Even if all is true, I’m sick of people trying to make their problems someone else’s. So you broke up, so what? You still have obligations for a particular period of time, you have left your signature under them! It is your HONOR at stake. But I’m afraid I’m speaking foreign language here, it seems this word means less than nothing for most people nowadays.
A man is only as good as his word. I think the fact that someone simply couldn’t keep his promises is a very poor reason for amending the contract. Actually the very purpose of inventing the contract in the first place was legally binding all the parties to their promises, so that situations like this would not happen. Pay whatever you owe and go wherever you wish. Everything else is a waste of breath.
Have empathy and don’t be cold and don’t treat it like a business (which it is) in my experience as a tenant cold landlords create more problems, which can effect the bottom line. Landlords with empathy who work with the tentent are more likely to get paid.
This being said, still check out her story. The student may have the means to pay, a supportive wealthy family, inheritance money, or a good part time job, being a builder for example is very lucrative.
Don’t outright deny, but be responsible and smart, arrange a meeting with them spend some time with them and talk about their finances and look at the evidence and make a decision and how they going to pay. If the tenant shows you how much money he has for rent, then you know he is okay.
It is discriminatory to assume that student can’t pay.
I’ve noticed in this forum that there is a lot of misinformation and people says things just downright illegel.
There’s no need for this forum when you have professional charities like Shelter and Citizens Advice who are their to advise any landlord on the correct way to proceed with any of the questions in this forum.
You definitely have some points in that there is no harm in exploring options and making informed decisions.
However, experienced landlords know how to avoid certain problems. How? They made (expensive) mistakes themselves in the past.
The difference between this forum and Citizen’s advice, Shelter etc is that they do not have the best interest of LLs at heart. Citizen’s advice for instance will advice tenants about the best way to stay in a property the longest if they can’t pay rent.
Maybe there are some, what you consider, “illegal” suggestions on here, but that doesn’t mean they are not sound business advice.
You are wrong about citizens advice helping Landlords . I went in once to ask advice about a tenant They did not have the experience to advise me as a landlord "we usually only advise tenants "was the reply I said “this is the CITIZEN S adviice is it not”? “I am a citizen also " As I left I put in a donation and said " i bet you dont get that from tenants” Shelter are NOT on the side of landlords in any shape or form. To suggest a landlord will get help from either is ludicrous
Shelter states on their website: “We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything”. There is no section for landlords’ rights but a section on LL responsibilities. They are geared towards tenants.
Citizen’s Advice states in their Housing section: “On these pages you can find information about how to go about renting or buying a home or just finding somewhere to live. You can also find advice on handling problems with your landlord and help to avoid losing your home.” Nothing about how LLs can get help. A whole sub-section on how to avoid eviction but not a single paragraph about how to evict, serve notice etc.
So no, none of them would lift a finger to help LLs.
Whilst Shelter are a great charity, all their advice is from a tenant perspective. It’s good none the less & I’ve often forwarded links to many of the people viewing my property to people still getting told “no DSS” or other illegal practices. The place to actually go for legal advice is a landlords association. Do ask landlords if they belong to one - I’m not sure how people keep up with the onslaught of legal changes & the business of CYA forms to eg. give consent for X without them. GRL templates have saved me a lot of time & bother, I hear the NRLA is just as good.
The key thing about ‘citizens advice’ is it is for… citizens! Not businesses. Or did you want some free legal advice? Last time I checked, people that run a business usually have solicitors…
But on the thread topic itself, I agree that with the opinion that it seems a rather contrived sequence of events, and I have sympathy for the OP. Tricky situation.
You are playing with words Everyone in the world is a citizen of a country. Small businesses do not all have solicitors . Tenants may run a business ,so under your theory they should not go to the CAB either. Only those without money can go to the CAB?
I do know several couples that broke up after one was diagnosed and fairly quickly after but that’s not something you should be considering.
Why not just start the process again and if they fail on credit checks get guarantor? It’s only one month into their contract. Is there a reason not to do this? Frankly I would want to know WHO is living in my property. What if the friend has Ccj?!
Changing a contract in an AST is at the discretion of the landlord.
If you start the process again you are starting a new tenancy. Thus you are entitled to your due diligence. I would want to know the reality of the scenario. If a tenant makes an allegation at any viewing I always ask them to substantiate. A falsehood will become apparent. I would never take anyone who demonstrated duplicity as it’s a pattern of behaviour that will repeat itself and shows a lack of respect from the tenant towards yourself.
Pre pandemic referral to oncology was 14 days of referral from a GP to a secondary or tertiary referral centre. There is also a time frame to treatment.
However the time frames are redundant due to the pandemic. So how did all of this come about so quickly? From a medical perspective it does not add up. People have died waiting for treatment or even diagnosis in the last 18 months due to COVID. They may have gone privately but there are still waits as services were reduced because of infection transmission and the private sector being utilised to carry the NHS spill over.
The other red flag is that both tenants are international. Health tourism is real and people come to this country to get free NHS care!
I have know a patient turn up in AE from Heathrow at 5am and did not get treatment from their homeland as it would cost money. This is a real problem in London.
I would not be deterred by a student as that is my demographic but this landlord is not comfortable with that. I can understand that. A lot of people don’t like taking students. I would never take a student without a guarantor. If they were an international student I would ask for rent upfront for the whole AST in the absence of a UK based guarantor ( our law does not cross the border so if there is no guarantor take rent upfront- that is recognised practice for international tenants). How does an international tenant just entered the country know where to find a student tenant as a replacement?
I am with others that leave the contract as it is. There is no guarantor in place. How long will rehabilitation be? Who will cover rent in that period?
I am sorry that I am so cynical. I was not born this way. My environment made me!! Whichever way I look at this scenario it does not add up. There is a heavy stench of faeces.
Well, my current tenants have been, very much so & in return, I’m pretty grateful to have them! - have you ever done anything to actually be grateful for?
You obviously haven’t contacted citizens advice as a landlord. They represent tenants only and shocked if a landlord dares to ask a question. Is a landlord not a citizen?!
spot on Mark 10 I went to C A many years ago . When i went they were flustered “we do not have anyone who can help” I said "I am a citizen too! " . They did eventually find someone
I have grateful tenants! …
The ones who pointed out to me that they had ripped the new kitchen lino and said they would pay to have it replaced, and I told them I would pay for it because it looked like it wasn’t fitted properly.
The two sets of tenants who now have dogs for their children (what am I doing: dogs and children🤣)
The ones who were expecting a rent increase because they haven’t had one in two years, and I told them I wasn’t putting the rent up again this year because they had enough on their plates with the increase in utility costs.
If they are good tenants and you treat them as you would want to be treated, they are generally grateful - mainly because Landlords get bad press on the whole, so they expect to be treated badly!!
