@Chris63 I would remind you that this is a public forum and the information and photos you are posting could identify the tenant to someone who knows the property. This is a messy tenant and I wouldn’t live like that either, but I also wouldn’t evict a tenant because of it. I suggest you delete the photos.
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agree with above delete photos
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Kick someone out for this? Talk about over-reaction. No wonder landlords get a bad reputation!
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I think as a landlord, it’s so important to know your tenant before accepting new tenancy and I’m not defending her. when you finally engage her in conversation and set the record straight. If she can’t keep up with the standard then it’s time to let her go. Is there a Claus on the rental contract that says the landlord rights to inspection or does it have to be arranged?
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I think issue amounts to little concern provided that you keep your inspection frequent enough. This will keep her on her toes and be mindful and not let things go out of hand. Even if you are bitter about it I say be calm about it , last thing you want to irritate tenant and this can lead to more issues. As far as I can see she apologised and probably defensive approach might be due to fact that she might have embarrassed. And photos were probaly a mistake. Verbal feedback might have been better.
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thank you Tok,
yes we did as much as poss to try and know her first. RentNow did all checks too.
There’s a 6 month break clause/option which we could use so would hopefully not need to use Section 21.
Reading all the good Landlord advice on here has helped. I’ll have a meting with her next week and arrange monthly inspections to hopefully keep her on her toes. (Inspections are allowed in AST with 24 hours notice). If things improve then we’ll let the 12 month AST run it’s course and conservative our options then.
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You are in serious danger of committing harassment with this tenant. Its not your place to “keep her on her toes”.
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thank you C116
sounds like good/sound advice. Pls see my post above which was influenced by your response. I agree, not good to irritate and inflame situation and I agree, possibly slightly embarrassed.
Monthly inspection is very excessive.
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Thanks David,
seems in this forum, I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. It obv depends on the interpretation. Visiting the flat once a month at an agreed time/day with tenant seems reasonable to me - besides I haven’t got the time to harass anyone. But I do want to protect my investment and believe I have a right to do that from a potentially bad tenant.
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Up to you, but the next contact we have with you may be when you get a letter from her no-win-no-fee lawyer.
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“very excessive” ? interesting ! depends on circumstances imo. With previous good tenants we’ve hardly had to go in a 12 month period. Generally things are ok. Besides I have to travel 35 mins to get there so prefer not to have to go. I’m afraid in this instance I will be visiting more as agreed in AST.
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Thank David, I’ll keep in mind 
a BIG thanks everyone for your comments/feedback - some good advice there
Don’t think I’ll need to engage further in the thread.
Happy New Year to all 
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Unfortunately landlords like you damage the good landlords out there. It is a total abuse of the s21 provisions to evict someone for these absolutely petty reasons. No wonder tenants complain and the entire regulatory environment is more hostile every day. You are absolutely harassing this tenant with these ludicrous monthly meetings to keep her on her toes, and if the tenant has anything about them they will go along with you for a few months whilst making recordings of what you are saying then bring an action against you.
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for Graham reply above (and others who’ve criticised me here), I don’t/didn’t plan to use S21.
If we decide, the AST has a 6 month break clause in around 4 months.
I consider myself a VERY good landlord and have always treated tenants respectfully and extremely fairly/well.
No more replies from me on this thread.
Thanks again to all who gave constructive advice
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Dont reply any more Chris Not only are there unsuitable tenants There are landlords with silly attitudes
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You will have to use s21 to activate the break clause. @Chris63 I suggest you do some landlord training before you get into serious difficulty. Join the NRLA and have a look at their courses.
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Based on the evidence presented here you are an awful landlord. Put it this way, if I were to repackage this story with your photos, and send it to Shelter, or the Daily Mirror, they would use you as a case study in why s21 has to go. You have made the classic mistake of the amateur landlord which is to buy a house of the quality they would like to live in and then rent it out and expect that other people have exactly the same standards as you do, when in fact it is just an investment property that you should have zero emotional attachment to and it should be kept in a reasonable, not perfect, condition.
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@Chris63, I’m in the same boat as you; my relatives are co-habiting with an unhygienic tenant. I haven’t personally inspected the property, but my relatives have shared their opinion with me. We decided to set the break option at 10 months in order to maintain a stable income, and I know I can notify the tenant at the 8th month, however the wording of the AST seems to indicate that I can only notify them at the 10th month and they must leave at the 12th month.
It’s unfortunate that my relatives have to live in such conditions, yet there is little we can do about how the tenant chooses to live. Although, I do understand that your circumstances could be worse than ours (I haven’t seen the photos). I am thinking try to avoid signing a long-term AST in the futrue if that helps. If you’d like, I’d be happy to carry on discussing this outside this post and hear your solution.
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