Just wondered what some of you more experienced folks would do (if anything) in this scenario.
We have a good tenant who is a single mum with two older primary children. She’s recently been hospitalised with what could be a debilitating condition which makes it very difficult to walk. It’s a two storey property, small, and she keeps it immaculately. She’s been there about 3 years and never missed a rent payment. No issues at all. She grew up in the area and her mum lives a few streets away.
Her sister is currently staying to look after her kids while she’s in hospital. I don’t know as yet how long she might be there. She’s in touch by email.
I did an inspection just last week when she was still at home. We had a frank talk about her condition (they don’t know what’s causing the issue) and she has SSP which will cover the rent for the next 6 months and likely benefits after that (which I have no issue with). I told her that if she needs to get the house adapted to her needs, that’s fine with us.
Can any of you see anything that we might be wise to put in place or anticipate?
yeah, I’ve told her fitting all that is fine by us. She said, “I don’t even want to think about having to do that.” Gives an indication of her state of mind sadly…
Assuming that this is a freehold property with no unusual restrictive covenants, there should be issue with adaptations.
I would make sure that when she is due to be discharged from hospital, you ask her in writing to get the re-enablement team or equivalent to assess the home and give her a list of the recommended changes. You have to be careful how you do this as you have no entitlement to medical information about her and you dont want to receive it anyway as its a special category of data not covered by a regular GDPR privacy notice.
I would also check with your insurer whether they have any particular requirements in relation to covering tenant accidents/injuries and the property given the change of circumstances.
Good point about insurer. I will make sure I get any recommended changes in writing yes.
Re that point, she’s already voluntarily told me she’s ill and what the problem might be. She’s now back home and awaiting a treatment plan based on MRI results she had while in hospital. It looks like it’ll be at least a year before she’ll be back on her feet. How exactly do I have to be careful in this regard?
I’m sorry to hear about your tenant, honestly it’s very refreshing to hear you’re happy to accommodate adjustments to make the property more liveable for your great tenant. Maybe that’s a reflection on the dire state of the world currently…
Obviously I don’t know the layout of the property, but could you support her in moving her bedroom to the ground floor? It might not negate the need for a stairlift but could help reduce the strain of navigating the house as much.
thanks C8976 … the layout of the property makes it impossible to have a bedroom downstairs. As I said, it’s small and the layout is really restrictive even though it’s a nice little house.
Sounds very considerate of you. I have no experience of this particular sort of illness so others’ opinions may be more useful
Is tenant going to pay for adaptions or will you (unclear what you agreed if anything) or is there any official source to help (just like motability)? Will she use a wheelchair?
Is there a shower/is it walkin?
I’m not sure but as a LL just like you have to make a place chid safe if there are small children, you may have obligations to make safe for her so it may be you have to provide some at least of the adaptations
Costs at end of tenancy to undo adaptions??
How will cleaning be done? (Hard if difficult to walk) Ditto maintaining garden if any; window cleaning; changing light bulbs when they blow; reaching upper cabinets in kitchen etc. (The.full set of adaptions could be quite a lot)
no they’re all helpful things to consider. She’s got family close by so I’m not concerned about small maintenance jobs like light bulbs.
Costs for undoing adaptations will be part of the discussions if she needs any. From experience of having a stairlift fitted in another property, the equipment is removed but you have to make good any damage from fittings and that will come out of deposit.
We’re planning to sell each of our properties as tenants leave so no major issues with getting properties back to rentable standard.
Just remember to write to give permission for any adaptions required, and when not required or upon notice of any description, the property has to be reverted to as was, with all made good.
Well done to think about this. Just a cautionary word: I’d advise not making any structural changes without checking with her and her physio: when she is ready to be discharged from hospital, they will do a home visit to session her needs. You may install the wrong thing, not suitable for her. Also, depending on her condition, she may be entitled to financial aid for disability equipment. At the end of the day she and her children might decide to move to a ground floor home anyway.
You are being considerate thats a nice thing to do.
A year or two from now after you find yourself trying to deal with miscellaneous relatives , chasing for payment, dealing with frustrating government bodies and removing adaptations and redecorating and writing off some rent you may feel differently.
I have had this sort of thing several times and it always blows up in hour face and you looking bad.
If you are in business the best thing you can do is regain possession of your property asap. However you may need to go through this experience for yourself to believe it and understand it
If that’s the case, I have to ask, why did you do it “several times”?
Quite right. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand my tenant’s situation unless I too could go back to my 30s, split from the parents of my children, find them a safe place to live, raise them as a single mum while working full time and then find myself losing the ability to walk over a period of several months and doctors being none the wiser as to how this has happened to me. If I had experienced that, I might be even more sympathetic than I am to the anxiety this would raise for me and my children.
@tatemono good points from @Candid1 - you arent a charity, and being kind multiple times may end up with regrets on occasion. At same time good business to keep good tenants if you can. If you dont evict before may using s21 you then have to wait till you have enough rent arrears or other grounds to evict and tenants can keep paying up just before court proceedings to avoid mandatory possession and then becomes discretionary. Suspect courts are going to be bunged up with all the s21s being issued by LLs for quite a while yet too….
From the point of view of protecting yourself financially, you could discuss with tenant how /whether will affect her ability to work and her ability to pay the rent - she might have either critical illness cover [for short term] or income protection insurance cover [generally covers up to end of policy or retirement i think], and/or her condition may allow her to claim specific benefits. You could also check the LHA rates for the area /size of property. Or ask if possible for a guarantor to be added if you dont have one already
I’m not a registered charity, no, but in 28 years of letting property, I’ve always been charitable. It’s a lifestyle choice I have never ever regretted on a single occasion. I have so many assets we can afford not to work for the rest of our lives. I believe that fact and the fact that I’m charitable go hand in hand. I often hear others wishing the world was a better place. My wife and I try to make that a practical reality on a daily basis. This is a case in point.
Those are worth doing primarily because the T would not want to be in a position not to pay. Thanks for the suggestions. Currently, she has 6 months’ worth of sick pay to support her going forward and if she is still in this position at the end of that, it’s highly likely she’ll have considerable PIP and other benefits to depend on. However, it’s also likely she’ll want a more convenient place to live.