I have an income support tenant ( with considerable savings) who has been angling for a section 21 notice for the last few months. She is convinced that she can get a central London council house (unlikely).
I refused to give her sec 21 notice as I didn’t want to end up paying for court orders and bailiffs. Instead, I gave her a form 4 to increase the rent above what income support would pay but below the fair market rent point. My thinking was that she could argue in affordability with the council.
She has just got back to me and told me that the council have told her to contact me and say she can’t pay the new rent and I will give he a section 21 notice.
What are my options??
If I have to evict (using the standard open rent contact) do I pay the costs or does she ( her guarantor)?
Before you say it… No, sadly, I wont consider an income support tenant again.
You are free to ignore the council. The increased rent will be due and if she doesn’t pay it she will be in arrears. I think I would probably serve the s21 notice and yes, you will likely have to pay the costs of the court case and bailiffs as the Council will tell her to stay put. However, you can then use MCOL to sue her for your costs and if she has savings you can force her to appear in court to show that she can afford to pay.
The council are encouraging someone who clearly has a roof over their head to make themselves homeless for a council house when they have genuinely homeless people and limited stock?
Maybe contact your MP and Councillors to make them aware this is happening.
You shouldn’t have to go to all this stress and trouble and expense.
What happens if you don’t issue S21 as you are being coerced to do?
If she stops paying rent to get the S21 then rather than evict her, you could claim from the guarantor.
Unless she wanted to put them into such a position of stress would this not thwart her plan?
No idea if this would be best for you but I’d be inclined to fight this dishonesty.
So just let me clarify, she owes the new rent regardless she cant refuse the rent increase (she doesn’t intend to go to tribunal as the rent is too low)? Therefore it will mount up against her and I can take it from her deposit?
MCOL is a good idea I wasn’t aware of that. Thank you.
I really don’t want to have to pursue the guarantor unless I have to as they are normal honest people who have always been straight with me they have just been duped by her. Therefore for my sake and the guarantors I want to make sure I get this very right.
I so desperately want to fight it but I fear if I do, I will just make a big bill for the poor guarantors who really don’t deserve it. They were just trying to look out for someone who sold them a sob story. They have been on the phone to me for hours on end in recent months saying how worried they are about plans that she has obviously been making for a while. She honestly couldn’t care less about them.
I will however write to my MP and Councillors to make them aware of the general problem.
Thank you for your thoughts, its quite nice to know I’m not the only one angry about this.
Yes, the arrears will just accumulate if she doesn’t pay the increase and you could claim it from the deposit when she leaves if this isn’t swallowed up paying for damage to the property.
In the end I think you will end up evicting her for non-payment, so you might as well start the process now so that the arrears and your eviction costs don’t exceed the deposit by the time the bailiffs throw her out.
Just been through similar myself Tenant angling for eviction to get social housing in my case serving a form 4 has scuppered his plans entirely.
Personally I would serve both Sect 21 & sect 8 simultaneously as the current court waiting times are horrendous for both and one may ultimately be quicker than the other.
Like you I feel for the guarantors and she may ultimately back down. But you have to use your business head here and use MCOL to recover costs, the threat of a ccj might just bring her to her senses. If she working or has savings there are legal ways to enforce a judgment for costs, so don’t be out off
Good Luck .