Would like to ask tenant to leave but now we have a change in regulations?

[cheeseandbranston]

I have a small renter. I have only put the rent up by £50 in the past 4 years because I had (wrongly) assumed the tenant was a good one, because she rarely asks for anything, is polite and pays on time.

however, I asked to walk through the property a month ago, and it was shocking. She had painted everything herself and down a very bad job, the garden was full of junk as was the garage, she has a pet that we never discussed and the carpets are all ripped up by the pet.

i didn’t say much at the time because my visit obviously made her super anxious - she covered all the floors with sheets and claimed she had just carpeted them when it was obvious that it was because she didn’t want me to see them. And she tried to stop me going outside claiming the rain had made the garden and garage dangerous.

I could see she was close to tears as I left.

i felt sorry for and after texted saying that I hoped the walk through didn’t make her too anxious and I wouldn’t need to do it again for another year - I didn’t want her to be frightened.

BUT, it has made me realise, I don’t want to rent my house any more. I took a couple of months to think about it, and the damage will be costly to put right, and I don’t want my own property at risk like this.

I had planned to tell her in January because I don’t want to make Christmas difficult for them. (Her boyfriend and teenager live there too)

but yesterday I saw renting rights are changing and you can no longer simply give a tenant notice?

does anyone have any advice please? Not just opinion, but actual knowledge of what I need to do?

thank you.

You really do sound like a very naive landlord.

If she’s been there 4 years your electrical testing certificate is due soon if not already expired.

Did you give her the booklet how to rent checklist.

Epc, gas cert etc.

All needed to serve section 21.

Personally, I would serve her an improvement notice following your inspection. Give her another month and then serve notice if she hasn’t brought the property up to standard.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent/how-to-rent-the-checklist-for-renting-in-england

She was two years in a brand new nicely decorated house, for below rent and has done thousands in damage?
Pity about her OP.
I rented for years and like many left them absolutely spotless and well looked after.
It really isn't difficult to treat a rental with respect.

This is one of the problems with being a small casual landlord - all your financial risk and emotional investment is in one property and with one tenant. 9 times out of 10 everything might go smoothly but the 1 time out of 10 it doesn’t you are screwed. Rationally it’s a terrible business model.

I did this when I wanted to remove a tenant. I offered a refund of the final month's rent if the tenant moved out within the time period specified. It provided her with the money she needed for a month's deposit on a new place so worked for both of us.

Do you have a formal tenancy agreement? Was it let through an agent? where is her deposit held? Did you have an inventory and photos when she moved in?

Absolutely zero point being a landlord. Evict and sell. Do not own property in the UK, you have Marxist politicians across government ministries who want to transfer money from anyone above average income (defined by treasury as 46,000 a year) to those who don't work.

No she doesn't, in reference to the poster who said she was clueless.

Yes, I agree with this 👆 I'd serve her a section 22 now, before it changes next year. Decorate then sell it, so you never have to worry about it anymore

This. But you need to act quickly as s21 will be abolished. We don't know when yet and landlords are waiting for the timescales to be given now that the RRB has become law earlier this week.
I mean this kindly, but you come across as not having a clue about being a landlord. You will only be able to us e a s21 if you have all your paperwork in place- the deposit (if there is one) protected correctly, landlord's gas safety checks done and within date, the how to rent guide was given, an inmate EICR etc etc. If these aren't in place, then the application to the court will fail.
If you evict, you'd be best to use an eviction specialist as it's a complicated process. They are cheaper and better than using a solicitor.
You also need to write to her to tell her you were unhappy with the state of the place and be specific about what you were unhappy about.
If you took a deposit, and you don't inform her, it will look as though you were happy with the place and weaken your case to claim back money. You could consider a Mcol (money claim on line). You're likely to need detailed photos etc of the property condition at the point she moved in.
Be careful about saying you're going to sell the place if you're not, as there are new penalties for this in the RRB (though I personally haven't seen exactly what these are yet) that will likely prevent you from renting it again for a long period of time.
Lastly, if you do end up renting it to a friend, you need to be very very careful to do all the correct paperwork and follow all regulations the same as if they weren't a friend. You've created a tenancy in exactly the same way as if they weren't a friend, and you open yourself up to massive fines if you don't follow the regulations. These friend/ tenant situations often turn sour and it's best never to rent to friends or family.
Join NRLA or some other organisation and make yourself familiar with what you need to do as a landlord for your own protection, and your tenant's protection too.

