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I'm not a landlord myself but looking for advice from other landlords please!
I currently live in an HMO. One of the tenants is causing problems for everyone in the house and will not change her behaviour no matter how many times she's asked. Some examples; She will use things that aren't hers, such as plates and bowls and keep them in her room for weeks at a time, and pots and pans for cooking that she will leave food in for days to go mouldy. It has gotten to the point that we no longer keep our kitchen utensils in the kitchen. She will defecate and leave sanitary items in every toilet in the house (we have one toilet per floor) and NOT FLUSH. She will make excessive noise at unsociable hours, screaming on the phone etc. She will order food and leave the delivery men banging on the door for up to 15 mins, and as my room is at the front of the house on the ground floor I have often had delivery drivers peeping into my room. She has never so much as emptied a bin, let alone take them out, and refuses to recycle. She will text the landlord outlandish stories about how others in the house are being violent towards her when they are not. We all simply avoid her, and only interact when I witness her stealing.
Our landlord claims to have talked to her about these issues, we have all individually spoken to her about these issues. We all would really like her to be evicted, however landlord says its basically not that simple.
To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure nobody has a contract. I personally don't. I've never had a lease or signed any paperwork. I pay him in cash monthly.
Any insight on this situation would be massively appreciated, happy to answer any further questions!
EDIT: I live in Wales where Section 21 notices are no longer valid.
The explanation may be that the landlord does not want to try to evict someone who might resist and so draw attention to what may not be an entirely legal operation.
This is exactly what I've been thinking!! He seems to be licensed and registered but the lack of contracts/leases along with the cash rent just seems off😂
Cash rent equals tax dodge normally.
If section 21 is not available, and she pays her rent on time etc. it's going to be hard for the landlord to evict her.
Unfortunately you might have to try to 'manage her out'....
Bro if you have not signed a contract what is stopping you from just leaving and finding somewhere else?
Also the fact your landlord is receiving cash payment monthly also sounds dodgy AF and sounds like they are not declaring their income from being a landlord.
Is your deposit in a TDS scheme? Do you even have a deposit?
Tried finding housing elsewhere with my partner a few months ago and even getting a viewing was a pain in the ass, we gave up in the end. Things have gotten worse since then, so we'll be looking to move again ASAP but financial ties atm are making it trickier. I will be getting out of here as soon as I can though, trust me😂
No idea what a tds scheme is, I paid a deposit though. Also in cash😅
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a legal requirement in the UK and if you have not received any notification from them regarding your deposit then it sounds like your landlord is not protecting it. You can claim up to 3x the value of your deposit
Your landlord sounds like an absolute cow boy and they could also kick you out at any moment by the fact you don't even have a contract either. Get out now!
Yeah definitely not heard of that😅
He's the absolute definition of, our boiler stopped working a few weeks ago and he told us all to have a cold shower it'll be good for us😂 said we have a good deal here and to pipe down basically, ended up getting it fixed 4 or 5 days later. He doesn't charge extortionate amounts, so I definitely get what I pay for
Lol he's the one with the good deal - probably not making landlord insurance/tax and is not protecting your deposit. He is breaking the law
Nightmare!
Unfortunately owing to the plethora of laws to protect the tenant ( in this case, the 'lady' you share the HMO with) I think you might be on a loser here.
I doubt the landlord wants all the pain, legal risk and expense of dealing with this.
Perhaps you could write to your MP asking for them to relax the law on the landlord evicting someone?
If you have tried all options with them directly, as it sounds you may have. Your two options are to talk to the landlord, it would help if other tenants were there too. Then express to them your only other option, to move out.
Lack of Section 21 will make it hard for your landlord and take some time. They can do it under the grounds "The tenant has engaged in relevant antisocial behaviour" which includes nuisance and annoyance - would require you (& others) to note and sign off that this behaviour is calling you alarm and distress. As they have to win at a tribunal.
So its a big ask!
I dont think Scotland has thought through the consequences in "preventing eviction" has when other occupants are in the property.
We have all spoken with the landlord, it's at the point where we're making a complaint at least once per week! He has asked us to email him with a list of incidents, which at least 2 of us have now, but he claims it's harder under the new government. Which is super frustrating because we've been trying to get her out for at least a year!! I'm pretty much stuck here until February due to other financial commitments, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up until then😂
Same in Wales, and given the fact that my city has an absolute massive amount of HMOs, it seems wild to have made it so difficult
Why not collectively make her enjoyment a living hell until she gets up and leaves. By this I mean blasting susane boyles i dream a dream on huge speakers outside her door daily keep it in the legal limits and times. Maybe start slipping her used sanitry pads under her door smearing her own crap over the door handles i dunno petty stuff but it might be the only way. Start enjoying her takeaways and act dumb to who had it.
