Updating post from Reddit.
Hello members.
One of my properties is a 2 bed terraced house rented out to a Indian student couple.
They are in a 1 year tenancy which ends in august, however the tenant has said they need to leave in may as they won't be able to afford the rent may onwards.
I said to them that I will advertise the house again in order to find new tenants to replace them and they can also ask fellow students looking for accommodation if they want the property.
These tenants although have been overall good, they have had several issues with the property which werent really landlords responsibility but i still sorted them out as and when they were needing sorting as I don't really like to get into tit for tat situations.
What I would like to know is, what would fellow landlords do in this situation, bearing in mind the student market as this moment is quite dull where the property is and it's really in a student accomodation area where non students don't really want to live.
Any help much appreciated
Advertise for availability for June onwards. Once new tenants found then formally end contract.
My approach would be to restate that they are liable for the tenancy until August. If they want to ask for an early termination of the tenancy I would refer them to the term in the tenancy agreement.
Often you don’t hear back and they leave at the end. You should be their last option for flexibility not the first. Tenants often amend their plans.
Although if rent reform kicks in they basically override the august and will revert to two months notice. But to be fair it will probably take until August anyway.
What is the point in having a tenant that does not pay the rent as they cannot afford to
I believe although not proven, they have another student friend living with them in the property who was contributing to the rent and now will be leaving.
The tenancy contract is solely in the name of the student couple living in the house, the reason I have not looked further into an extra person living there is because I can not prove it neither am I too bothered as long rents paid on time and house is looked aftered which It is.
That’s irrelevant. They say they cannot afford the rent and want to leave. If you want them to stay, lower the rent
I don't want to lower the rent. They are in contract and i want to know what would other landlords do in this position?
You don’t want to lower the rent? Not you can’t afford to or you are already offering them a low price. You don’t want to lower the rental price for students getting an education? Work out a plan that they can afford while you are not at a loss? No… why would a scum lord do anything for any other member of society except themselves.
I can't afford to lower the rent.
That's a problem, June should be starting of busy period. Make sure you get a decent tenant at maximum market rate.
Make sure your tenants have a decent income, if they only just pass affordability, unlikely they can afford any rent increases in years to come.....
“Get a decent tenant at a maximum market rate” my god what an awful person you must be
This is a community for Landlords. You can be anti-landlord in other places like /r/HousingUK/
Do they pay your whole mortgage for you? :o
Then sell your properties, pull up your bootstraps and get to work like the rest of us. If you can’t afford to lower your rent when a tenant is in time of need you can’t afford to be a landlord. I say this as an ex landlord who saw what an awful thing I was doing morally and ethically. You are profiting off of a survival need for your own pitiful gains. If you can’t afford to lower the rent then you can’t be turning that much over.
I am a student tenant and find this line of thinking quite stupid. If I sign a contract for a property, I make damn well sure I can pay it. What happened to OPs tenants isn’t even super unexpected, it’s poor planning from them. I agree good landlords should have sympathy for stuff like sudden injuries, bereavements etc. But filling a property with a 3rd person not on the contract and relying on them to get the rent is stupid
No evidence to say there is a third person just a suspicion👍🏼 cost of living goes up, council tax, groceries, gas, electric, car insurance, uni fees. Everything goes up in cost except wages it’s perfectly normal for people especially uni students who have fluctuating incomes if any at all to suddenly not be able to afford bills. I’ve worked with single mothers and parents who have lived in the same property at the same rent for 10 years and suddenly can’t afford it. Please explain to me how in any way a constantly increasing cost of living and stagnating wages can be blamed on “bad planning” by a uni student. In my eyes if you come here to study and better yourself you shouldn’t have to pay exorbitant rental prices. Military accommodation buildings have almost the same rooms and better amenities for a fraction of the cost. It’s landlords driving up the prices that cause these issues among other small mitigating factors yes but really these uni flats should be government owned and controlled and should not in any way be used to make a profit they should be used to pay for themselves so we are not at a loss for funding them.
Yes I agree student flats are usually fleecing students. But my assumption is OPs student tenants are international. For them to get in this situation, they have unquestionably falsified documents to the UK government. The government does income and wealth checks where the minimum is quite high. It is poor planning to falsify documents designed to make sure you can afford rent and living costs while studying, and then just think everything will be fine and come up with no real solution to at least reach that rough minimum.
This is a community for Landlords. You can be anti-landlord in other places like /r/HousingUK/
Also your flair says landlord so which is it? Landlord or student tenant?
I don’t know why I have a landlord flair? I posted earlier about my dad’s tenant so it’s possible someone assigned it to me but I don’t know how that works.
This is a community for Landlords. You can be anti-landlord in other places like /r/HousingUK/
This is a community for Landlords. You can be anti-landlord in other places like /r/HousingUK/
This is a community for Landlords. You can be anti-landlord in other places like /r/HousingUK/
Advertise and if you find a tenant then let them out of the contract...if you don't find a tenant then they are still in contract... As someone else said, there is no point in having a tenant that can't afford to pay....better to let them go willingly than fight an eviction once they realise they don't need to pay.
Why wouldn’t they need to pay? Surly they are in contract so legally will have to pay and can be taken to court for rent in arrears.
Of course they’d need to pay, but the amount of hassle involved with evicting a non-paying tenant means they effectively don’t have to.
You probably dont want someone living in your property who doesnt want to live there, nor can pay the rent. Them asking to cancel the contract earlier is actually somewhat a nice move, they couldve just stopped paying without a word.
Is the nationality relevant to the rest of the question?
This property only rents to students? Has this not been a recurring problem that students often need accommodation August - May/June? Is there no way to AirBnB it over the summer?
If they can’t afford it, collecting the last couple month rent from them will be difficult - perusing them will cost time and money. Also sounds like you could find yourself doing this regularly.
Could you negotiate a termination fee? Say one month's rent, saves trouble all round.
My advise, let them end the tenancy. Human beings tend to become more primal when wronged, which they would feel. Rightly it should be the Landord feeling wronged, but that's a business hiccup versus people's immediate lives. No good can come of insisting tenancy run to full term, however legally it might be binding.