True. And this case is further complicated because OPs tenant may or may not have damaged the property is ways that actually cost more money than a tidier tenant. It sounds like the walls need repainting and the carpets are ruined and need replacing. But if according the time she’s been in the property and the age of the carpets, those things need doing anyway at the landlord’s expense, then it may or may not be anymore expensive to repaint and recarpet than if she hadn’t done a bad paint job and got the pet. How much of a pain she is from the landlord’s point of view is actually likely to be most influenced by what happens next. If the tenant takes charge of sorting out all the garden junk for example, that would be much less expensive for OP than having to hire a skip. Whether or not the tenant is motivated to do that might depend on how much of financial corner she finds herself painted into. OP needs some advice from someone more qualified than random Mumsnet users.

You choose the date of them leaving. A Section 21 is for 2 months, but you can extend that by inputting the date on the template. I evicted my alcoholic aggressive tenant who had the police round endlessly due to dv. He then refused to pay rent but left when told. There is a process which speeds up the eviction if the tenant refuses to go: posted it here for you: www.nrla.org.uk/resources/ending-your-tenancy/applying-to-court-after-serving-a-section-21-accelerated-possession?irclickid=RZ7VQwTAyxycWJsQH02wj2RVUkpUKrXpGViEXs0&irpid=10078&irgwc=1&afsrc=1&utm_source=affiliates&utm_medium=affiliates

@cheeseandbranstonas others have said you have a limited window now to use a section 21 ‘no fault’ basis to evict the tenant as the new legislation will come into effect sometime in the new year.

However there will still be grounds you can use to get possession to either sell the property or if you want to move a close family member in (not a friend). You do actually need to do this - you will be expected to actually actively get the property on the market or prove that a family member is using it as their home.

What you won’t be able to do is just evict the tenant and try to get a ‘better’ one unless their behaviour gives you other grounds to serve notice (eg ASB, non payment of rent). Breach of tenancy agreement is one of those grounds, and can include eg failure to look after the property/garden but that’s not a mandatory ground (ie tenant can force you to go to court to prove it)

But not everyone can paint and if it has been daubed on with drip marks or she has painted somethings that aren’t supposed to be painted etc

Whilst your friend might have tastefully and carefully painted walls, ceilings and woodwork which if she had asked to do so she would have probably got permission from the landlord I have seen what people painting rental properties can also look like.

Years ago I bought an ex rental flat where someone had painted everything in the bathroom in thick black gloss paint.
I mean everything. Not just the walls, floors tiles and ceiling but everything from the toilet including the inside of the toilet bowl to the glass shower doors (both sides) to the glass around the light fitting.

It sounds like op is going to have to re do everything and it isn’t going to be lightly sanding down and painting.

It sounds like the prep before painting is going to be so much harder and so much longer to bring the surface back to a point where it can be painted.

If anything needed painting why didn’t this tenant ask.

Pets weren’t allowed so why would op take a larger deposit from this woman for something she wasn’t supposed to have in there anyway.

Whilst this house might be for the time she is renting it this woman’s home, ultimately it wasn’t her property.

You wouldn’t rent a car and decide you don’t like the colour so get a tin of spray paint from Halfords and badly spray the paintwork then expect to not have your deposit taken and be sued for putting the damage right so why would you expect anything different with a house.

Whilst you might think unkempt and having junk might be just a case of sorting stuff out. Underneath that junk could be damage that will take more hard work money and time to sort out.
If this woman was going to sort it out she would have done in the 2 months she had when she was notified of the walk through.

All that junk in the garden is for op to hire a skip and get rid of herself.

This thread just shows what appalling attitudes there are towards landlords who run a business and provide a service that a lot of people use. But for some reason lots of people think they shouldn’t exist or that they are a charity

People seem to forget that when you rent through the council, you aren’t guaranteed to be living in a house/flat that is owned by the local housing authority. There is a highish chance that the council are renting the property from a private landlord and subletting it to you.

If legislation was announced that people weren’t able to rent out their property long term and only the LHA owned property could be rented I can guarantee that some people living in private and council properties owned by private landlords would be celebrating, then blaming landlords for being homeless when they evicted them out of their rental to abide by the rules,

We saw it when government announced that private landlords couldn’t put mortgage interest against tax. There were people in privately rented homes celebrating that their landlords were going to get less money. I presume they didn’t think that those extra amounts would be passed on to them and drive private landlords from the long term rental market. Then demand would outstrip supply and rents would rise.

