What can you do when it all goes wrong as a landlord?

I've updated the blog this week (May 31st 2015) as we're in-between tenants and after an unpleasant discussion on face book where I was called selfish.

There's plenty of information available if your a tenant, but very little about your rights as a landlord. I'm fed up as a landlord as being seen as the problem by tenants.
We're not running a business, we're letting out our home, that we still pay a mortgage for, at an additional charge. We pay insurances, fees to the rental agent for managing the property. We have to pay for electrical and gas safety checks every year, maintain the property both inside and out. When a tenant chooses to leave we have to in most cases repaint, pay new fees to find new tenants and usually have the property empty with no rent for around 2 months. 
As a landlord while we're living over seas we have to pay hefty fees to transfer money back to the UK and while the tenant is sitting there paying my mortgage for me, we're not actually making any money off it as don't forget there is tax to be paid also and then money has to be found in our host country to pay our rent to someone else to pay their mortgage.
There have been a few conversations on face book and twitter recently, where I've been called selfish for not siding with someone when the landlord has given notice because he wants to sell the property, that we're raking in money and swanning off to live abroad and might need our house back to pay school fees. So what? it is after all our house, which we've paid for, through hard work.

We appreciate that not all tenants are bad tenants and I'd like to see people accepting that not all landlords are unscrupulous , selfish and not caring, but after our experience with our first tenants, the money we lost and the amount we now have to pay for insurance to protect us should it happen again, we no longer accept tenants who require a guarantor or receive any form of income support support including housing allowance. We are not being selfish, it is our right.

Even more alarmingly and what prompted this update was someone of face book admitting to writing their own references.

My advice is to write the debt off, if you do get anything back it’ll be a long time coming, if at all. I’ve yet to find out if we’ll get any money back from our tenants or guarantor and it’s been an extremely stressful process, but since accepting we will probably never recover our money, we’ve been able to move on, put the past behind us and make sure we take the necessary precautions to ensure it never happens to us, or others if we can be of any use, again.

I had a rental agent and a contract and the agent carried out reference and financial checks and got  a guarantor. I thought they were doing us a favour, turns out the guarantor was needed not a ‘just in case’

In January 2013 I was contacted by the gas insurance company who informed me my land lord safety certificate was out of date as the tenants kept missing appointments, so I contacted the agent who said he’d sort it out and added ‘I’ll make sure January’s payment is made promptly. It was mid month, so I checked my bank account to discover no money had been received since October 2012 and that for the previous year it had arrived late every month. On contacting the agent I also discovered they’d received late payments via the guarantor on more than one occasion and that before they had bought the company the first agent had been paying me on time every month out of his own money.

So where now and this was my first mistake I took advice from the agent who said not to issue eviction notice until they’d caught up with missing payments and apologizsd for a ‘computer error’.

My contract states I give 2 months notice which was issued in February and then the agents sold the business and in the process the tenants were given 3 months notice and a date of May 24^th 2013 to vacate the property.

The tenants moved out August 8^th 2013 having not made a single payment.

I didn’t need a reason to issue a Section 21a eviction notice. I then had to apply to the court, which I did by flying to the UK to sort as my insurance company said I wasn’t covered for eviction. A month later I discovered I was covered and after a lengthy battle they finally agreed to pay back my court costs and appoint a solicitor. Due to the hassles of living in South Africa and managing issues from the other side of the world, it was decided I would remain in the UK until the bailiffs application had been issued and I spent 4 months in the UK sleeping on sofas at friends and family.

The application to the court gives 2 weeks for the tenants to respond as to why they cannot move out, once this date is up notice is given which can be up to 6 months.

The court gave a date mid July and if the tenants didn’t move out by then I could apply for an application from the bailiffs to forcibly remove them from my property. Once the date of August 12^th was given I returned to SA for a few weeks until I returned to clean and remarket the property.

I’d received annual inspections, the last one being in February 2013 and it did not state the level of dirt or repairs needed to the property. I also had to replace an oven at the property in the April as the door ‘fell off’ and if I didn’t I would be in breach of contract and legally the tenants could withhold rent…that’s a laugh.

In the meantime I went to the Worcester Hub and Festival Housing for advice, technically I was homeless and what they told me still makes my blood boil. They have advised the tenants to remain in the property until they receive the notice of eviction from the bailiffs before they can be rehoused, if they leave before that date they’ve made themselves homeless and won’t be rehoused.

When I asked what was on offer for me in regards to accommodation as my 14 year old was returning to the UK in August I was told I hadn’t secured housing for myself therefore I’d made myself technically homeless and wouldn’t be offered any accommodation. I had a 6-bed house I was trying to get back into, still paying a mortgage and not receiving any rent.

