Landlord's rights

She needs to see a solicitor who specialises in this area.

Notice to evict will have to be served, usually a section 21 which is a 'no fault' termination of the tenancy or section 8 if, for example there's un paid rent. This is the case for England.

The notice served will give the tenant notice to leave, which is 4 months with a section 21 but, if they refuse to leave the matter would have to go to court and it's notoriously difficult to get an eviction.

We are in a very similar situation. A beautiful one bedroom flat which has become a sh*t hole. It's filthy, filled with clutter and the smell is off the scale.

We've served a section 22 and luckily our tenants appear to be in the process of buying their own home so will be leaving.
Work is needed at the behest of the council for internal wall insulation but as it's impossible to do this with the current state of the premises, and the tenants making life difficult for our builder, the council has agreed for the work to be put on hold until they leave.

If, for whatever reason they haven't left by 4th January 2022, we wont be taking legal action because it cost in the region of 5K to 10K.

They are paying rent so for us, they can live in their filth and have the inconvenience of building work while living there.

It's little wonder that the number of private landlords is declining when it's nigh on impossible to evict a tenant, even if you want to live there yourself, and the cost of doing so tuns into thousands.

oops we served a section 21.

All you can do is serve an eviction order, it takes time and money but it’s all part of property management. If you let property eventually you get a disruptive tenant, however careful you are in vetting them. I have sympathy with the good tenants that find it harder to rent because bad tenants cause everyone to get vetted to a high degree
Landlords are very wary accepting tenants where the council pays the rent, it makes it much more difficult if they are anti social.
I would never recommend anyone to buy a property to rent out, the regulations are very tight, you get taxed on the rent, then you get CGT when you sell, let the housing associations do it, they don’t get taxed.

When I sold my house 2 years ago to move in with my youngest daughter, I intended to buy a flat to rent out in order to eke out my pension. However, watching programmes like 'The Sheriffs are Coming' and 'Nightmare Tenants' put me right off. The tenant seems to have more rights than the poor long-suffering landlord who has to wait months for the judicial process to grind along and then is faced with the legal costs, unpaid bills plus the costs of clearing and renovating the trashed property that's been left behind. I decided against it!!!

At the end of the day, dealing with this is the job of being a landlord. And it is a job.

Tenants cannot get council housing unless a Section 21 has been served and they have been formally evicted.

Everyone deserves a place to live, and if someone’s life is so chaotic that they’re living like that, turfing them out immediately rather than giving that four month’s notice isn’t going to do anyone any good.

While I agree with you Ambers[yglass in that everyone deserves a place to live, I also think that people own the property have rights too. We let a house for a short period due to moving areas with jobs, and bridging finance etc., and we were most fortunate in that we had lovely tenants who only needed a house for 6 months or so while they were looking for a house to buy in what to them was a new area. Not every landlord is a Rachman, and not every tenant is an innocent victim of unscrupulous behaviour. Running a drug den is illegal whether it is your own property or rented and eviction should be swift.

But that was a business risk you took, with those risks attached. It worked out for you, it might not have. It doesn’t matter if someone is ‘innocent’ or not, evicting them wouldn’t actually solve the problem. If you’re not prepared to accept the fact that your business venture might fail - in this case, with tenants that take longer to move out than planned - then you should under no circumstances let out your property.

can you report them to the police if you have evidence of criminal activity.
are you sure it is the named tenant still in charge; or could he have been cuckooed.
perhpas you could say to the police that you fear this may have happened, and ask them to do a welfare check on the tenant.
that might just give whoever is there a push to move on ?

But it isn't just a matter of serving a section 21. If the tenant refuses to leave the landlord has to go back to a solicitor and that case has to go to court.

It's often a lot more than tenants not moving out as planned, its them not moving out at all, about them trashing a perfectly decent property and IMO when they trash the place where they live, then no they don't deserve to be given the opportunity to do so again.

You can’t be suggesting landlords break the law and evict someone illegally, surely?!

Whose suggesting that?

IMO when they trash the place where they live, then no they don't deserve to be given the opportunity to do so again.

You don’t think they deserve their legal rights? Perhaps I misread.

You miss understood. You posted "everyone deserves a place to live" I don't agree that someone who trashes a property that belongs to someone else be that a private landlord, council or housing association has the right to be given some where else to live and trash that as well.

I have had a one bedroom flat let out for ten years now and never had a problem with unruly tenants or non payment of rent. As I live over 100 miles away I decided to give the letting agents full reign of the property. I have had several changes of people coming and going, but my agents vet them thoroughly and do 3 monthly checks to make sure that the flat is in good order. So it's thanks to them I have had no problems. It costs money to do it that way, but also saves in the long run.

Ah, that makes more sense Smileless!

I mean, I still think that you’re wrong on the most profound of moral levels. But I didn’t think you’d be advocating for breaking the law.

No, I never advocate breaking the law which is why what we've done has been totally legal.

We were very fortunate with the tenants we had in our bungalow for yearsnannypiano not so lucky with the one we currently have in our flat though.

Well, on a practical note your friend could offer them a thousand to move out. It happens quite a lot. Some tenants view it as an income.

Galling, but sometimes the long view has to be taken.

yes, actually that would be cheaper than having to get an eviction order , then possibly bailiffs too.
but try the police first and/or anti-social behaviour unit at council.

Problem is if the tenant needs to be re housed by a housing association or the council, they have to see the properly delivered eviction notice.

I would always advise seeking proper legal advice on this. It's absolutely sickening when this happens, especially if you are someone who - like us - is not renting out property as a 'business'. We had one tenant who totally trashed the place - she did move out of her own accord, but we ended up having to take her to the small claims court in a bid to recoup some of our money, but even then she simply declared herself bankrupt to get out of paying!

My Mum let my Granny’s bungalow for a while after Granny died. She was a good landlord but had some awful tenants who owed several months’ rent so were eventually served notice to quit, did a moonlight flit leaving the walls deliberately smeared with faeces and a cat shut in the shed which fortunately was found in time. This was in the 70s but I have never forgotten what she had to deal with. People like that don’t deserve decent housing.

That's awful GSM some people are disgusting aren't they, and cruel. I'm glad the cat was OK.

Yes, me too smileless. How anyone could do that to any animal I don’t know. Just left to starve. Mum already had several cats so the RSPCA took it in. They tried to trace the tenants with a view to prosecuting them but without success.

My ex-husband is a property developer and landlord. For all his faults, he's a professional about letting. He makes a very comfortable living, but does factor in the occasional bad tenant. I'm afraid too many people don't and think it's easy money. My children and I have been on the other side of rogue landlords.