Updating post from Reddit.
I’m looking for some advice on my situation. I have one property in Greater London, my Tennant has been in for just under one year. He is always late with the rent by one to two weeks with little explanation of warning. This month however he has not paid his rent and stopped all contact. He doesn’t answer his phone, emails and when I’ve been to the property the curtains are drawn and it looks like no one is home. I sent a letter asking for payment and warning of possible action, which was signed for but still no response. I’m thinking the next course of action is a section 8 on the grounds of late payment. He is approaching a next months due date for rent. Do you have any advice and what sort of timeline am I looking at to get him out? Thanks
You may want to Request a Welfare Check via the Police, the curtains being drawn 24/7 is not normal behaviour.
If a tenant is 2 months’ rent (if rent is paid monthly), or 8 weeks’ rent (if rent is paid weekly) you can serve a Section 8 notice. Without communication you should be doing this as soon as arrears reach two months. You can later decide to pursue the eviction via courts, if communication picks up.
Did this with a previous tenant. No contact other than a call from a woman’s charity saying one of the tenants was requesting refuge but insisting on a house not a hostel, called the police said I’d been round there a few times lights off curtains closed, concerned landlord as last I had heard was from this woman’s charity. Police went round they left within a week. Trashed the place but left. Scummy cunts.
>the curtains being drawn 24/7 is not normal behaviour.
I beg to differ my friend. If it wasn't for the misses I would keep my curtains/blinds closed 24/7
That only proves your missus is normal. Not that you're not abnormal.
So, the upstairs curtains get open most mornings and shut most evenings. We spend pretty much no time upstairs during the day so what difference does it make if they stay shut.
I have to keep my office ones shut because otherwise I would get terrible glare when I'm working from home. Not to mention privacy reasons.
Then our living room blind, same issue as my office if we're watching TV during the day so it ends up being shut. Then in the evening it gets shut anyway.
Not to mention, this time of year it helps the house stay cool
If I’m not mistaken, closed curtains 24/7 can help mould and damp spread, so the landlord is right to be concerned
You’re the type of person who then complains about damp, but doesn’t know how to ventilate a property.
It is for people with debts, like missed rent and credit cards
“Not normal behaviour”
Says who?
A normal person. I do mean in addition to letting their finances fail, unresponsive at the door and unresponsive to phone calls.
But Tennant DID sign for a letter. So proof that the person was alive at that point. Next time you go, check for flies and stick your nose in the letter box. Let the tenant know you are concerned for their well-being and that on your next visit, you will enter your property to check if all is okay with them, this action is due to the tenant not being responsive to contact. As such, you are concerned about their health.
NALL. So, since I'm not a landlord or tenant, I don't know how the system works, but if something like this is possible, that's the path I would go down to investigate what's going on.
Please feel free to correct my mistakes or anything I have not gotten correct.
Like I say, I'm not a landlord tenant or lawyer.
i’ve had “signed for” letters just posted through my door before. in fact, albeit i haven’t had many, all have just been posted through my door thus not requiring me to sign for them.
op should get a welfare check tbh
Yes I fully agree with getting a proper welfare check, and generating the paperwork that goes along with it but I'd still go and check in personally with the tenant if that's allowed
So basically your subjective viewpoint.
it’s objectively not normal give up mate
No, the general populations objective viewpoint. How personally attacked do you have to be to argue that the whole world's idea of regular behaviour is "subjective"
Any regular person in the world... if you are voiding sunlight and keeping your windows closed 24/7 I'm going to assume you're a meth head..
Says anyone who doesn’t spend their life on Reddit being a shut in..
Either the tenant has moved on without warning or there is some other issue going on. A welfare check with the police is a good course of action.
They could be holiday.
Then who signed for the letter??
I have had signed for letters posted through my letterbox in the past
Do police even do welfare checks for that? As I work in the jobcentre we have lots of people similar, fail to make contact with us and no contact and we can't get hold of them and if they had mental health listed we'd ask the police to check but then they started saying it's not their job to do so.
If the rent is consistently late and he is now not communicating you have every right to check on his welfare. You cannot be criticised for doing so.
I would definitely contact the police for a welfare check. That way if no one answers you’ll have a valid reason to enter the property and evidence you tried alternative means of contact beforehand. The police may even request you let them into the property then it could be you, the tenant who doesn’t pay rent or answer the door and police officers there. Might help him get his act together.
Are you in the fixed term period, and do you have a break clause? How do you normally contact your tenant?
What day was rent due? Assuming it’s been more than 2 weeks as you say he is normally late paying.
Most likely scenario is that he went on holiday during the Easter break, and will be back this or next week.
Not enough signs to call in welfare, you can however hand deliver a letter (and knock on the door while you’re at it).
Need more info to advise further :)
Issue an immediate Section 21 and make sure you get it hand delivered with a video and photo of it being delivered. Make sure the minimum of two months notice date is correct as you can vitiate the legality of the notice if not served on right date. Section 8 can be contested so do not serve that at all costs. Section 21 has not been abolished yet.
Section 21 can also be contested
Thanks for the advice. I think we will definitely go with a welfare check and then see what comes of that.
[deleted]
It’s a fair point. He has a son living with him though so it seems strange they would live this way. Maybe they are away, but there are a few things not adding up. Like his son goes to school etc… On another note, you mentioned no consequences. What can we do when the rent is late?
It was Easter Holiday’s the last 2 weeks. Kids wouldn’t be at school and if you go away for a couple of weeks it’s good practice to close the curtains.
Put something on the door to see if it's in use, but realistically a welfare check should be arranged regardless.
S21 so they can’t argue
[deleted]
I’m sorry to hear this happened. Looking back is there anything else you could have done after they stopped paying? Did you get any of the money back from the tenants after they left, through the courts or anything?
[deleted]
That’s terrible. Thanks for being so open about it. It’s causing us a lot of stress already. We’ll be selling if we can get him out in time before we lose the place…
Oh dear
Rent is due, we need #Rentcoin to pay our greedy landlords
Ca: 8x8YipfqZctyTadL2sETH8YbMtinZAXZi6CYFebfpump
Imo, if you genuinely believe nobody is in, then enter the property (you can give a reason for needing a gas cert etc). If it's abandoned, then take pics to show the tenant has left. If it's hard to know whether it's been abandoned or not, then take pics and put a notice on the door to get in touch asap. And another inside the door. Leave it 2 weeks, if both notices are untouched and no contact, change the locks
There’s guidance on how to deal with abandoned property and this is very much not the way to go about it
OP said the letter was signed for, so someone is obviously in the property
Don’t do this. At least give the tenant 24 hours notice before entering the property instead of breaching the contract as advised above. Even if it appears abandoned, changing the locks would be an illegal eviction if the tenant returns.
Pls read my post again....I said give the tenant 2 weeks! The Initial entry you can give 24h
Please read the law again. Only the tenant or court can end a tenancy. If you access the property and change the locks without a court eviction, it is an illegal eviction, even after 2 weeks.
Great advice, make an illegal entry if he thinks there’s nobody in.. And people wonder why the general public hate landlords
A cursory read of any guidelines on best practice to not break the law as a landlord will tell you that this is absolutely not the way to go about it
Cabt change locks till they know tenants circumstances, I.e if they've abandoned the property
