Singing Pig

I have a tenant whose AST agreement ends on the 29th of this month. We have sent a her a letter and a notice (3 and 2 months ago) respectively. It was hard to get in touch with her as she is in a habit of not returning calls and lying that she never received any letters.

She called and wrote me a month or so ago to say she was no longer in her job and that she wanted o go DSS. I told her that I dont think we would like to extend the tenancy agreement. She also said she cant afford any rent so she is already in arrears at the moment by a month.

 I went ahead and instructed a new letting agent to re-let the property, keeping her updated by letters and text as she refuses to pick up her calls. The estate agents were able to gain access to the property yesterday to take photographs but she made it clear that she does not have any place to go and will not be moving out after the 29th (Even though we'd require vacant possession by then)

She is not paying and she is not leaving. I called a few of those landlord assist websites and they said it can take 5 months to evict her? What can I do? She is not even picking up calls, she just wants to avoid the situation, sit there and pay no rent.
 

Depending on how far in arrears she is, you will need to get her out by way of either a S8 or S21 notice. It's pointless asking a letting agent to relet the property until your tenant has gone, unfortunately. If anything, you remarketing the property is only going to make her dig her heels in even more.

Chances are, she will actually WANT you to chuck her out, as the council will then see her as being homeless, and therefore move her up the housing queue. Until then, she effectively has the right to remain in the property, so you need to act now.

If you're interested, my company does fixed fee evictions - PM me if you think this will help you.
 

clottie:

if she is single the odds are the council will not rehouse her anyway.

Either way, it's not his problem, really. I was talking more generally. If she won't pay, then she deserves to be evicted. In my opinion, there's no room for sentiment in this situation where the tenant is clearly being bloody minded.
 

of course its not his problem   - of course she has to go

but she may not realise that the council does not have a statutory duty to rehouse her - and this may be a negotiating tool for the LL to get her out instead of going to court.

i paid a tenant £95 to leave once  - much cheaper and quicker and less hassle than going thru the courts  - but i did get her to sign a disclaimer that she would not complain in the future and i signed to say that i would not chase her for the 2 months rent she owed  -  and i  also insisted that and she had to leave the house in tip top clean condition  -  win win as far as i was concerned

clottie:

 

but she may not realise that the council does not have a statutory duty to rehouse her - and this may be a negotiating tool for the LL to get her out instead of going to court.

Ah right, see I was always of the impression that the councils were obliged to to rehouse the homeless, or at least move them up the priority list. I could be wrong though, obviously.

Either way, I don't really care, to tell you the truth. If tenants didn't want to be homeless, then they wouldn't do anything to upset their landlords and get evicted, would they?

Sorry if that sounds harsh. 

I would recommend the s8 route (breach of tenancy), not the s21 (no fault grounds). This is because although s21 is called "accelerated possession", this is an oxymoron if the tenant is resisting eviction. Where a tenant resists, the s21 route often takes longer than s8.

You can issue the s8 now with grounds 10 and 11, and should be able to use ground 8 (the important mandatory ground). It is a common belief that a tenant has to be two months in arrears before ground 8 can be used (even I thought this until last year). However, for monthly tenancies the 1988 Housing Act talks of two months rent being "unpaid". Nowhere does it mention arrears. Thus if rent was due on 15 May and has not been paid, then as we are past 15 June when the next rent was due, then she has two months rent unpaid.

If you use the s8 route, then (providing you ask for it) you will get a money judgement as part of the possession order. Then, even if you never get it repaid, at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing that her credit record has been decimated for quite a few years. The council will also regard her as "intentionally homeless" so they won't treat her as a priority at all.