On completion of the exit inspection we sent local companies in for quotes which totaled over £5000 to clean and redecorate the house, plus the cost of the over grown garden, oven and window cleaning. Both companies that cleaned the oven and windows stated that these were the worst they’d ever seen and when I told the oven cleaning guy the oven was only 4 months old, he nearly passed out.

Having decided it was cheaper to clean the property ourselves I flew to the UK in September 2013 for 3 weeks and with help from friends @stephiemalverns @niffer62 and @brackett1 and my neighbours children and a steam mop from @bissellclean and hubby flying over for the last week we got the house ship shape and back on the rental market, with new agents, no guarantor and indepth reference checks after turning down people on housing benefit, people who had been backrupt and people who needed a guarantor.

In total we spent £2500 on repairs, paint, general DIY and preofessional cleaners, plus £700 on two return flights plus replacing items such as wardrobes, desk and a stolen chest freezer and the new tenants didn’t move in until December 2013, so with lost rent and a mortage to pay we were out of pocket over £8000.

So now to recovering the money from the guarantor and a solicitor who went on maternity leave.

Despite having sent all the receipts to the solicitor and them having the proof of missing payments from the first agent and the exit report. I’ve since had to send detailed photos to justify my need to spend so much on cleaning materials and to illustrate the damage to the walls, doors and ceilings.

I’m still waiting. The contract states the guarantor is liable for rent and damage and it also states that professional cleaning is to be carried out on leaving the property. Oven, carpets, windows, curtains.

I don’t know what the delay is, but when I add this snippet of information you’ll understand why this has gone on so long.

The solicitor was unable to locate the tenants or the guarantor, she hired a tracing company who came back with zero results.

I turned to google and face book and found them, addresses, emails and contact numbers within a day.

The current situation is we are waiting to hear back from the solicitor to say we will accept the £2,000 offered by the guarantor, without prejudice. He states we received the deposit back which covered the professional cleaning costs and the £2,000 covers the rent outstanding. He has failed to acknowledge the stolen items, the court costs, the damaged items, including a solid wooden door and furniture. Let alone the building work, complete redecorating of all the rooms, new toilet seats, etc, etc, etc.

We are accepting the offer as I fear we won't get any more. I think we are quite lucky that we got off so lightly.

The true costs of bad tenants

So here goes, 4 hours later and I've complied all the costs and evidence for my solicitor to attempt to claim damages and costs from the tenants, guarantor and rental agent.

The guarantor is only responsible for costs to the date the tenants left the property, in terms of outstanding rent. The tenants cannot be located and professionals have been hired to track them down. I cannot go into detail too much re the rental agents as I'm pursuing this matter either through my solicitor and/or the small claims court other than to highlight where I feel they've mismanaged the property.

Rent was not collected from November 2012 till I noticed in February 2013 having checked the UK bank accounts. It was then I realised that all payments had been made 2-3 weeks late and not once had the agents enforced the contract by charging an additional 10% for late payments, they however continues to take their 10% management fees on time up to and including after the eviction notice was served. They also gave the tenants 3 months notice instead of the 2 requested. When the tenants finally left after a costly trip to the UK to carry out the eviction procedure myself, I was informed by the neighburs and not the agent, who on entering the property called me to say 'the house was inhabitable and would require fumigating' yet his last inspection report in February 2013 stated 'light cleaning required' only. I was also informed by the agent that the house could not be re marketed while the tenants were in situ due to 'unwillingness of the tenants and the state of the house' yet the last inspection report in February 2013 stated the house required 'light cleaning only'

You can check out the other blog posts here, here, here, here and here with photos showing the extent of the damage and the efforts I went to, to evict the tenants.

Now it can be said we received money for 2 years, which we did, but we had a mortgage to pay, whilst renting a property in South Africa and UK tax to pay. We spent nearly 2000.00 GBP getting the house ready for the rental market and maintained the property during the rental period.

Our actual out of pocket costs are just under 2000.00 GBP, but if you see the list below you'll realise what it whole experience has actually cost and don't forget we carried out all the work, from cleaning to repainting and fixing holes in walls.

My costs to date are as follows:

Outstanding rent       1,900.00 GBP    June and July

                                      245.16 GBP    Aug 1- 8

Rent time house           704.84 GBP     Aug 9 -31

empty due to work        823.33 GBP    Sept 1-26

being done for re renting

Professional cleaning and repairs 

                                       943.15 GBP

Cleaning materials and DIY

                                        380.88 GBP

Personal costs inc phone, transport, postage

                                         433.93 GBP

Replacement to damaged and stolen items

                                          537.42 GBP

Return flights from the UK to evict tenants and carry out work

                                          19635.00 ZAR approx 1309.00 GBP

Total costs                         7277.71

minus deposit                      755.00

Outstanding                       6522.71

After the tenants leave. Today I met their son.

