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.

I'd be giving her notice to leave before Christmas, she knew what she was doing and she attempted to hide the condition of the carpet, I have no sympathy for her.

The difference is that this tenant didn’t own the property.

She signed a contract that stated no pets. In that contract there would have been clauses about the upkeep of the property etc

This tenant broke the contract. I am aghast to think that anyone who so blatantly does WTF she pleases is going to get rid of her junk before she leaves. Or is going to leave without a court case

fwiw carpets and paintwork don’t need renewing after only 4 years

OP, find the relevant forms and serve her notice today. If she’s paying below market rent, she’ll struggle to get anywhere else, which means she’ll have to sit there until evicted to get LHA help - this will take long enough. You don’t need to worry about Christmas, she’ll likely be there long after this. You need to get ahead of the new changes.

I’ve properties that tenants have left; we are not renting them out any longer until we work out what do with them, long term. It’s not worth it. They’re staying empty for now. The new changes have made it even worse for everyone. I won’t rent, and there’s less for renters.

Damage is normal? Not to this extent it's not!
Most tenancy agreements will not allow redecorating (especially without permission) or pets without permission. It will also have clauses about maintaining the garden, and junk etc.
This landlord should have been doing regular inspection visits and taking up any issues there and then, as well as doing any repairs that were apparent.
And call it a bloody inspection! It's not a 'walk through'. You're allowed to comment and take action if your property is not being looked after in the ways agreed upon in the contract. And for the tenant to pay for those damages- though 4 years is too late probably in this instance, as it will be seen as needing redecorating. Carpets are expected to last 7 years, but damage before that could only be claimed on a pro rata basis.

These people will guide you and it is best to use them to issue the S21 etc.

It is difficult to do on your own and if you get even a tiny detail wrong, you have to start all over again.

https://www.landlordaction.co.uk/eviction

Did she sign an agreement stating no pets? OP said the tenant didn’t disclose the pet to her, not that the agreement forbid pets.
We don’t really know that the tenant broke the contract beyond knowing that totally ripped up carpets are always going to be considered beyond fair wear and tear. It’s common for tenancy agreements to include the expectation that the property will be returned with the walls the same colour as they were at the beginning of the tenancy, unless otherwise agreed upon by the landlord. In practice this means tenants often don’t paint the walls during their tenancy.
This tenant sound messy and disorganized but financially reliable. She may well succeed in keeping the house in an acceptable condition (not in ideal condition) if given the right conditions and motivations. If she’s painted into a corner by an eviction notice when she doesn’t have the means to easily find another rental in the current market then she may not be able to leave without a court case. She might have to wait to be physically evicted by bailiffs in order to be eligible for social housing. That would be a lose/lose situation for both the tenant and for OP as the landlord.

I didn’t say social housing is bad. What I mean is that there is none. There’s already huge waiting lists in many areas, so take private Landlords out of the equation, and the whole situation will quickly become a shitshow. I rented for years from private landlords, and wouldn’t have qualified for social housing, so where would people like me go? The government would need to broaden the criteria for social housing if private landlords disappear.

I never understand why when it’s so difficult nowadays to rent a property that some tenants can’t just look after a place? Surely it is not that difficult to keep a home relatively clean and tidy and I speak as someone who hasn’t got very high standards. As my late DF used to say some people could turn a palace into a pig sty. I have rented in the past and the key thing is not to try and change things like decor etc. Just keep the place clean and garden areas relatively tidy it’s not hard. I was working full time and a single parent and still managed it.

And that's exactly what they would do - take up more of the stock and widen the criteria.

Back in the day my parents had social housing as a junior doctor and a trainee barrister!

Again, there is a legal framework around this. If the carpets are 6 years old and the legal framework states landlords can expect to replace carpets every 7 years then by the time this tenant leaves then the amount of money the tenant will owe for ruining the carpets will be much less than the actual cost of new carpets. Because you can’t charge the full cost of new carpets for needing to replace carpets that are already 6 and a half years old. If the carpets were only 1 year old then the amount of money the tenant would owe would be higher. I’m not sure how easy it is to get money out of tenants for damage beyond what is held in the deposit scheme though. That would require legal action.

OP they are living in your house and they are not looking after it. It's absolutely your choice to evict, you owe them nothing.

Go to a solicitor and get the right steps in place to start getting her out. You've just been unlucky that you've rented to a slob. When my Dad rented, he had an inspection every 6 months by the letting agent and they were incredibly picky over small details. He had to get carpets professionally cleaned every 2 years, and someone in to do the oven. I also paid a cleaning company to do a deep clean once every 12 months as he was in his 80s. It was all in the terms of the agreement but in fairness, the rent was very fair and didn't go up at all in the 7 years he lived there as he was a good tenant who looked after the place.

