First-Time Landlord - Please Help!

I know it’s just disgusting how the local authorities advise tenants to stay out it’s outrageous how any government body can have no regard for landlords?!! All the talk about mental health issues and causing such suffering that they campaign about is totally forgotten when they think of landlords. I get it maybe too late to try rescue the private rental sector and that as a country we are in a housing crisis we have to try something. I do not understand why the government create all these regulations that are anti-landlord when they are actually providing homes for its people and hiding behind landlords instead of correcting their own failures in creating affordable housing for everyone and selling off housing stocks and not replacing them.
I’m sorry for how you are treated and your side needs to be heard and supported.

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You have explained it very well. Not only are the government letting certain dishonest tenants defraud a landlord of rent payment, it’s also failing to protect taxpayers who are ultimately funding benefit fraud.
Mrs T

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As a LL I feel for people on benefits ‘but’ two sides to every story. I had one who hung on to the bitter end owing £1000s and left a mountain of dog ‘do’ in the lounge.The few wreck it for the many - shame

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My apologies Tonia. I’ve been working 12-15 hours a day for weeks now. I really really feel for you. It’s awful uprooting children especially those with special needs. I actually ended up in a crappy one room “hotel”, basically a really shabby room along with lots of other families all struggling with housing. I couldn’t cope & ended up going private with much difficulty. But I did manage to find a place. The reason I was in this “hotel” was because landlord gave cart blank notices to the 4 properties he owned in a block saying he needed to do repairs! Nothing was wrong with the building or flats! After we all left, he just painted the exterior when it didn’t even need it. So I do get bad landlords! He knew he could get a lot more money for the flats from young & up & comings. That’s all behind me now but I know it’s horrendous especially with children as you want to protect them & give them a safe & secure place. Unfortunately I have no expertise on the current situation. The council is awful. I waited several months to be housed in that “hotel” while a friend of mines x partner who is male & would be having his 2 daughters visit part time got a really nice flat. He had no mental health issues or serious illnesses or any illnesses that I knew of. I had loads plus disabilities. It seems the luck of the draw. We were in the same borough Two minute walk from each otherI. I did not mean to be condescending about tenant being lucky. “ She’s lucky to have such a nice home”. She has very low rent & I’ve never raised it. She keeps it an absolute dump & has ruined it over the years. It did look like it was out of architectural digest. She is not on benefits. She’s a well respected childrens writer. And yes she is lucky to have a landlord who does not put up the rent, a landlord who has tolerated seeing the value of the property go down the longer she lives there because of all the damage. But it’s interesting that Julie1 uses those exact words “lucky” to have found a good landlord/tenancy. I was “lucky” to have found the flat I was in that then the landlord chucked everyone out. I consider myself “lucky” to have finally been offered a shared ownership. It’s not condescending it’s a fact. As for having to move back in. That’s my right! I was actually homeless at that point!! What? Am I supposed to go stay in airbnbs so a tenant can remain in my home? They had tons of money!! Not on benefits at all. Claimed to earn between them 80k a year!!! Though I now know at least one of them lied on their Rentguard’s check. They were not going to have any problem going out and finding a property together. They had no children. They had no pets. I am in my 60s. They’re in their 30s. In fact, little did I know they were renting my flat for the sole purpose of buying a flat & waiting for it to complete which they did and they now live two doors down. They were not people in need by any means. They denied me who was seriously ill with an income of less than 9k after all the bills to live in absolute stress about the situation. It was covid so they had to be given 6 months notice no earlier than 4 months into the contract. The fiat was FULLY FURNISHED so they didn’t even have to move anything but their clothes, laptops & a few other items!! It was ALL MY FURNITURE. Even if they were in need, why should a tenant have more rights than me to live in my property?

The woman who lives in the flat that I have to give notice to, in which I’m giving an entire years notice, is ruining my flat. The longer she stays in it the more it’s gonna cost me to remedy it. And I have only let her stay because shes on low income Shes A well known respected children’s author, she’s not on a huge income And I want to support her in her career. I don’t have to do that. I think any other landlord may have terminated the contract by now, and surely would’ve upped the rent. That might sound condescending too. But the other option is for me to just terminate her contract and get someone who respects the property.

I cannot imagine being in your situation and I hope that things can I have a turn for the better.

I totally agree with Julie one, things need to change for tenants in terms of more social housing must be built, and proper low rent accommodation. This is the issue and it needs to be fought, Energy needs to be put into that instead of lambasting all landlords. I cannot take any financial risk whatsoever because of my disability is renting as my only income

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we have ways of making you talk… Or you can go somewhere else. No skin off my nose

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A working tenant isn’t more reliable than one on benefits. A working tenant can lose their job anytime, happened to me, I was working full time same job for 11 years then COVID hit and got made redundant, I’m now working part time and on universal credit. don’t think you should be putting down people on benefits! I’m renting the same place now that I was when I was working full time, my landlord didn’t kick me out when I had to go onto universal, least there’s some decent landlords about

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very true. I have one tenant that goes in and out of benefits. Another due to ill health, is on benefits .I would not dream of kicking them out .They are good tenants

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