Today I caught the train into Worcester.

I visited the courts to action costs that were awarded, the magistrates to remove my tenants name from my address for further bailiff action.

All post that arrives is forwarded to the tenants guarantor as they've left no forwarding address. I'm also writing to the address on the back of every envelope informing the sender the tenant owes me money and several other people.

I also informed the local pharmacy that amongst the pile of crap the tenants left were many empty prescription boxes for various people in the town.

There was also a huge pile of cardboard boxes from Mountain Warehouse, they were dumped outside the house a week before they moved out, so I visited the Worcester store today to let them know that if credit was obtained from their store to remove the tenants name from my address.

I've had visits from bailiffs, there is endless post for the tenants and their adult children, applications for credit cards, addresses for credit companies.

When I return to South Africa I won't be able to deal with these issues. I really don't want new tenants having visits from  bailiffs or getting utilities turned off. I need to sort it while I'm here.

So in Mountain Warehouse I explained the situation, the young man took details including the tenants name and said he'd look into it.

I went for coffee, then it dawned on me, I'd asked him for his first name, I have him the first line of my address, he had asked if that was in Malvern. I returned to the store and asked another assistant to confirm his surname. 

It was my tenants son. Neither he or the other assistance saw anything wrong in what he did. I told him he should've said there was a conflict of interest. He replied by shrugging and saying it was awkward. 

I informed him I had no issue with him, but he should've told me, I had no idea he worked there, why would I? I explained to him again I was contacting all companies to remove his fathers name from my address and all post was being forwarded to the guarantor.

An update on the Accelerated possession Order

You can follow the story to date by clicking here

I've been in the UK. I contacted the solicitors on the 27th May, the first working day after the tenants Section 21a notice to vacate the property was up.

I then gave them 2 weeks notice to inform them I would be seeking a possession order, which expired on June 26th. My solicitor issued the possession order on July 1st.

Today it is still at the court, in Worcester, it hasn't been issued, they are busy 3-4 week backlog of work, not enough staff. But it has progressed a little since last Friday, it is sitting on the Judges desk now.

I've no idea when it will get issued, but when it does the Judge will give the tenants 2 weeks to move, but they won't move out as they need to wait for the warrant for possession which can only be issued the first working day after the possession order notice is served.

How long before the warrant is issued? Assume the possession order is issued on Friday 19th. The earliest I can apply for the warrant will be August 5th. But how long will it sit in the courts before it is issued? another 3-4 weeks or longer with stuff backing up more.

I'm back in the UK beginning of September. I hope to have my house back by then, but who knows?

You can read the definition of what Accelerated means. Silly me, I thought that meant the same thing also, but I failed to factor incompetence, short staffing and the fact that landlords have no rights.

Evicting tenants

I had a short hold tenancy agreement drawn up in 2011 between myself (the landlord) and the tenants and have issued a section 21a notice, giving 3 months (legally only 2 months is required) notice for eviction. I am not required to give a reason for eviction. The rent has been paid by the tenant’s guarantor since November 2012 after continued late and missed payments.

I have kept to my side of the contract as a landlord, including purchasing a new oven since issuing an eviction notice.

I paid a solicitor £775 to make an accelerated possession order; I needed to supply a copy of the section 21a and a signed document from the agent who served it, plus the tenancy agreement.

 

The tenants had 2 weeks to supply a defence to the courts, normally citing critical illness, late stages of pregnancy (none of which apply) If the judge issues a possession order the tenants will normally have 14 or 28 days to leave the property. If this will cause them exceptional hardship, the judge may give them up to 42 days to leave.

If they don’t leave at this point, you can use bailiffs to evict them.

 

If your tenant is looking to be re-housed by the local authority, note that they will not normally do this until a possession order has been made against the tenant, and sometimes not until a bailiff’s appointment has been made.

 

I've had many offers from family and friends to go round and have a word, well we don't live in a 1970's movie and there are laws to protect the tenants from harassment.

 

It is a crime to harass or try to force tenants out of your house, if you attempt to do this they are entitled to claim damages through the court.

Harassment includes:

Anything that I do or don't do that makes the tenants feel unsafe. So I can't disconnect the electricity or water as many of you have suggested, I can't refuse to carry out repairs, I can't ask a friend to cause problems or make any threats physically or of violence to them.

It is illegal for me as the landlord to not give them the right amount of notice or just simply change the locks.

