Hello, I’m hoping someone can advice me…I have a tenant who moved in in october 2020. She paid 3 months rent in advance. But since January has stated she cant work and haant paid rent. I have adviced her about getting support from government which I think she did. But I still havent got rent.
What can i do?
Can i evict her ?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks
You cannot evict her at the moment ( it’s a six month wait) and she may be in her AST still if she signed in October 2020 for six months
She should be claiming UC so you should get rent from that
She may not know what she is entitled to if she has been previously employed
If she is non compliant then serve a section 21 and s8 but if you want to keep her Gothard Rowe are a mediation service that help tenants get access to funds to pay rent
It will require cooperation from your tenant, though
You have every right to ask her exactly what is going on. You say you ‘think’ she got Government help.
If she is on UC there will be a Housing Costs element which she is meant to be passing onto you.
You can apply to have this rent passed on directly to you.
Apply on the website it’s a very short form and in a few days you will get an answer. If she isn’t claiming it will tell you.
thank you you so much for this. Its helped alot. I sent her links to get additional support and she told me she has started receiving UC but still hasn’t paid me.
One more thing my father visited the premises(before lock down) and noticed she was running a business from the residence. I had no idea that she was doing this. Can this not be used to serve s21/s8 ?
I have normal tenant insurance, will this be affected?
apologies for questions, am new to this.
thanks
If your tenancy agreement stipulates that the tenant needs to ask your permission before running a business from the property then yes it’s a breach of tenancy and can be used in a section 8 - however as stated above long delays currently in the courts. It can affect your insurance so i would check the small print as well.
If she is running a business it may interfere with her UC payment. You may want to speak to DWP/HMRC. She is likely to move if they are on her case. You may not have to wait six months!
Either that or she will just stay and clock up more rent arrears. You may be able to ask DWP to pay you the rent directly. I wouldnt spend it just yet though in case they claw it back.
thank you everyone for replying. Greatly appreciate it. Will let you know how it goes, if you still interested:)
Would be good to know.
Potential trouble with using a section 8 over a S21 is that they can challenge a S8 and thereby draw it out even longer.
A S21 might be easier, i don’t know what other people on here would advise.
Just something I read !