I'm definitely going to be taking the petty route, I will be leaving her mouldy food and any dirty utensils outside her bedroom door from now on, turning off the air fryer when she's using it (the only one who uses it and never cleans it so the whole house smells of burnt grease when it's on), turning off the washing machine with her clothes in... any other suggestions welcome😂
Second this…as petty as it sounds either you all leave or she does, but sounds like forcing her is not something anyone can do, unfortunately making her life just as unbearable as she is making yours seems the only thing to hopefully push her to leave! I would take her food order and either eat it or put it in the wheelie bin! If the landlord is claiming he can’t do anything about her behaviour the reality should be she couldn’t in theory do anything about yours either! The girl sounds like she’s seriously lacking some basic god dam manners and decency so maybe if she feels it reversed she will (or not) understand what a total vile human she is
I couldn't even put into words how much of a twat she is. She sarcasally called my partner 'Dad' yesterday for taking my spoon from her and telling her to use her own stuff. She's an absolute fucking menace in every sense of the word😂
My god she sounds awful!! I don’t get it was she either dragged up or was she raised by servants and everything is beneath her…along with flushing her own waste…it’s hard to tell with people like that how they will ever be anything in life with such blatant disregard & disrespect to everyone and everything
Dragged up for sure😂 Landlord claims she's 'not quite all there', I wholeheartedly disagree, she's fully aware of what she's doing and doesn't care how it's affecting others! Unfortunately you're so right, and the consensus I'm getting from this (had similar responses on another subreddit), is to fight fire with fire and/or get the fuck out of here 😂 I'll be doing both!
Bet the landlord will magically find a way a of removing her if people keep up and leaving apart from her! Even if the landlord thinks that why in the hell would he give her a place that involves absolutely needing to be able interact with other ppl!
Oooh maybe the surprises in the bathroom could be added to the takeaway order before leaving it by her door
>he claims it's harder under the new government.
It's less of a claim and more of a reality of unintended consequences.
Why is that the case though?
SOUNDS like the landlord is building a case for eviction. Any photographs and recordings would be beneficial in this process. I had the same issue in Multi-Occupied building. Neighbour accused me of breaking communal front door. Through my flat door CCTV i was able to show that i was literally asleep at the item and you could hear the bang and arguments while my door was closed and camera in night mode. They used this to evict the tenant in question. Glad i own a home now and am done with renting.
Without a formal tenancy agreement, you may not be bound by any specific terms about notice periods. Id have a look into this and just move out after giving reasonable notice which is usually one rental period so a month I assume.
Also even without a written and signed contract , I think in Wales under the Renting Homes Act 2016 you'll be considered to have a 'default' contract just from paying regular rent. However, the lack of a formal contract might make things a bit ambiguous as to what this is.
Could be as simple as finding somewhere else to rent with the other tenants and all moving out in a month or two together after an informal chat with the landlord.
Id also double check that any deposits have been protected if you gave deposits. Make sure that any damage caused by this crazy isn't something you end up paying for.
Then, as you're moving out. Have someone kick their door in and spray fox piss on their belongings. As long as you think they deserve it. (This is a joke do not use fox piss or commit acts of vandalism)
The end had me dying😂 they absolutely deserve it, I can guarantee that much!
I'm definitely gonna be moving out at this point. I can't speak for the others in the house as none of us really know each other. The landlord treats the house as a sort of short-term stay kind of place so people will come and go, only 3 out of 9 people in the house have been here for longer than me, people will just come and go. It's the weirdest HMO, everyone I speak about it to is like 'wtf are u living in' 😂
Will absolutely be keeping the fox piss in mind!
Sounds like it's probably either not licenced as a large HMO of 5+ or he isn't paying tax on the income, or both.
Defo look for a new place and move out as soon as possible, it's not something that he will be able to stop you from doing. Tbh you could probably just stop paying rent by the sounds of things and he couldn't do anything about it lol
Tell him he's going to have to find 3/4/5/6 other people or he can get rid of 1
No contract means easy to leave, find a new place?
I have a feeling here that this lady is of a certain ethnic origin and the landlord is afraid of being called a racist if he evicted her
Good luck everyone