Evicting a tenant

[andy912]

Can you help

I rented a property on a 1 year lease stating no pets allowed, I have since found out that the tenant has a dog in the property & the lease expired approximately 2 years ago.
I have since pursued the tenant through court on a section 21 over 2 months rent arrears, but they have fired back at me in court with not putting the deposit in a government backed scheme which would cover the rent arrears, which I knew nothing about. The tenant also asked me to take the deposit off the rent arrears a while back. They Also said a few other issues no smoke alarms fitted & a gas cooker broken which have all been rectified now

Recently there is also damage to the property.
Where do I stand ?

[AndyOrch]

Hi I have moved your thread to the appropriate forum ...please continue to post here to your thread.

 

Andy

[andy912]

Ok thank you 

[ericsbrother]

landlord insurance?

[king12345]

Lots of issues here.

First of all you have to return the deposit to him and make him sign a receipt or protect the deposit and follow all the relevant procedure. 

Unfortunately even if he owes you money there is no way around it.

You could let him sign the receipt and then give him a receipt covering the arrears: if he is naive he might accept this so no money would change hands.

Secondly, you must make sure you're up to date with gas and electric certificates, epc, fire safety etc.

Once all is ok and he is 2 months in arrears, you can serve a valid section 21 notice.

However,  as he breached the agreement by keeping a pet, you could issue notice without the 2 months arrear. 

One thing to keep in mind is that he could sue you for 3 times the deposit and he would win.

So maybe it's best to amicably try to get rid of him.