Bailiffs coming – can I put tenant on a holiday let contract?

No. You can't just call it a holiday let if it isn't. If you accept rent and allow them to stay with exclusive occupation after you have regained possession you risk creating a new AST. This may also be the Council's view and therefore this family will probably no longer be classed as 'homeless' or at risk of homelessness. You will have to start all over again and serve a new notice, get a possession order etc. This is not a good idea.

You may however want to speak to the council. It could be possible to perhaps lease it to the council for a fixed period and then they can use it as temporary accommodation. Local authority temporary accommodation is treated differently to standard ASTs. It might be worth a phone call to them.

As an agent I see landlords doing bonkers things from time to time. This is right up there with the best of them.

Seriously Sarah, I know that all of this is the last thing you want when you're about to have a baby, but please get your house back now while you have the opportunity.

Your proposal is certainly a win-win for the tenant. She won't spend the extra weeks cleaning your house, she'll spend her time laughing her socks off.

Hello Sarah,

I have used bailiffs several times to remove none paying tenants. I would not ever consider letting them stay after organizing a valid warrant to get them removed. The moment they know the warrant has been served and in effect spent they will revert back to type and with hold rent.

I can appreciate time is against you but i would sooner have an empty property than one with a tenant living in there rent free and possibly damaging the property.

Once she is out pursue your out of pocket expenses via the courts and find yourself a tenant that will pay to keep a roof over their families head.

Good luck.

Andy

Thanks for your advice guys, its poor timing for me but you came to the same conclusion as me which is to take my house back when the baliffs arrive. I think I've been watching too much of "can't pay we're take it away", which is where I got the idea from.

Another thought is if the tenants applied for a stay of execution and you allowed it? Perhaps aaplying with your assistance? The bailiff's warrant can be postponed for up to 56 days. Don't know what others think to that idea or if that's possible?

I would be very reluctant to let the tenant stay.

Had a similar case and the tenant turned up on my doorstep a few days before the bailiffs were due to execute the warrant. She turned on the waterworks and stated she did not want to see her children in bed and breakfast etc. She was 3 months + behind with the rent at this point.

I told her if she paid up to date what was owed she could stay, more waterworks and excuses why she could not do that, no money and generally a massive hard luck story. Come day for the bailiffs to evict she had moved out the night before..... to another private rented house where she paid first months rent and deposit in cash up front, she had the money but thought she would see how far her luck would take her.

I currently have an attachment of earnings against her slowly dragging the money back she owes. The truth is some tenants just do not want to pay, even though they are capable of doing so, they will not change and will take advantage of landlords and see us as a soft target. We are not social care and tenants such as these are best avoided or removed as soon as possible.

I know its not always the way to view tenants but as everything, a few ruin it for the rest and we have to be direct and to the point and stick to our guns sometimes, otherwise it turns into an expensive lesson learned.

Andy

Q: Are you stark, staring mad ????

Please engage brain.... Why did you seek possession in the first place ???

Or maybe you are just a masochist ??