You absolutely DONT need to do this 😂😂😂😂😂😂

As a former landlord (who only let out my former property), I got out before the Renter's Rights Bill became law. It took a year from giving notice to actually selling the place.

I'm also a tenant to a landlord that ignores my requests to make good on things like curtain rails not properly affixed to the wall and falling down on our heads if we try to open or close the curtains in a normal way. I wouldn't have dreamt of being that kind of landlord and always fixed anything that needed dealing with.

You're being too nice, thinking about the tenant who is not looking after your property. They will see this as a weakness on your part and they will use that to their advantage. You need to manage this on a more professional level. Stop worrying about their feelings when they don't give a shit about yours. The woman knows she's done wrong, hence trying to cover it up.

Do not tell them when you're next going to inspect or give them a year. My landlord inspects us every 6 months.

Do you have an EPC certificate? If not, arrange that now.

Honestly, I would start the process of getting them out now. If not, you're going to find it extremely difficult to when the new law comes into place. If you feel obliged to give a reason for doing so, keep it non-confrontational and just say that you need to move back in. Keeps things as civilised as possible but stop trying to be their friend.

Exactly. And keeping an empty house as an asset can quickly become unattractive if the cost of insurance and rates are high, and the house is not appreciating in value because more empty houses are appearing the area. Owning an empty house in a street of empty houses quickly becomes a liability rather than an asset. So either the prices drop or freeze and more renters find they are in a position to buy or the government buys housing stock and rents them out as social housing.

OP, with respect, you should seek legal advice. You sound lovely and very kind, but becoming a landlord is a business and has various legal requirements and responsiblities attached to it, which i am sure you already know. You can't be coming on Mnet asking if it's okay to serve notice on Monday etc. You seem to have a very casual approach to what is a very serious matter. I get that you are going to have to spend a lot of money to sort out the damage caused by your tenant, but you could end up paying a lot more if you are going to have a slap-dash attitude to this eviction. Also, these should have been the pros and cons you considered when making the decision to become a landlord. To be as foolproof as much as you can, you need legal advice. I wish you all the very best x

Why evict the tenant? Just increase the rent a bit to offset the remedial work. The damage is done anyway.
The landlord wants rent. The tenant pays the rent on time.
An eviction could take a year (possibly with no rent being paid) and the next tenant may well be worse than this one.

If she raises the rent then the tenant could refuse to pay for months. Then the OP would have to give her a section 21 and the process will take ages to evict her, thus incurring huge costs to OP. Raising the rent isn’t necessarily the solution here.

there’s a difference repainting your neutral well painted rooms, to repainting badly applied colour.
My friends dad has been a LL for decades, he repaints all the houses between tenants and they’re all a neutral colour, it’s a fairly quick job generally.
He does have some tenants who have been in for over 25 years, he lets them do what they want decoration wise, because he says it’s their home and they proved they looked after the place first. He doesn’t mind if he has to do it top to bottom some day as he’s saved so much from changing tenants anyway.

If you wait any longer you legally won’t be able to get her out! Give her notice now and send section 21 NOW but give her a couple of months notice maybe? State on section 21 you will be selling it as then you will be more able to get her out

Also, if you intend to sell the property, you will still be able to evict her when the new rules kick in. You'll need to give 4 months notice though and the property will need to be genuinely on the market for sale.

How the property is now is pretty much irrelevant. What matters is how the property is when the tenant vacates- if it's repainted as was and the carpets are in the same condition as when it was let minus wear and tear then there's nothing to be done.

I've been both a tenant and a landlord.

As a tenant I've painted and tittivated properties I've lived in but returned them to the previous condition on leaving.

As a landlord, my tenants can do anything decoratively they like as long as it's returned to normal at the end.

If you want to evict her and sell your property you can, but make sure you do it legally.

Take stock from where? The government has no plans to buy up stock, and never have said they would do. They’re building homes, but to meet demand, it will take a decade or more to get to a point where we’re all catered for. Meanwhile more young people are unable to get on the housing ladder due to cost of living and high mortgage interest rates, so the demand for rentals is increasing even more. Broadening the criteria for people to qualify for social housing will only make the waiting lists longer.

Thing is everyone needs a home - good people, bad people. Diligent people, chaotic people. You don’t get the option of saying “no, owning a home or being a tenant is not for me”.

Whereas being a landlord is absolutely a choice..

Which is why when it comes to balancing landlord and tenant rights, I tend to come down in favour of more rights for tenants, because what other options do they have?

Don’t want to be a landlord? No-one is forcing you.

I’m a landlord op. You should of course serve the section 21. But ensure you do it correctly. And I think you may be able to serve a section 8 under the 2 clauses (there must be a minimum of 2) of damage to the property and housing a pet without agreement, albeit the latter is only valid if she signed to say she agreed to no pets.

As others have said, you sound unsure and in this case, I would take legal advice.