Tenant claimed he did not get paid from his boss at work. As the guarantor is his boss, tenant said the boss should pay the rent as he signed up as the guarantor in the agreement.
From what I understand, wether he get paid is between him and the boss and he cannot move that rent to the guarantor. But he refused to pay saying he cannot pay without getting paid although his partner is also working. What is my position? How do I ask the rent from the guarantor? Has anyone dealt with this before?
write to the guarrantor explaining what you have been told and that if the tenant contiues to not pay, then you will be looking to him as gurarantor to pay
Is this scenario is going to be an ongoing occurrence? Try and find out a bit more what is going on with his job.
As well as writing to his boss as guarantor, does he need to claim UC which will include a housing costs element?
Thanks Colin. I was told the boss has left the paternership at work so refused to pay as promised. I am going to write to him, but I worry he will not respond to me. What I can do if that happens and even the guanrator refuse to pay? Can he put something like CCj for example?
The tenants are from other country and are leaving Uk. Does that mean there is nothing, such as CCJ can be put onto them if they refuse to fulfil their responsibility to pay off the rent?
leaving a business does not negate his resposibility as a gurrantor. No response you can sue . Everything in writing? You can still sue someone even if they are going to leave the country you may not get your money but if they come back hopefully no landlord will rent to them if he checks them out They dont turn up at court and judgement will go against them …Its called revenge…
Seriously speaking, having taken a guarantor to court, I’d say go legal now. Get a professional on board. Yes it costs money, but after 3 court hearings,I got £6500 of the £7500 I was owed / spent back, along with getting my property back as vacant. It took months but was worth it. This was a simple low value rental flat but not going legal could have cost me a fortune & stressed the hell out of me. I’d have no hesitation to follow the same path again. Think about the legal bias against landlords. Then weigh this up against the cost of delaying use of the law. It becomes clear pretty quickly that the speed of your actions impacts your long term finances. Last piece of advice, have a solicitor present in the court. It’s worth paying the fee. Mine really took ownership of the situation & tied the defendant in knots that he couldn’t get out of. They will do all they can to wriggle out of paying, but a debt is a debt. Arm yourself well & the law will provide results.
I know it’s a pain but just give them notice don’t return the deposit, that way you get your property back, get it back on the market & move on you surely don’t want to go to court?
We are currently in this situation, also had bed lawyer: Paid him £1500 just had section 8 done and advice us to pay the tenant to leave…
Let me know who is your lawyer please to: feng@blueyonder.co.uk
Hi Deborah,
Thank you for sharing points. As a landlord i too waiting for court hearing confirmed time and date .
Would be grateful , if you could shade on light what to expect while facing judge as this is something new to me.
Sec 8 for evicting tenant is on progress - on ground of continuous late rental payment , previous months rental arrears , as well as tenant using property to run business without permission and permit from authority and me.
What are the hidden hazards and pitfall Landlord like myself to come across ? what should i be aware of, any integral points which i should not take lightly at all to avoid my case is thrown out of window by Judge .
Thank you in advance.
Bhim
Mr Feng i am in same boat. Will keep posting you on my update and progress. Good Luck.
You say “late rent payments”, do we assume you are therefore ultimately getting the rent paid?
If this is the case the judge will dismiss your claim for possession. In an S8, the tenant only needs to keep the rent debt below 2 months to avoid eviction, i.e. one month unpaid and the next payment missed.
Beware also that the tenant can make a payment to reduce their debt as noted above at any time prior to the judgement hearing.
I agree with Colin. Pursue the guarantor for payment of the debt, assuming he / she signed up as the guarantor in their own name and not on behalf of the company, they are still liable.
Hi Bhim,
Ok rule number 1, have a lawyer in court with you. Worth their weight in gold if they know this area of law. Mine was just a random duty solicitor, but she was fabulous. Also, I had the whole thing prepped by ARC collections.
http://www.arc-colls.co.uk/contact.html
Anthony isn’t a bargain to employ but I wouldn’t have got the settlement I did without him & the lawyer.
Wear suitably respectable clothing in court. Defendants tend to turn up in street clothing. It shows respect to the court if you look right. Magistrates do reciprocate that level of respect. My suit & open shirt went down well in comparison to the defendants scruffy jeans.
Also, write it all down in a time line format. If you’ve got this, you won’t be flustered by whatever the defence or magistrate throw at you.
Lastly, be aware that the defence will say something that is old and may be inflated. Rather than defending what you may or may not have said, compliment the defendant on their memory recall abilities & apologise to the magistrate for not having the same recall abilities of the defence. He / she will respect you for not having a clear memory of words said years ago. It also brings into question the accuracy of the defences words. That is unless you have evidence to disprove their hearsay.
If you need any more info, feel free to ask. Otherwise, look forward to it. The court experience is really interesting & I’m sure the defendant will be nervous, especially when he / she sees you brought a lawyer. The look on their faces at this point is priceless.
Good luck!
Phil Robinson
Dress smartly
State clearly what you want to happen when the judge asks
have a time line of events supported by emails relating to contraventions to the contract and non payment of rent further supported by statements from the bank account used highlighting tenants payment and date
Have a statement of rent paid in a grid showing
Date ,paid by, rent owing, rent paid, running total
Timeline of repairs, Eirc,landlords gas certificate ,energy rating,contract signed and copy of contract
Copies of any emails relating to above and copies of receipts for repairs
Emails relating to breaches of contract should state clearly which sections have been broken
I refuse to discuss anything over the phone as there will not be a record of the conversation
Photocopies of any legal documents regarding the tenancy eg warning that two months rent is owing and if not rectified will lead to further action
Photocopies of anything sent by registered mail and/or delivered by hand with a photocopy of the envelope with the date delivered on it and receipts from the post office
Be respectful of the judge and don’t communicate even by glance with the tenants in court
Judge was most interested in the contract, the legal communications, the time line and statement of rent and the emails relating to repairs, non payment and contraventions of the contract
Keep the paper work in a logical and related order so that when you hand it to the court clerk(who will then hand it to the judge) it will quickly and easily be assimilated by the judge
It’s not about the lawyer, it’s a process that needs to be followed by a professional. I used ARC collections…
http://www.arc-colls.co.uk/contact.html
It was worth the money. Anthony is an expert in his field.
Good luck
Phil Robinson
Dear Phil,
Thank you very much for the information and your kind help.
Very much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Feng
Hi Phil,
Thank you for your time and prompt reply. Your attention to details suggestion and advice is very helpful for me to prep for my upcoming court hearing.
Just a quick question, where do i stand, as per AST rental is ÂŁ900/- on 23rd each month but since Feb, prior lockdown tenant only pay ÂŁ700/- after 2 weeks overdue. I recently been informed by Neighbour watch that tenants been using property premises for his business purpose.
Have you come across this situation to dealt with ?
Thank you for your valuable time.
B
I haven’t but it’s all down to what’s written into the AST. I’d go through it carefully. Only bring up in court what you have hard evidence of. Here say makes you look desperate, the fact they aren’t paying is enough to give you a case for a possession order after they become 2 months in arrears. You’ll need a separate case to get back the arrears, so it’s a lengthy process. Just make sure you’re in court for everything, agree with your lawyer your aims, and get ready for surprises. Also be 100% sure the tenant can’t claim you’ve done something wrong, like not servicing the gas safety check properly or similar. And if there’s any outstanding maintenance, get it fixed quickly. The smallest thing gives the tenant enough to ask the magistrate to rule in their favour. Your case has to be water tight!