New tenant is not maintaining/cleaning flat

Lol, might chase the burglar out as well

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Assess over time. You cant make a decision kn one visit. She may have different standards but its not a crime. Dont be too judgemental and respect its not your home. I assume she pays rent?

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I think you have every right to be concerned, as I assume it states in your TA that they have to respect the property.

I’ve had tenants complain to us after mice entered the property, but what they forgot to mention, and failed to acknowledge, was that it was them who left half eaten plates of food lying around on the floor.

I had another tenant who introduces a pet (cat) without our approval, together with living like pigs in their own filth, we ended up with a problem of carpet moths eating away a very decent wool carpet in our quality finished flat. Thankfully we had a guarantor, and we recouped all our losses via the courts.

Maybe so, but such situations can easily escalate to a state that becomes a major remedial job and expense.

I had one tenant who ignored our no smoking policy and didn’t clean up, costing us many thousands of pounds for a complete refurb, new kitchen, blinds, carpet, decoration, lighting, cleaning, etc.

I doubt your 5-week bond limit would even scratch the surface of that debt.

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Well, for one I have changed my mind about s21 and although I am a landlord, after seeing what some of the people write here and the extent of control over their tenants that some landlords clearly wish to exert then I will now add my name to the list of people who want to repeal s21! My sister has rented from BTL landlords for 12 years after her divorce, she has paid over 150k and basically bought the house for them. All that time, as a vulnerable woman also running her own business to survive, the landlady has never done any repairs or maintenance to the property and my sister has been too scared to report as if she was kicked out (using a simple s21) she would be on the streets. It seems far too many landlords are OK with this and will try to kick people out for having a pea stuck in the sink and some normal use stains on the stove. Frankly I think landlords are now getting the regulatory environment they deserve!

Like most things it’s purely the minority. Landlords generally do not kick out tenants who pay their rent, want reasonable repairs doing and who keep it relatively clean.

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so what if she has paid more than the landlord paid for the place .Anyone has the opportunity to buy and rent out. My parents rented for years I bought my home and saved up to buy other places . We all choose to spend our money in differnt directions. I bought a shop . for 14k 50 years ago that has returned me 750k in rents . My vision ,my money, my risk ,my gain. my working as a landlord and as a builder It is not control ,it is wanting people to be careful with anothers property. Usually strangers .

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She chose to rent this property off the landlord. She could have bought, if she was willing to take the necessary steps. There’s a lot of options which allow for a deposit to be saved up. Even those on benefits can get mortgages!

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Even better ,her concerned landlord brother could have bought her a place , or at least rented it to her as he will be an exceptional landlord not bothered about how the property is looked after and would never evict her

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I never understood why some renters/tenants always moan that “oh we pay/paid their mortgage” blah de dah…
I mean yes but so what? do you think the owner/landlord of that property owes you something because the rent you pay to live at that house is used towards their mortage. Do you expect extra special treatment because of this?
You pay to live at that house, you chose to do this, no one forced you to do it. Now if the mortage is paid from the rental income so be it, that’s not your concern. As long as the landlord is fulfilling their responsibility as a landlord that’s the main thing.
If it really pains you that your rent is paying off someone’s mortgage then stop renting and buy your own place.

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Its like those pictures where if you look at it you see an old woman, but keep looking at it you can see a rabbit instead. The point I made was that my sister’s landlady has never done any maintenance and just let the place fall apart, knowing that my sister is vulnerable and afraid of being kicked out and so won’t complain. Interesting that the people who comment all fail to acknowledge that point and instead focus on the rent paid to buy the house line. I guess the landlords posting here see only what they want to see.

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There’s not enough info to be able to understand the circumstances. a tenant can always move on if they have a poor relationship with landlord, so I assume it’s not too bad. It’s a tenants responsibility to report issues yet you’re saying she hasn’t? LL needs to know to be able to fix.

