I have a two bed terraced house in Reading which purchased in September 2021 and rented from 1st November 2021. I rented the property via openrent.
The Tenant introduced himself as a Director ( X ) in a large organization. He passed all the credit checks etc and turned out to be potential tenant and one fine day he moved in.
Since 1st month he has been delaying the rent, at in one stage he didn’t pay 2 months rent and paid 2 months later. Now he completely stopped paying from last 3 months. I am tired of chasing him on my own and took the help of a local estate agent.
Recently estate agent did further investigation and online checking about the tenant and found that he has produced fake documents and managed the company check from inside the company and also turned out to be he not the one who he says he is ( he is not X he is someone working in the same office. He is not X and instead he is A ).
He stole the passport and payslips of that actual director (X ) from his office and created mail ids to pretend to be the person from office (X ), with that name and passed through all the checks. When I asked him that “you don’t look like the one in passport”, he said due to sever covid he lost a lot of weight and shaped out. MY bad, at the time of giving the keys I didn’t take passport cross check him with passport and at the time due to high covid cased we were wearing face masks.
He is not paying rent for the last 3 months.
He has stolen the Identity of someone from his office and pretend to be him with fake email id. he even used the other person bank account for credit checks…
The rental agreemnt ( AST ) is on the name of X. The reference checks are for X. But the person living there is A who is now calling himself as X in this area.
What can I do now ? How can I get the tenant evicted ? how do I deal this situation ?
Well if it were me I would confront him with this information and present him with a deed of surrender to end the tenancy and leave the property immediately or I would go to the Police. I would go to the police anyway.
Other options would be to serve notice under s8 ground 17 or s21.
I would confront him with the evidence and get a deed of surrender signed and as soon as he’s moved out contact the police and the company involved, it’s fraud and the less we put up with it the better and if it stops some other landlord getting had the better!
Don’t hang about go straight to the police and hopefully they will react immediately and save you any confrontation, is he a British National if not other rules also apply.
If hey lock him up hopefully you will get your property back sooner rather than later.
Police just asked me to report it in ActionFraud and they will pick up the case later. This is outrageous. He is enjoying beers in the house whilst I am struggling to get legal advice. What a pathetic situation I am in.
Don’t give up that’s what plod wants, anything for an easy life, go to your local MP surgery explain that you think the police are not taking this serious and insist he instigates them to take action.
it is very outrageous and fraudsters do get away as
the system and law is wrong.
We cannot rely on just the Rentguard or any reference
company for reference even it’s passed as I had experience of fraud of tenant reference and realised when tenant stop paying rent.
Unless there is a national tenant database where
tenant have to register and landlords and agents would
able to check.
Wish you all the best and hope you get your property back asap
from last 10 day he has been telling he would leave next morning and next morning he says would leave in the evening. He systematically destroying me and bringing me to my knees. he is living with fake identity right behind the police station and he is capable of doing anything. he know police wont take any immedieate action in this type of matter
Just a thought, you say this person has issued you with fake identification so in reality the person living there is not the person on the agreement, how you stand in law I don’t really know but any action you take cannot be against the person on the agreement because they are not there.
if you want to bring this to a swift end let yourself into your property and change the locks then inform them you will let them in to remove there belongings, if the situation is as you have stated then I doubt if they will involve the police
Don’t know your status or there’s but have a couple of mates on hand.
He isnt a squatter and probably knows enough of his rights to sue you if you attempt to illegally evict him. Take specialist legal advice from a housing solicitor.
I just wanted to say changing the locks would not work with
nasty tenants fraud tenants because they are capable of breaking the door and locks with crowbar and hammer.
My friend’s tenant broke the door and lock and entered
into the property. My friend found a tenant through
the estate agent and the tenant got references but his wife did the fake references saying he was working for the law company. Once tenancy contract signed and there
was a week before start date. Once the tenancy contract signed then he said he wants his wife name and when we asked for her reference and I looked in details for him, I noticed
that his wife did fake references saying he was working
for her company. She is a struck off lawyer and did so much fraud.
But they entered into the properties by breaking the door frame, lock and door and came at night time.
Then police were called but it was said that’s the civil matter and did not do anything.
I would only suggest to enter the property once they are then and then you would refuse to leave and ask then to leave and change the lock at the same time telling them that they come and pick up their belongings later.
Make them aware that the lock has been changed and they are not allowed to enter because provided fake ID and also they agreed to move out.
Try to get the find out how how can quickly remove them as squatters.
It’s sad that the way law is it’s we as landlord need
to protect ourself too.
@Tony9, the person living there, whatever his name, has a tenancy, albeit obtained fraudulently. The reason that there is a specific ground under section 8 to legally evict someone who obtained a tenancy by deception is because the law recognises that they have a tenancy. This occupant sounds like a “professional tenant” and someone that would run rings around anyone who was not on their game.
It takes so long going through s8 eviction notice
through the court. After a months when you get the
court dates then tenant may would come up with lies/ false misleading information / false accusation then the judge would give 3weeks to tenant to file the case against the landlord and then 3 wks to the landlord to defend.
If the tenant does not file the case and or file later keep asking for time or many reason.
By this time landlords lose so much money on legal work
as well as unpaid rent.
I wish there was a system that if the tenant do not pay
the rent even by the 1month arrear, landlord should have
strong rights to evict the tenant and gain the access to
their property.
For many of landlords this could a full time job. Also
it’s not fair to anyone even they are renting one property
mor more.