behind with her payments and by the time I managed to evict her and discover how she had destroyed my house, she owed £8k. I went easy on her at first as she kept writing letters to me about how she had been diagnosed with cancer (untrue) how her ex husband had committed suicide (untrue) and various other tragedies which I at first believed. None of it was true which came out later. She destroyed my house, ripped out the new shower (to sell it, I guess) there was vomit and chewing gum on every carpet, the dogs had ripped up the laminate flooring with their claws and destroyed the carpet, the fridge was full of mould, the whole place was disgusting. Not to mention the horrible way they treated the neighbours. I never got the full amount back. Not saying not to be compassionate but do take sob stories with a bucket full of salt. It was my first own house and I had made it my own, and loved it. I just sold it after that, couldn't feel the same way about it.

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.

You are not responsible, he’s brought it on himself.
It’s the most basic of facts of adult life that we have to pay the rent or mortgage otherwise we end up without a home.
I assume you sent him the “ your rent is late. Your arrears are £x” letter?
You've issued him the notice, it’s best he moves out and finds somewhere else.

You’ve been very decent but your sale will not happen with a tenant in situ. You have been patient and understanding enough.

He must have somewhere or someone to stay with even going back to his home country. How is he eating if he has no work and no benefits? He must have some sort of funds as noone can live with zero cash for a year. He will have to find somewhere to live when you sell anyway.
This is unfortunate, but you are 5000 pounds down already.
Maybe if you want to ease your mind put together a pack of leaflets or print outs about charities that might be able to help him.
I cant imagine he has spent the last year sitting in his room, not eating, not calling anyone and not leaving the house so he must have a friend somewhere who has been helping him out.

I am a landlord and have in the past been overly lenient on late payers. I hoped that if I gave them time they would get their finances straight and clear their arrears. A couple actually did manage to do that. Mostly though the late payers got more and more behind, with little hope of catching up.
Once the arrears get to be 3+ months there is little hope. You know that the person must have some income as they wouldn’t have survived for 3 months on nothing. The rent is not a priority for them, the reason for this is largely irrelevant as the affect is the same.
Your tenant must have known that you would eventually start the eviction process. If he is willing to leave then take him up on this.
You will be better off leaving the room empty. Assuming bills are included this will at least lessen your costs. It will also mean that you only need to evict two people when you sell.
Don’t feel guilty. If he had asked in advance to live rent free for many months you would have refused. He didn’t ask but just took it.

Why hasn't he claimed housing benefit?

He has to go homeless to get council support. Plow through.

Please don't feel guilty OP! He needs to go ASAP. The fucking cheek of it!

You really should not feel bad. You have not caused his homelessness - he did. Just harden your heart and remember he's been taking the piss for months.

Hi OP,
Tread carefully.

Have you told your tenant to leave tomorrow or have you given them the legal 2 months notice and they have chosen to leave tomorrow?

If you have asked your tenant to leave tomorrow and they speak to CAB, the Council or Shelter it is likely that they will be told that they have been illegally evicted and given advice of the next steps to take.

I would hold fire on doing anything with their room and any remaining belongings as they may be advised to go back. Neither landlord of tenant can legally end a tenancy with only a days notice. It is unlikely the Council will help them if they have moved out without going through the eviction process. They will be told they are intentionally homeless.

It concerns me that you don't seem to know anything about the law for landlords but haven't used an agency to help you.

Did you protect the tenants deposit in a registered scheme? That is a legal requirement and you wouldn't be able to legally evict someone through the court process without their deposit being protected as well as a number of other things including having the annual gas safety checks and providing your tenants with a copy of the certificate.

Why jsnt he getting uc and rent from that or is he pocketing the money ask for it to be paid direct

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.

Are you sure he is going to homeless? I'd be careful to fall for sob stories as at this point, he'd say anything. It could be that he has options he is not telling you.

If you had taken him to court for possession then the council would have had to house him

Either he has somewhere to go or if he doesn’t then he really will be homeless.

If you are feeling bad about the situation you could tell him he stays but starts to claim HB if he hasn’t all ready Then tell him you will take him to court for possession so the council will then house him after the court case

If it’s making you ‘sick to the stomach’ perhaps you’d be better working with a letting agent in future.
its not worth the money you’re saving by trying to manage it yourself (presumably to save money) and now you’ve ended up in a mess.
in future go through agents. They know housing law inside out.
its no flex to be a ’kind landlord’ . It’s about money , just be honest and own it.

If your worried then you can write the debt off. And get direct payments from uc final chance

You’ve done nothing to feel guilty about. This person sounds like a grifter.

so rare to find ethical landlords who would be conflicted about this - it’s really refreshing and brings some faith back in humanity despite our money driven society. as you said you won’t gain much from an empty room - maybe keep extending the final warnings until he’s able to find a job? keep texts stern so he feels the heat but know that you probably won’t get your money (though you never know if he gets a job..) please don’t be swayed by heartless people telling you to drive him out. you won’t gain your money and you won’t gain a new tenant. like you said, your financial circumstance makes you lucky few these days, keep that humanity in your heart and your conscious.