Annoying tenants

Notice

No, that is not an oxymoron. It is very possible, in fact I predict LIKELY, that at some point in your landlording experience, you will come across tenants you could describe as annoying. There are alternative adjectives you will probably also choose to use (which I won't as this is a family-friendly blog) especially if they abuse your property or fail to pay the rent. Or both.

If this situation arises, and as I say it probably will at some point, there are a few choices open to you as a landlord. At present, we are facing this very situation. A tenant who has been living in one of our properties for no more than 8 months is in arrears by a couple of months' with the rent and has told us she is unable to pay us anymore. I suppose we should be grateful for the unflinching honesty of this declaration. Fortunately there is no evidence of any destruction to the property itself. This though leaves us in a difficult situation. We have enough spare cash to cover the mortgage for a few months, but if the situation is not resolved by Christmas we shall have to sell the house. Even then, legal process has to be followed with a tenant in situ.

As it happens we have acted very swiftly and immediately issued her with a Section 21 notice.
What do you mean you don't know what a Section 21 notice is?? And you call yourself a landlord??

Well, no I didn't really either truth be told, until about a month ago, because frankly, I had never needed to know [sheepish grin]. Basically it is the process by which you start proceedings to evict a tenant who is at least 2 months in arrears on their rent. The law covering this procedure is the Housing Act 1988. And the timings are VERY specific and detailed. It is imperative that you wait the required length of time before issuing the notice or before starting possession proceedings (heaven help us if that happens).

So we have issued the notice with the required dates and the tenant has now agreed that she has to leave.

Time will tell whether she does leave of her own accord, and with some gentle persuasion from us that this would be in her best interests.

It is a very tough and stressful situation. Actually, I feel for this tenant, who has little ability to manage life let alone money, and I think has probably been dealt a challenging hand. She refuses to return phone calls, she never replies to texts or emails and we have even reduced the rent to enable her to stay. Unfortunately I think  that life has a funny habit of knocking us around when we have lessons to learn, and maybe there is a lesson here that she so far hasn't learnt. There's a lot of lessons for us to learn too, and I'm actually seeing this episode as a test of our ability to engage with the legal process effectively and ethically.

In the meantime, we are sustaining our mettle by addressing the situation promptly, ensuring that our communication with her is professional and courteous at all times, trying to be helpful to her in her situation and support her with other options, and remaining resolute about the need for her to leave.

If you have other suggestions, please let me know!!


http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/section-21-notices.htm

http://mybadapple.co.uk/blog/section-21/section-21/