Landlord's advice needed

[wannagethelp]

Can anyone advise me please, I'm a landlord and have had a tenant living in my property for over 6 years, only a small deposit given and I didn't put into a protected thing, I now need to get the property back and the tenant says I need to evict them as they want a council property, what can I do?

[Steve__M]

It seems you are aware that the deposit must be protected before you issue a Section 21.

 

So your choice is to protect the deposit or to return it prior to issuing the notice.

 

Whatever you do, the tenant could take you to court for failure to protect the deposit, so you just need to keep on their good side!

 

I'm not sure about the ethics of a tenant asking to be evicted - technically they are making themselves intentially homeless so as to jump the housing queue in front of someone perhaps more deserving. If the council have your details they may contact you to ask you why you are evicting (my partner received a call when we had to evict a tenant) and you will need to lie if you want to support their story.

[Steve__M]

PS. It's time money and effort to evict someone, as well as an issue about your personal reputation. The tenants who moved in after the previous tenant was evicted were a little bit wary because they only heard from the neighbours how nice she was (she flirted with them) and how mean the landlord was - are you really sure you want to be involved?

[wannagethelp]

Thanks for the reply, it was helpful but now I'm stuck between evicting and lying to the council because yes, she does want a council property but do I wait until she has ran up rent arrears (which is going to happen as they are now charging her bedroom tax and landed her with a huge 3k bill as she hasn't been paying it), they have cut her rent benefits so I will lose out anyway as I won't even be getting the extremely low, full rent payments.

[raydetinu]

Hang on a minute, bedroom tax does not apply to private rental agreements; the council will only pay what the claimant is entitled to, irrespective of the size of property!

So if there has been an overpayment it has nothing to do with how many bedrooms it has.

I would suggest you do nothing at the mo. and evict if she falls behind with rent, and return deposit when you issue a section 8, and hope she does not sue for non-protection of deposit.

That way it is all down to tenant.

You could get further advice on the landlordzone web site.

[wannagethelp]

Apologies, I call it bedroom tax but in fact her eldest has left home so benefits have been cut, so in fact she is not entitled to the full rent payments she has been getting since the eldest left home, so hence the debt. Does anyone know how long I will have to wait for her to fall behind with the rent, as the reduction I will get is only a percentage of the rent I ask, so I'm not sure this will be a long drawn out matter as I've been told I have to wait until she is in 8 weeks arrears, which would take months.

[SabreSheep]

i would

 

return the deposit "in order to help her financial position"

issue section 21

at end of notice, inform the tenant that if she does not leave by the end of the notice that you will be forced to seek a possession order which will create costs of which you will recover

 

Recover costs via small claims.

[The Carpet Cleaners]

You should also inform her that if she is evicted due to rent arrears, she will be very very unlikely to get a place provided by social housing.

[wannagethelp]

Thank you for advice but is it a Section 21a I give or just a Section 21? I'm confused with it all. Also, this is a periodical tenancy, does that make a difference at all? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Steve__M]

I have twice used apps written by this company to create a Section 21:

 

http://www.nationalpropertygroup.co.uk/SECTION21CALCULATOR.asp

 

It is free. Having used it I now get about 1 email a month which is usually interesting and relevant to small-time landlords (I don't have any other links with the company).

[raydetinu]

you need to use form S21 4a to end a periodic tenancy, make sure you give the correct notice and get the dates right, but you must first return any deposit for it to be valid.

And then hope she does not sue you for non-protection!

[wannagethelp]

Perhaps I would be better to give a new tenancy agreement and return the deposit as to stop any hiccups during this process, do you think that would be better?

[raydetinu]

If you do that then you are tied in for six months? or until she defaults on payments! same result.

and she still may sue!

[wannagethelp]

Right, I'm going in the morning, will give her a copy of tenancy agreement dated September 2014 so then do I serve a section 21a or just section 21? I get so confused with this all.

[mariner51]

What precise date in Sep 14 did T commence?

As there was an initial fixed term, you can serve simple s21b during periodic T, after repaying deposit) to expire 2 cal month later

Personally I would serve s8, citing g10 & 11 now. Repay deposit (less rent owing with T agreement), then serve & proceed with s21 later.

[raydetinu]

I stand to be corrected, but is not form S21 4a to end a periodic tenancy?

[mariner51]

Yes, but if there was an initial fixed T, then simple s21, akin to s21 b, can be used, to expire exactly 2 cal months later, even if mid tenancy period. No expiry date required. (Court of Appeal decision 2013/14). So in fact now 3 s21s - s21a, s21b, and basic s21.

The ruling was supposed to help LLs avoid simple mistakes wih 21b expiry dates and have it declared invalid & thrown out.

[*RainbowTears*]

You should also inform her that if she is evicted due to rent arrears, she will be very very unlikely to get a place provided by social housing.

 

 

This is very true.

 

Recently a friends daughter who lived in a Private rented property, had over a period of time, stopped paying her top up rent. (as her HB didn't cover it all)

 

So eventually the LL got fed up chasing for the rent arrears & served her with section 21.

 

Friends daughter went to Council housing & fully expected them to rehouse her & her 3 children.

 

Council refused her application on the grounds that she intentionally made herself homeless by running up rent arrears.

[raydetinu]

OK M51, all for making things less complicated.

[wannagethelp]

Can anyone advise? I've lost my original tenancy agreement copy, can I ask the council/housing benefit for a copy, would they agree to that as I am the landlord?

[raydetinu]

or ask tenant?

better to start a new thread to get a better response?

[wannagethelp]

Can anyone advise, I have an ongoing legal matter, was sent an 'offer' letter by the other party solicitor, which my solicitor accepted, costs being at legal aid rate as stated in the letter, now they have withdrawn it, saying costs are at the standard rate (an extra approx £4,500), is this legal or ethical even?

[Ganymede]

What is your case about please?

[wannagethelp]

I'm a landlord going through an eviction with a tenant that has had legal aid as on benefits, to cut a long story short, I made errors in the initial section 21 and so would prefer to pay now instead of further legal fees at court, which I probably will get due to the mess up with the documentation,

[AndyOrch]

So the question is why would they switch their offer from Legal Aid rate to Standard rate costs...even though your Solicitor accepted the first offer,as your Solicitor questioned them why this action/withdrawal has been taken?

 

Legal Aid cuts ?

 

I assume the above was all by way of letter?

 

Solicitors talk to each other.

 

Andy