Evicting a tenant before the initial 6 month tenancy has ended?

Evicting a tenant before the initial 6 month tenancy has ended?

10:18 AM, 12th July 2016, About 8 years ago 6

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My tenant has been renting my house for just over two months and today I have found out she has fraudulently used my bank details, which I gave her to pay her rent into, to set up a direct debit to pay her phone and broadband provider. fraud

I have been in contact with my local police and they passed me on to Action Fraud who have now taken all the details. I now want to evict this tenant from my property and would like some advice on how to do this considering she is only two and a half months into a six month agreement.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Ashley


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Neil Patterson

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10:29 AM, 12th July 2016, About 8 years ago

I assume this would be a section 8, but I am not sure under which grounds.

Possibly 12 Breach of Tenancy agreement or 8 for rent arrears if there are 2 months arrears?

Hopefully someone will have run across this or know.

Please also see our tenant eviction page >> https://www.property118.com/tenant-eviction-2/

Romain Garcin

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10:53 AM, 12th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Hi Ashley,

I think you will struggle to get an eviction through s.8.
Clearly what you tenant did is fraud but that isn't a breach of the tenancy (ground 12).
Ground 14 will apply but only if she is convicted of fraud. You don't know when or if this will happen, and the ground is discretionary. On the plus side, there is no notice period to start proceedings.

I would wait and serve a s.21 notice as soon as possible (i.e. after the first 4 months of the tenancy) and make sure everything is by the book.
You can also serve a s.8 notice if it becomes possible to, but I would consult an experienced solicitor to check if proceedings have any chance of succeeding.

You should not lose out on the direct debits as you can (and surely already have) cancel them and, I think, should get any money back through the Direct Debit guarantee.

Edit: Actually, it seems that ground 14 cannot be used during the fixed term, so I would just focus on s.21.

Romain Garcin

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11:00 AM, 12th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Romain Garcin" at "12/07/2016 - 10:53":

Sorry, ignore the edit in my previous comment.

Arwel Davies

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15:25 PM, 13th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Presumable you have been in contact with the phone/broadband company to tell them they've been a victim of fraud, and with your bank to say the direct debit was not authorised ?

Ashleigh

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16:41 PM, 13th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Yes I have informed the bank and the internet provider and I have been refunded the money. Thank you for those few that did comment, can I just warn every landlord who gives out their bank account number and sort code to their tenants to pay their rent into, these details can very easily be used to set up direct debits. Though, I am still wondering how she ever thought she would get away with it!!

Nick Pope

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8:03 AM, 16th July 2016, About 8 years ago

My view is that you should change your bank. How could they possibly let direct debits be set up with just the bank a/c number and sort code. There are many other security checks (such as the address where the service is provided not matching your own address) which should have given them warning that something's not right.

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