I have tenants who are neither paying rents nor responding to any emails or messages. Rents are overdue by a month now. Also since they moved in they have never allowed any property inspections.
What is the best course of action to deal with them in this current situation.
contact the guarantor
no success serve section 21 and section 8
do not go in but see if the property ( if they refuse) has been abandoned or does it smell of weed.
speak to the neighbours to ask if there are any issues
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Thank you, section 21 is already served. For section 8, I will need to wait 1 more month. They still live in property. Guarantor is also not responding, What can I do to recover rent before it builds up. Shall I use debt recovery company or it is too early for them to involve?
This is no point serving a s8 notice under ground 8,10,11 at the moment until the tenants are at least 6 months in arrears, as otherwise the notice period is 6 months, the same as the s21.
You don’t know how big the debt is going to get at this point so I would wait before doing any claim against them other than notice.
Thank you David, Should I just rely on section 21 notice then, which is already served and wait for eviction. As they should evict in 5 months times (by S21 served already), if I wait for 6 months then they would be gone already. so when should I proceed for recovery?
With luck the tenants will leave at the end of the notice in 5 months time. If they don’t, then you will need to apply to the court for possession at that point and once you have that you will need bailiffs to evict them. I’m sorry to say that due to covid there is a huge backlog of cases in the courts and it if you have to do this, it is likely to take perhaps a further 6 to 12 months to get your property back. Good luck.
Does " Accelerated possession orders" helps to avoid court and speed up process?
It doesn’t speed it up, but it just means that the court will attempt to decide on the case without a hearing unless the tenant objects.
When making an application for possession you do need to provide any information you are aware of in relation to how the tenant or their dependant has been affected by the pandemic.
just submit general correspondence to the court saying “We aren’t aware of any COVID-19 effects on the tenant.”
If you are reactivating a possession claim made before 3rd August 2020 you have to file a “Reactivation Notice”.
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Thank you very much, what should I do to recover rents, shall I wait for 6 months until I go to court or I have any other options prior to that?
You can ask the guarantor
If you don’t have a guarantor then you could file a small claims court application
But are you going to do that every month?
If you end up with 6 months of arrears at least it will be a prioritised case