Hi all, I have a tenant who I have served a section 21 on as I want to sell the property and she is now causing a bit of trouble.
When she moved in, the upper payment from housing benefit was £700 but I did want to rent for £800 but agreed £750 with her and she would pay the rest. The rental agreement only states £700 and she is now saying she has no recollection of having this conversation with me to top up the payment and has contacted housing benefit to see how much I owe her. I have messages on my phone from her which proves we have this agreement in place.
Would I have to pay the money back to her if I have this evidence?
Regards
Karen
Why was only £700 recorded in the tenancy agreement. That was a big mistake if you wanted £750. The contract should always state the full rent, regardless of how much UC she gets. I think you will struggle to get any top-up from her and may well lose if you took it to court.
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She has been paying the top up for 2 years, she has only just decided to stop paying it as I want her to move out of the house. She now claims there was no such agreement, even though I have
text messages from her saying she acknowledges the rent is £750 and she pays the extra. She is now saying I owe her what she has paid extra.
OK, well that’s different. If she has paid £750 per month then that has established the rent at this figure. Most rent increases are just an informal agreement between the parties that becoming binding once they start paying them. I still think you would have quite a lot of explaining to do if you end up having to claim the additional amount from her deposit or sue her for it as rent agreed in the contract is supposed to be for 12 months.
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Great, thank you that really helps