There is an awful lot of protection for the tenant, how they can get rehoused, how they can protect themselves and what their rights are if I as a landlord don't apply the law, but there's sod all around to tell me what my rights are....it appears I don't actually have any.

 

WHAT TO DO WHEN TENANTS WON'T VACATE YOUR PROPERTY

Dear SQUATTERS

Would you at your earliest convenience let me know when you intend to vacate MY HOUSE, following your Section 21 eviction notice served in February asking you to leave by May 24^th, due to poor payment of rent.

Since November 2012 you have made all payments late and have not considered that we have a mortgage to pay. I replaced a new washing machine that only you had used and was brand new when requested and provided you with a new oven as soon as I was notified at a cost totalling £800+. I made these payments with immediate effect to ensure that I was not in breach of my tenancy agreement with you.

You have also failed to report repairs as they have occurred and refused entry to the agent for inspection reports, the plumber to fix the leaking taps and British Gas to carry out safety checks, by failing to be in for appointments. You have also neglected the garden and I notice from inspection report photos for rooms that the agent could access that you have put up clocks, racks and pictures on the walls without obtaining permission to do so.

You have made no attempt to contact me during this period to ask if you can stay on in the property until you find a new place. You have not offered or attempted to make any further payment for the time you remain in the property. You have not indicated any time scale in which you will move out.

I have travelled to the UK from South Africa in order to carry out necessary repairs and to remarket the property. You are preventing me from doing this by your refusal to move out. You can use the Section 21 to go to the CAB and be given advise on housing issues, should be unable to afford rent on a new property. In the meantime my expenses are increasing daily, cost of accommodation, solicitor’s fees and court fees to repossess my property. I am also continuing to pay my mortgage and I’m unable to re advertise the property for rent due to some of the issues mentioned above.

I will be making a claim through the courts once the extent of the damage to the property is assessed, as the cleaning costs alone to remove the odour of the dogs by cleaning the carpets and the curtains plus the cost of a gardener will use most of your deposit and including the time you are now living rent free. If I am unable to recover the costs from yourselves then the guarantor will be liable.

To avoid any further expense to yourself please inform me or the agent when you intend on moving out of MY HOUSE and ensure all rental payments are up to date as well as the house and garden restored to the condition in which you rented it.

Regards

Evicting tenants after their section 21 notice to leave has expired

How do you get your house back from tenants after serving them their legal 2 month notice for failure to pay their rent?

Well I'll be able to tell you that in a few days after I've paid a solicitor £175 per hour plus vat and submitted my repossession order to the courts (fees unknown).

We rented our house out in March 2011 with a local agent, he sold the business later that year and then in March this year they sold it on again. Between November 2012 and right up till today we've had problems collecting the rent. I only found out by chance in February that no rent had been paid since the previous October, fuming on 2 counts. 1. What right does anyone have to live rent free and 2. Why didn't the agent tell me? Anyway point to is immaterial now, I have the rent from the guarantor up to May 24th, which was the date given back in February for the tenants to leave the property, but they haven't they've stayed put and say they have no where to go, despite being informed by the agent that I'm back in the country and have started court proceedings.

Except I haven't started court proceedings. I had to wait till the first working day after the notice of eviction expired which was Tuesday last week. I made a claim to my insurance company as I am paying for legal cover, they take 3 days to tell me I need to provide a personal reference for the tenants, so after finally getting in contact with the original agent I discover one wasn't carried out. So I've wasted a week, the insurance won't cover me and I've booked to see a solicitor tomorrow afternoon.

When one has no experience of something how the hell does one know what questions to bloody well ask when taking out insurance policies, renting a property. I made a silly assumption that if I hire a company to do something for me that they will know what they are doing and maybe mention the things I need to have in place to prevent getting into difficulty later down the line. I've just been wasting my time and money with so many things and I am very angry.

When I google 'how to evict tenants' the results are from Shelter, the CAB and other homeless charities advising you on your rights should you be evicted, there is very little to protect the decent, honest landlord who thought 'I'll rent my house out while I'm living overseas, as it seems silly having it empty when there are so many homeless and low income people about' Well stupid me for thinking that I may have some rights.

The guarantor is elderly and ill and does not have any more cash to pay for his daughter and son in law to have a roof over their heads, but that's not my fault and I will not feel guilty if he has to sell his house to pay my costs, I'm not running a charity.

Apart from the costs to evict the tenants through the court and the loss of rent and future rent, plus all the repairs that need doing and the cleaning, I've travelled from South Africa to evict the tenants, I will have to extend my 4 week stay, I have accommodation and tr4ansport costs to cover and still have a mortgage payment to make each month.

WHAT RIGHT DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE TO SQUAT IN MY HOME?