Hello looking for a bit of advice, we have a tenant in our property, unfortunately her son was found dead a few weeks ago in his apartment. The tenants contacted us to say they may have to pay the rent late as they now have costs to pay for funeral etc. Naturally we agreed to this given the circumstances. There was no further contact made by them and no payment was received. So I made contact with them on Friday 25th, no easy way or right time to approach this given circumstances but are you able to make the payment on 1 May. Just so we were all clear on what was happening. No response until the following day in the evening a text message arrived. They said they are struggling with substantial costs and hoping to get things back on track soon. So I asked just to clarify so are you struggling to pay this months rent and the response was yes but will try to get a payment to you the next month. The tenant then started to get a little annoyed saying this isn’t a good time and saying they’ll pay by the 26th of the month as in May. How do I handle this one as payments due 1 April and 1 May will be missed. They have not been the most honest tenants since they moved in, they asked for permission to get two little dogs which we agreed too but they actually already had them one they’d had for 9 years from a puppy and they also moved a cat in that they still to this day think I don’t know about and was not agreed by us. We did add a clause that said any additional pets to be agreed by landlord and as I say the cat was not. So long story short there have been trust issues but given this situations sensitive nature how would or should I take it forward.
If they dont have the money to pay for the funeral, they can arrange for a Public Health Funeral, which will cover the costs. Despite the circumstances (assuming theyre true - have you checked their social media?), Id be serving a s8 and s21 notice if 1 May payment is missed.
I would ask for a death certificate to corroborate the story
It will also have cause of death post autopsy
If you are two months in arrears s21 and s8
There problems are not your problems
If there is a history of dishonesty it does not bode well
Get on top of this before RRB
Also there are benefits that can be sought to assist with the cost if the funeral if they contact DSS
Personally, I think I’d be waiting until the end of May, as that is allowing plenty of flexibility. It would feel a bit heartless to be serving notice based on (only just) 2 month rent late, given the alleged circumstances.
I think Id be sending a letter, saying that you acknowledge & understand their personal situation, but that rent is important, and essential. I’d say that it is imperative that the next rent payment is received by 26th May as they have promised, together with proposals for clearing the arrears by regular overpayments.
Thank you I was thinking of doing a letter now I’ve had the initial text conversations with them. I think I will do this and if it doesn’t materialise then I don’t think I have much options left other than to start the process. The other thing is the tenancy agreement is actually due to end on 27 July this year. Do I just inform them that I won’t be renewing their tenancy instead of serving notices to evict them? Given the circumstances I’m just trying to play it the right way
In my communication with them, I’d be underscoring just how important it is that they do not risk their home and that having to deal with the consequences of not paying rent would add a considerable burden to them when they’re going through such a difficult time.
It doesn’t work like that. The contract will automatically roll into a periodic tenancy at the end of the fixed term. The contract does not just end. The only way you can start a process to end a tenancy is issuing the S21 or S8 notice.
My experience of a similar matter is they are thankless for the compassion and tenants who are already problematic see this as your Achilles heel
Each circumstance is different but you have a history to guage them from