Hi all,
I have a tenant who is an absolute pain! Need some advice, please;
She moved in on 1st of May 2009, paid me month in advance and deposit in cash, both documented and receipts given. Although being told to pay monthly by standing order, she paid for two weeks only for June '09 saying she had problems and as a result needed time. Sent her a letter initially as she would not answer calls saying you need to leave in 2 weeks, no response so went down and finally spoke with her, she said she would pay the two weeks plus July's payment on 1st of July. Neither happened, so today the 4th of July 2009, I turned up at the apartment, knocked on the door for over an hour and although I could hear her inside the apartment, nothing, so I phoned a lock smith to come and change the locks. Meanwhile and unbeknown to me she phoned the police! Whilst waiting for the locksmith, I thought that I should ring the police and at least log what I was doing, whilst on hold (!), a patrol car parked up behind me so I decided to speak with the officer instead, rather than wait in a queue. When I started to speak with her, it came out that she was actually there for the same reason, but for the tenant!! I explained the situation and she was very sympathetic. She went spoke to the tenant and appeared a few minutes later to say she's not budging and I should just have the locksmith do their thing, which was done a little later. I told the tenant to leave by three and left along with the officer. The officer phoned me a little later asking if I had served court papers etc, I told her no, as I did not know about these. She advised me to return and give the tenant a key for the new lock as that was what the process was. I turned up and the officer was a little annoyed, travelling back and forth! Once I arrived I asked what would happen, if I did not give the tenant a key, was that an offence, she said no, it was a civil matter. I mentioned that I would be willing to compromise and give the tenant a key for the new lock, if she pays me something towards the rent, if not all, she said best thing to do is say this to her in-front of her. I did. The answer was a resounding NO, she would only pay into my bank, I asked her to give me something and I will give her a receipt in-front of the officers or transfer it using internet banking, everything was a no, so no money and no key. After a few moments going round in circles with the tenant, the officer said best thing to do was to leave.
What can you guys foresee as a problem(s) in this situation? After reading stuff about section 8/21 etc I find it terrible to read that this tenant could potentially stay in the property for two months, possibly more if a legal route is sort to evict, without paying a penny! What penalties could/would be imposed if I were to evict/or change the locks again, (should the tenant have changed the locks after me leaving), without the necessary documents?
I have a tenant who is an absolute pain! Need some advice, please;
She moved in on 1st of May 2009, paid me month in advance and deposit in cash, both documented and receipts given. Although being told to pay monthly by standing order, she paid for two weeks only for June '09 saying she had problems and as a result needed time. Sent her a letter initially as she would not answer calls saying you need to leave in 2 weeks, no response so went down and finally spoke with her, she said she would pay the two weeks plus July's payment on 1st of July. Neither happened, so today the 4th of July 2009, I turned up at the apartment, knocked on the door for over an hour and although I could hear her inside the apartment, nothing, so I phoned a lock smith to come and change the locks. Meanwhile and unbeknown to me she phoned the police! Whilst waiting for the locksmith, I thought that I should ring the police and at least log what I was doing, whilst on hold (!), a patrol car parked up behind me so I decided to speak with the officer instead, rather than wait in a queue. When I started to speak with her, it came out that she was actually there for the same reason, but for the tenant!! I explained the situation and she was very sympathetic. She went spoke to the tenant and appeared a few minutes later to say she's not budging and I should just have the locksmith do their thing, which was done a little later. I told the tenant to leave by three and left along with the officer. The officer phoned me a little later asking if I had served court papers etc, I told her no, as I did not know about these. She advised me to return and give the tenant a key for the new lock as that was what the process was. I turned up and the officer was a little annoyed, travelling back and forth! Once I arrived I asked what would happen, if I did not give the tenant a key, was that an offence, she said no, it was a civil matter. I mentioned that I would be willing to compromise and give the tenant a key for the new lock, if she pays me something towards the rent, if not all, she said best thing to do is say this to her in-front of her. I did. The answer was a resounding NO, she would only pay into my bank, I asked her to give me something and I will give her a receipt in-front of the officers or transfer it using internet banking, everything was a no, so no money and no key. After a few moments going round in circles with the tenant, the officer said best thing to do was to leave.
What can you guys foresee as a problem(s) in this situation? After reading stuff about section 8/21 etc I find it terrible to read that this tenant could potentially stay in the property for two months, possibly more if a legal route is sort to evict, without paying a penny! What penalties could/would be imposed if I were to evict/or change the locks again, (should the tenant have changed the locks after me leaving), without the necessary documents?
I totally agree with MTG - your behaviour is unbelieveable and displays a complete ignorance of the law and your ability to follow it! People like you are the reason why we "enlightened" landlords have to suffer legislation that has us waiting for months to get our properties back, usually hundreds (often thousands) of pounds poorer with very little chance of compensation at the end. How many headlines do you read where "Law-abiding landlord does a great job"?? NONE - it doesn't get reported. However when people like you come along pretending to be a landlord doing the kind of things you have described it gets noticed. You are just fodder for the people writing the rules and does NOTHING to further or improve the protection we actual landlords deserve. In a way I hope your tenant doesn't exercise her right to have you arrested so that it doesn't do more damage to what is already a pretty unfair system which seems to highly favour the non-paying tenant (IMHO). However, you completely deserve it and may be the only way to make you reallise what an arse you've made of yourself.
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