A landlord is so exposed already it’s ridiculous. Making it harder to evict means only the cream of tenants will be able to rent. Guarantors will be needed as standard. Rents go up even more.

Vast majority of tenants would expect reasonable repairs to be carried out and vast majority of landlords would expect to do them. Kicking out a tenant because they want repairs doing makes no sense, it would be reasonable to expect the next tenant to want repairs doing. Only a slum landlord or unreasonable one would do this. A tenant can just stop paying and wait for eviction, it’s clearly weighted heavily in their favour.

If given s.21 then find another property surely and not be on the streets?

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I was not suggesting an S21 in this situation, it obviously depends how bad the neglect really is.

I completely agree that landlords should only be allowed to apply for eviction with a valid reason and believe me the courts are on the side of tenants, so this would not be allowed for spurious reasons.

Your Sister should have grown a backbone, and stood up for her rights as a tenant, she could not have been evicted as punishment for requesting necessary repairs, and as a landlord, you should know this and advised her accordingly.

On the other hand, the limitation on the amount of bonds is outrageous, as they barely cover the cost of the last months missed rent, if a tenant wishes to rub your nose in it. Also, the courts attitude to wear & tear is unreasonable, they apply criteria from hotel maintenance schedules, which is ridiculous. My own house only needed decorating once in 14 years, and still had the same carpets, courts insist on 5 yearly renewals. Tenants do not take the same care of rented property, fact!

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I haven’t seen the photos, but I would keep your mind open, arrange an inspection with at least a week’s warning, and keep inspecting every 3 months (monthly is excessive, unless in response to a previous “failed” inspection)

Assuming it is tidy on inspection, then as long as she pays the rent on time I wouldn’t be seeking to terminate.

It is reasonable to ask that she not leave food out, due to vermin.Also check that moisture is kept under control to avoid mould.

I spent several weeks decorating my flats to a high standard between tenants, and have to overcome feelings of disappointment when the place is untidy, the living room is used as a storage area etc. but the tenants I now have do pay the rent without issues and there is no structural damage from their lifestyle choices, so I choose to deal with it.

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tenants will never look afterv a place the way the owner would. Hence I will never rent out my home .

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Hi everyone,
quick update . . .
good news, I met tenant today and kept it very brief/cordial - only in there 3-4 mins. The place looked totally different, I could see she’d made a real effort so my fears have been somewhat allayed - a great relief to me and my business partner.

I showed her three photos that particularly concerned us (and didn’t mention the general untidiness)

  1. The food going down the kitchen sink plughole and pointed out it could cause a blockage and asked he to keep the plughole filter in it’s place (which is there to stop food going down).
  2. A photo of a biro/pen she’d left on the new, very nice designer sofa which is made of material and pointed out it could mark it.
  3. The food left out for 10 days while she was away that had mould & fungus/fur growing on it.

She apologied, I replied thank you and said I’ll pop in again in next month or two (deliberately casual so she doesn’t feel like we’re intruding).

Once again, thank you to all who gave positive/constructive advice/thoughts :blush:

HNY to all :clinking_glasses:

Chris

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pics have appeared again?

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Please bear in mind anything you post here can be read by your tenants! (Even easier if you rent out via Openrent). Posting photos of her home in the public domain is a complete abuse of her privacy.

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I think the LL is in their rights to protect their property, its assertions like you have mentioned that makes LL give up and put further strain on the rental market, increasing costs. Tenants have an obligation to keep a property in good order IMHO

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My assertion is that s21 should not be abused to kick tenants out of homes because they leave biros on sofas. Secondly that landlords also fail to maintain properties but tenants have no power similar to a s21 to force a landlord to act without fear of retribution. Last but not least, that a landlord should not post photos of a tenants home on public forums! Compared to e.g. removing tax relief on interest I seriously doubt my assertions have any impact on the rental market.

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Their are certain landlords who participate on this forum who get immense pleasure from💩stirring.

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