I have a situation where i have served notice to them which was within the 6 months break clause. I have evidence that the notice was served and so they can’t claim they haven’t seen it.
They are due to move out end of March.
Now they are:
5 days late paying rent (they have consistently been 2-3 days late in the past).
ignoring emails to provide a time when i can do a checkout
The rental deposit is 1 month and by the time they leave they will owe be due to have paid me 6 weeks rent.
So I’m wondering at my next steps. Today, I do plan to email them copying in the guarantor to state that they are late paying and that i would appreciate them paying me by the of this week.
But what are my options if they continue to ignore me?
I have a feeling that this is petty behaviour stems from them being upset at the eviction but they are historically also late without bothering to provide a reason or letting me know.
I don’t think that your assumption that they’re leaving is necessarily justified. You can only keep asking at this point, but be careful if doesn’t amount to harassment.
You are assuming they will leave at end of the notice, they might not.
Is late payment only reason for eviction? most people get paid at end of month so it may have saved a lot of hassle by being a bit flexible as it maybe they needed to be paid to pay your rent. tenants should communicate better but it is not uncommon for them not to where struggling. Ive had tenants who have been 2-3 days late every month for 7 years, its not really a major issue.
Indeed - I agree. I’ve waited to chase since giving notice mid-Jan and have chased twice in that period to arrange a check-out.
Regarding the rental payment i haven’t chased but I have Rent Collection through OpenRent and Open rent do chase for payment. But if they ignore OR then i’m thinking it best to also send an email.
No - circumstances changed so that’s not the reason for the notice, but it is the reason I’ve not been concerned until now about them not paying.
My biggest concern is that they now ignore everything and what to do in those circumstances. I need the house back at the end of March so its a concern that they then ignore things and don’t leave.
All you can do at this stage is ask and not harass.
You cant force tenants to leave at end of notice and if they dont it can take 6-12 months to enforce through courts. If you need the property back you could incentivise them to move by offering to cover moving costs or part of rent if they move at end of notice, depends how essential it is you get property back in March.
Evicting them for this reason is a bit harsh, assuming that is the reason. Clearly there’s a communication problem for what reason you don’t say. Are they near enough to knock on the door and speak face to face.
Send the guarantor a letter demanding the rent and copy the tenants, not the other way around, if the tenants are not cooperating.
I had a repetitive late payer regularly 3-4 days and got sick of reading statements with their rent outstanding, so I gifted them 5 days to reset their payment date. No more issues.
I agree in principle with what you suggest in knocking on the door & having a chat, but I disagree when you say it’s a bit harsh - as you’re assuming the Landlord is being unfair. I have a tenant (in fact a company) who have been paying just over half the regular rent for 10 months due to understandably to scaffolding and remediation on the block, but despite this (and scaffolding now down) they consistently pay late and I have to chase. This is not fair to the Landlord so I’m fully supportive of this Landlord like myself who just doesn’t have time to chase and chase every month.
It is not the reason for eviction. The property is also not close enough to speak face to face. However, I’ve also learnt the hard way that ‘some’ tenants will take advantage of any ‘leniency’ you give them.
Either way, we have moved forward and so far things are going smoothly to the tenancy end date. Will see.
I fully understand nobody has the time or should be expected to repeatedly chase payments.
Is there a specific reason for the delayed payments? Charge them a late payment admin fee and interest if they are just being tardy.
Do you not insist upon a bank standing order for payments on a regular pay date? It should be in your contract.
Why are you allowing half rent for external scaffolding?
As before, if no satisfactory communication or payment go for the guarantor, this will cause the tenant embarrassment, and the guarantor will likely push them down the right road for fear of being stuck with the costs.
So some good news, thank you to all those who’ve provided support and helpful suggestions.
They are out (left day before due), they didn’t dispute the deposit claim at all (after my war and peace email) and I think a lot of this is due to them being concerned about their fraudulent actions, evidence of abuse (kept a record of everything) and the fact that I did set up this tenancy by the book. So me being pedantic at the beginning worked out well.
I’ve decided I’ll stick to my current career and leave being a landlord to those who can cope with the joys of being a landlord. Think I will send a note to my landlord and inform her about how darn lucky she is with me!!
I doubt a Landlord will want to change to a contractual weekly payment schedule, but you can ask.
However, as a Landlord, I have no problem if a tenant pays me their monthly rent in more than one split payment. So, if they sent me £200pw, instead of £800pm, this would not bother me, but contractually, I would be recording these payments as towards their monthly due payments.
changing monthly to weekly changes certain elements of how the contract works. One example is that Section 4 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 states:
Where a tenant has a right to occupy premises as a residence in consideration of a rent payable weekly, the landlord shall provide a rent book or other similar document for use in respect of the premises.