Tenant is now over 2 months late with rental payments. What do I do? Also when tenancy runs out should he just leave? Tenancy runs until Aug 2020.
Are you in the NLA ? they have free good legal advice. Have you contacted the tenant? Do they have a guarrantor?
I believe the tenant can just leave, and without giving notice, at the end of the tenancy agreement but does not have too. If the tenancy agreement is not renewed it becomes a periodic tenancy. My understanding is that if you want them to leave at the end of the tenancy agreement you must give them notice; two months notice, I believe, to end on or beyond the end date of the tenancy agreement.
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If your tenant is 2 months late with rent and if they haven’t come up with any plan to pay it back to you quickly then I would serve a section 8, ground 8 notice immediately. You can then apply to the court in 2 weeks time to start possession proceedings against them. I’ve had this very same experience and you MUST act immediately as it will not get better from here.
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Yes I am, thank you for reminding me!
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Would you serve the notice yourself or get a company to do it?
I am scared if I give him notice he will stop paying again…
I served the notice myself and then followed the entire possession procedure through myself through the PCOL portal. However you need to be very careful that you know what you’re doing when you’re completing the form. All the information you’ll need can be found online. Also as your tenancy (I presume) has been created by OpenRent you can serve this notice by email.
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Kate 7 I bet he will stop paying anyway Be bold .you dont need this
You can have the tenant evicted within 24hrs via a court order which cost £250 for breaching a tenancy act , I myself had a tenant that infact kept the rent checks from local authorities for 3 months and also barricaded them self’s in my property so therefore I had no choice but to obtain an order via the courts and have them turfed out by court bailiffs worth every penny don’t be victimised hope this is helpful to you ,
Hi Kate
Hope the tenant name is not Matthew Travis (Matt)!
Please get a legal firm appointed asap and get the process started. You need to follow certain steps to be sucessful with eviction. Do not take the tenants words or promises that they will leave post August, they have more rights than you think.
I used www.accesslegalsolicitors.co.uk and they were brilliant.
All the best.
Jay
Thanks for all your info and advice. It’s been so valuable as I only have 2 tenants and not an experienced landlord. I served him with an Section 8 a few days ago. Let the battle commence.
Thanks again!
Well done to you. Make sure you apply to the court for a possession order 15 days after the serving of the section 8. The best, easiest and cheapest way to do this is online on the PCOL website. You should set yourself up with an account today and research how to complete the application. Best of luck to you. I’ve just got my property back after this process last week.
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Yes agreed with you!
I started process last November , (section 21 ) Eviction date was 18th of February, with out no hearing. Now We are 5 months with out rent and Tenant still there. Also she complained to the local authority, for some minor issues , Officer who visited understood the situation, But we had to complied those things.
Now applied for bailiff waiting for them.
Learn a good lesson
I’d like to second this. My biggest regret is making the rookie error of not starting proceedings to evict my tenant as soon as they stopped paying rent. The problem is the process takes a couple of months so you’ve already lost more than your deposit even if you serve a section 8 at the earliest opportunity. It’s vital you do it properly. By all means do it yourself but follow the rules to the letter to make sure it stands up in court. If you have any doubt about the process, pay someone to do it.
If your tenant gives you a fake forwarding address, you won’t be able to take them to the small claims court either…