I don’t think any landlord expects the home to be kept in ‘show home condition’, but the bare minimum you would expect is to not have the garden turned into a massive junkyard, and for the house not to be damaged so much to the level of OPs renter. I would absolutely never be a landlord. The rights of a renter have been swayed so much in their favour, that it’s just not worth the hassle. But by driving landlords away, it will come back to bite the government on the arse when the only option left for people is social housing. What a mess that will turn out to be.

Do you have an EIRC? (electrical inspection condition report) These are valid for 5 years but it become law in about 2021 that the property must have one

This is my whole point. The bare minimum you can expect is set by the legal definitions of fair wear and tear. And then if a tenant doesn’t meet those expectations, it can be hard and expensive to sort out.
I don’t understand why you think social housing is a bad thing though? It’s much cheaper to have controlled rent prices and social housing than it is to deal with the consequences of massive homelessness.

From a rational business POV, OP has a tenant who is reliably paying rent and appears to be settled. If they are intending to stay longer then OP would definitely be writing off cosmetic damage like paintwork and carpets as part of expected costs given the time period so it’s shouldn’t be much of a concern, financially - only if they are causing greater damage. But as OP herself said she can’t emotionally distance from it being “her house”.

We had the option of keeping out old flat as a rental when we moved, which could have been financially astute but it was a big fat “hell no” from me because I was well aware of the responsibilities involved and would have been heartbroken if tenant hadn’t cared for the place. It’s not a casual undertaking.

Am so sorry, her being close to tears is not your issue and you shouldn't have downplayed it at all. She is trashing your property, she is a bad tenant, tears or not. You need to serve notice now, not after Xmas.

The timing of the s21 is crucial and will be invalid if the dates are wrong or it's not served correctly. You probably won't know this until the two month notice period has passed.
It's served to coincide with when the rent is due. It's only a request to the tenant to leave, as only the tenant or a court can enforce a tenant to leave.
Honestly, you need to research and read up on all the requirements from the gov.uk advice - you'll never get enough precise info from mumsnet to successfully evict. Or use an eviction specialist.

I don't know if youre still reading OP, but I'd recommend giving her a hardcopy of

• EPC
• All gas safety certificates covering the tenancy
• the deposit prescribed information and deposit scheme leaflet
• October 2023 version of the How to Rent Guide

It just removes any doubt that these have been provided.

Then on the next day you can serve a Section 21. Have a look at your tenancy agreement and check how the notice must be served. Usually first class post or hand delivered is fine, but you must comply with the terms of the tenancy agreement.

The notice can expire at any time in the next 6 months, as long as it is in excess of 2 calendar months from the deemed date of service.

The notice has a 6 month limitation period. You must issue court proceedings within 6 months of the deemed date of service.

Good luck!

Exactly. Because this tenant has been financially reliable, the best strictly business step here might actually be to issue the tenant with notice of improvement as suggested by a past poster, with the aim of getting the junk in the garden cleaned up to prevent it becoming a health hazard. Plus putting the rent up a little to bring it closer to market rent -that money could be set aside for repairs when the tenant does leave. Then make it clear inspections will become annual (basically to make sure any ongoing damage is cosmetic and not structural, and encourage the tenant to keep the place tidier), and discuss the pet - is there anything legally that can be done there, like asking for a pet deposit.
But that requires mentally separating the emotional reaction from the business decisions. And it’s fine for OP to decide this landlord thing is not for her. It might just be more expensive to evict and sell rather than put in place ways to manage the tenant.

It's served to coincide with when the rent is due.

This hasn't been a requirement since 2015, unless the tenancy agreement specifically states this. Very few do.

Spot the dodgy tennant!

No it isn't acceptable to destroy someone else's property. Hence a letting agreement.

Your very kind and I don't think a land lord.. Lady can afford to be this soft! Ask a lettings agent what rights a landlord has regarding a tenant ruining the property and the garden... You could say you want their advice on reletting the property.. then say you need time to sort this out first... 👍

Its surely more logical to leave the tenant in the property, they pay the rent on time and don't give you any hassle.

Your taking this personally, as you said if it was a work situation - it is a work situation.

The rent can rise by the rate of inflation

do proper checks every 6 months

how long have you got to go until your 5 year electric test and who does your annual gas check?