I feel your pain. Of course the Beautiful property may be a friends that she is moving into temporarily though I somehow doubt it, I expect she is about to rob another unsuspecting landlord. I hope you are able to recover some of your losses from her. Tenants like her get all tenants a bad name and cause problems for everyone.
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Don’t warn the new landlord until she has definitely gone from yours 
(sorry, new landlord, but if they didn’t to their due diligence either…)
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Hi - thanks, yes, I won’t do anything until
I am 100% certain that I won’t see a penny of the £16k she owes me.
Also be careful to stick to the facts or you could face a defamation charge. I assume you have been clear in your GDPR privacy notice that you may pass on information about the tenant to a new landlord?
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Hi - I haven’t shared any information with any party yet, other than the County Court - and everything has been factual.
Which document can guide me on GDPR obligations under this scenario?
Also - she has emailed me today saying she can’t move out as planned this weekend as she is struggling to remove all her contents and clean the house. Again, she has put me in a difficult position - lose, lose.
How should I respond please? I feel so stuck and she knows exactly how to put me in this position.
You have to give a copy of your tailored GDPR notice to the tenant when you first start asking them for information, (before you let to them). If you haven’t already done this, then I suggest you don’t say anything to their current landlord or you will be in breach of GDPR.
The NRLA have a template privacy notice which you can customise. There may be others on the web.
Once they’ve gone theyve gone. Change your locks re rent it they are not interested in the law or coming back. Just dont throw any crap of theirs away for a couple of weeks
Talk to a debt collector and let them run with it. It will cost you maybe 50% as long as you have a ccj above a certain amount
I dont take benefits cases any more statistically you get more grief
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It is absolutley disgraceful that the Government is condoning this fraudulent activity by giving her money for the rent then allowing her to keep it without any recourse.It about time landlords where able to sue the Goverment, the laws are all againt the landlords andnothing for them. But then if the govt are happy not to pay their debts (Iran 400 million) and cause a diplomatic crisis and people incarcerated, what hope has us mere mortals.
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Now they are trying to make it law that you cannot refuse tenants on benefits !!. No I just had a bad feeling about them .lol
GDPR, posh bollocks, stuff that
Its tempting to see it that way and for most professions I would agree with you. However, for landlords I think its vital. Ours is one of the very few small businesses that is so intrusive into the lives of our clients. We collect highly petsonal data about their history, finances, behaviour, civil convictions, motivation, domestic habits and a range of other information, and anyone with a property can set themselves up to do this without training or registration. I think the least we owe them is to tell them how we will store, share and delete this data and that we take that data processing responsibility seriously.
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Update and advice please:
The tenant has entered into a new Tenancy Agreement with her new Landlord, (as detailed in earlier thread/response) - confirmed by Universal Credit, DWP, Yorkshire Water, etc.
She still has her possessions in my home and is now asking until Friday 25th March to clear out and return the keys… please can someone advise what my rights are given she was ordered by the County Court to leave by 2nd March.
She’s promising to clear and clean the property but given her repeated failed promises I am confident she has no intent to do so.
She has also a skip in the drive way which she hasn’t paid for as of yet.
Can I sent her a end of tenancy inspection report based on the fact she claims to have moved out a few weeks ago?
I have prepared a rental arrears statement based on / up until the 16th March, should
I now amend this to todays date, or the 25th March as per her latest advice.
She surely can’t be entitled to be using my property for free to store her goods during her move period…?
Who do I need to speak to get a definitive position / advice on my rights?
Thanks
F
Im not clear from your post whether her tenancy has ended. The court order doesnt end the tenancy until its been executed by bailiffs of HCEOs. Its also not clear exactly what she has said to you about leaving, whether this would amount to some kind of notice or surrender and what evidence you have of it. This is crucial to what you can do next.
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Hi - it’s an AST which is now a periodic tenancy, the court ordered for her to leave by the 2nd March, she hasn’t. I know I can’t go in until Bailiffs get involved but given she was in the process of moving out (alerted to me by the Neighbours) when I saw her on the 7th March, I haven’t initiated then Warrant for Possession step. She has said she has left the property but needs time to clear it out and has now asked for more time - Friday 25th. She has a full skip in the driveway and the house is in a state (clutter everywhere).
She has a new Tenancy Agreement with her new landlord and UC are paying her directly now as she has provided them a copy of the new TA and utility bill.
Thanks
Did she just say this verbally or do you have evidence she said it?
All comms are on email.
Thanks
I have discovered her new address, she’s literally moved down the road, yet claims to be in a hostel/homeless.
I will include the new address on the warrant for possession for the Bailiffs to pursue.
Thanks
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Be careful, without a warrant for possession, she can still claim to be resident, especially if she still has her possessions in your property. I wouldn’t want an illegal eviction to compound your worries.
As she’s on UC, the council will pursue an illegal eviction on her behalf if there’s any doubt she’s left. I had that on one incident, and they only withdrew it because the previous tenant didn’t go back to sign his complaint, otherwise they had me down for 3,000 pounds of fine.
I presume she hasn’t returned the keys. If she doesn’t comply, get a warrant of possession to do it legally.
Write her a letter confirming her vacation, take it round to her at her new property, and get her to sign it, and hand back the keys. Arrange a time for her to collect her remaining possessions.
I would contact the skip company and ask them to remove their property from your property, and give them the new address for relocation.
Is her car worth 16k? Otherwise, as I said before, forget it, if she’s still on UC.
And what were the exact words used in the email?
Hi All
Really appreciate your support thru this nightmare.
I have gone ahead and asked a locksmith to change the lock based on the simple fact that the Tenant entered into a new Tenancy Agreement with a New Landlord approx. 3 weeks ago. That has been confirmed by DWP and Universal Credit.
A softer fact I have is that she advised she was in the process of moving out / had moved out and just wanted to do a final few tip runs, therefore implied it was rubbish only remaining.
I dropped her a formal email to confirm the end of Tenancy as being Friday 25th March as per her last advised date of handing over the key / her intent, but failed to turn up.
FYI - The house has been left in a state beyond recognition - dog poo in the kitchen cupboard and stains on the carpets from dog mess, burnt or stained kitchen workshops. I always knew this was a risk, but hoped that given she had 4 kids, one a toddler, that this wouldn’t be the case.
Let the deposit return mayhem begin…
Best regards
F
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