A kinder way to deal with tenants who are not paying rent

Reply to the comment left by Tessa Shepperson at 09/07/2021 - 13:05
extra care when selecting tenants? Tessa you can do all the checks you like...but what if nothing comes up? Assumption is that if there is nothing listed there is no issue...

Those LL's who had to go through the pain cost and time of evicting a bad tenant then wont be wanting to throw more money by getting a CCJ listed (for example), just to alert the next LL....

don't know many charities that pay rent arrears , not even Shelter to keep tenants in their homes . yes they all want to talk about support and keeping people in houses but not pay for them. My rent is my income ..how do we live if not getting rent ..we don't get benefits . It is always one sided ..get the benefits system to pay rent direct without the need of the tenants approval from day one , that would help a lot to both parties. yes it costly to evict but it also takes months of not getting money . Some people usually at this stage just don't want to pay ..maybe we should be fighting to make it illegal to not pay rent automatically. Why are agencies not standing up for the landlords ? There are lots for the tenants ...

Is there such a thing as a tenant who is unable to pay the rent? I do not think so. I've been a landlord for over 30 years and at one time housed over 1000 tenants. When I started I created a 'No eviction policy' where I guaranteed not to evict any tenant if they were unable to pay the rent. I guess estimate I have housed over 10,000 tenants yet I have never come across a tenant who was unable to pay the rent! Where does this mysterious person exist? I have never come across a tenant who has genuinely been unable to pay the rent.

I have come across plenty of tenants who refuse to pay the rent or what I feel is even worse refuse to claim universal credit when they are unable to afford the rent. Landlords, I think we should count our blessings, if the tenant is unable to pay the state pays us what a wonderful system! Yes I agree claiming universal credit is a bureaucratic nightmare and yes we have to help our tenants claim the benefits but easier than housing benefit where I believe the council officers were deliberately sabotaging claims. It is probably the reason why the government stopped the council administering housing benefit. As a result of tenants deliberately refusing to pay their rent without excuse, they would rather use it for alcohol drugs or holidays I have had to evict over 350 tenants through the courts and many more I have encouraged to leave voluntarily. Yes landlords need to know how to help tenants and there are some who do not know how the system of aid for tenants works and they should know. However, too many landlords wait for too long before taking decisive action to evict . 'A bad tenant only becomes worse' so landlords with a defaulting tenant need to act quickly. Contrary to popular belief evicting tenants for rent arrears is simple but rather long winded and bureaucratic. I have written a manual on the subject called 'DIY eviction', where I have explained to Landlords how you can legally easily, quickly (it only takes eight weeks using my system) and cheaply evict tenants. Every defence, objection and problem I have come across is covered in the manual.

I agree with the other contributors it is the council or government who should do more to help tenants who get into difficulty. Instead the council tell my tenants not to pay the rent and they will rehouse them when I evict them. The Council tell my tenants to sit tight and wait for the baliffs letter and if the landlord does anything else they will help the tenant sue the landlord for harassment or illegal eviction. But then, what else can you expect when the biggest competitor to the private rented sector is the council. They need tenants and are quite happy to take mine and stick the knife in on the way out along with the tenant trashing my property and taking my furniture and white goods.

What I don't understand is why no other landlord will take up my offer to provide a 'No eviction policy'. Now that would dumbfound our critics.

Jim Haliburton The HMO Daddy

Reply to the comment left by at 24/07/2021 - 08:35
I do not doubt you've probably seen it all over 30 years, and agree tenants should always be able to pay their rent. If they choose not to, then it should be easier to move them on. However, 8 weeks is impossible when the government imposes minimum notice periods, especially since the start of the pandemic. You can add to that the massive backlog in the courts. I would have loved to evict in 8 weeks, and good luck to you for achieving this amazing result. Instead, it will be 15 months when my tenant is evicted on 27th July.

You make an interesting point about councils being our 'competition', but they have a dire shortage of accommodation, and their fair share of feckless tenants. Indeed, they rely on the PRS. The judge at my possession hearing said I was lucky getting in when I did, because when the council starts evicting, private landlords will face even lengthier delays!

Thank you New Yorker I take your point . When I was talking about my experience of the time it takes to evict I was referring to pre- Covid. What are future holds no one knows.

I would take with a pinch of salt councils dire shortage of accommodation. When have you ever heard of a council saying they have too much accommodation ? They always scream shortage and massive waiting lists. In my area it does not stop them pinching my tenants.

Reply to the comment left by Tessa Shepperson at 07/07/2021 - 14:14
Tessa, could I please have a list of the organisations who help disabled people with rent arrears, and people who have been refused housing benefit and UC for several months, even though they are entitled to them, resulting in nasty landlord evicting me as he doesn’t care how hard I have tried to claim the benefits, he just cares about money, and has just sent me another email demanding £5000. Like I have that money lying around when I am on state benefits! And he is also the director of the care company who are meant to look after me, but he accompanied his definite rent arrears eviction with lots of lies and slander about my character too.

Reply to the comment left by Vulnerable Tenant at 07/04/2022 - 03:08
I am afraid I don't have such a list, although the article here may help: https://www.therentersguide.co.uk/a-guide-to-getting-financial-assistance/

If you want one to one support see the service from Julie Ford here: https://landlordlaw.co.uk/openaccess_content/debt-assessment-services-from-julie-ford/

The first line of this opening post put me right off . Eviction is the last resort not the first. Like all other LL`s I know I talk to my tenants first and try to problem solve. If I judge they need more help I refer them to the dozens of organisations out there designed to assist the multifaceted issues they may have . Those organisations often have personnel within them that have specific skill sets that LL`s may not have. These organisations are freely available on the internet or via the CAB .But yes they are often busy . So if the problem is more complex and cant wait I will call on my experienced hands on support worker who has a deeper knowledge of the system than I have and crucially also the time and interpersonal skills to sit down with them F2F to try and resolve. That costs me £12.50 per hour but that can be and has been worth it weight in gold .
I would prefer to see a nationwide network of these support workers set up that LL`s can tap into.
I don't warm to the commercial nature of this post . I would have more respect if you just posted all the organisations out there that LL`s and tenants could freely tap into rather than try to tap us for 150 quid .
But if you and Julie want to make some money using Julie`s specific skill set and your growing commercial appetite consider setting up a nationwide network of support workers and charge us £15 per hour to engage them and pay them £12.50 per hour . You then get £2.50 per hour referral fee on a constant repeat volume basis and will make a mint . 100 support workers working up and down the country just 4 hrs per day gives you 365K pa .And it would be a great service for the whole community . Maybe set it up as a charitable foundation .

Reply to the comment left by Vulnerable Tenant at 07/04/2022 - 03:08Private ( key is in the word ) landlords are not social workers and Housing is a business asset that has to be paid for. Its not a hobby.
I know many landlords who empathise with various circumstances their tenants face and engage with them over issues. But at the end of the day, the mortgage on the property has to get paid.
It often boils down to either the landlord takes the property off a defaulting tenant, or the Mortgage company takes the property off the landlord.
The Local Authority is the place you should approach as far as responsibility for your housing lies. ( Likely your landlord has told you that ) I wish you the best with the Local Authority, as if you thought landlords were bad, it will give you a whole new perspective.

Reply to the comment left by Vulnerable Tenant at 07/04/2022 - 03:08
This service rom the citizen advice bureau is free and a good starting point . Good Luck

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/discrimination-because-of-disability/disability-discrimination-and-debt-problems/