Why are my tenants trying to destroy me?

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8:23 AM, 6th January 2015, About 10 years ago 25

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I had been letting a property for over five years with no problems whatsoever so when I moved in with my partner we decided to also rent out my home I’d been living in rather than sell it.

I placed an advert to test the water as it’s quite a large house and didn’t know how much interest there would be but had lots of enquiries despite the high rent for the area. One particular couple and their family really struck a chord with me but they wanted to rent the property straight away rather than wait the month that I wanted to sort out the electrical safety certificate etc.

I pointed out that there was a problem with one particular socket and that it needed a new consumer unit, but they said it would be fine to get the work done whilst they were there. They were apparently living in a house with horrendous damp problems, in fact water was running down the walls and an uncaring landlord who would not do anything.

At this point I did make them aware of a damp patch in one of the bedrooms caused by the chimney which I said would also be rectified, but they said it was fine (yes I can hear you all groaning!!!). They asked if they could pay £100 holding deposit and move in in 2 weeks I later received a text asking if they could move in sooner.

On the day they moved in they said that they could not afford to pay the deposit and one months rent in advance as agreed, that they couldn’t pay monthly anyway, but would have to make weekly payments instead. I was left with little alternative other than to agree, but still believing them to be a lovely as the Swiss family Robinson did not foresee a problem. I have also been quite ill so just wanted a quiet life.

It took them just over a month to get the payments up to date including the deposit. My health by this time was worse and I had been signed off work by my GP awaiting tests. I asked them for their email address on a couple of occasions for the DPS but was not given it so I finally deposited their deposit without it but unfortunately a week late.

I had had a couple of issues with the tenants over the aforementioned electrical socket but had an electrician attend and remedy immediately. Mysteriously the light circuits kept blowing and other sockets started tripping but again my electrician looked into it as well as fitting the new consumer unit. Having lived in the house for 9 years myself I had never had any electrical problems, but the electrician recommended a full inspection to which I agreed.

However I then received a call from an environmental health officer who was at my property as they had reported my electrician as having said that the electrics were unsafe to live with, a complete fabrication. I was made to have the inspection done straight away and the tenants now decided they did not need to pay their rent as they had been advised not to due to the electrics being unsafe. Of course this was a lie which I told them as no official would advise a tenant to stop paying rent so low and behold they called environmental health out to the damp patch in the bedroom which despite having only ever being nothing more than a stain was now a torrent of water running down the wall.

Luckily the officer who called out had the decency to speak to me about the situation and he has concluded the same as me that as they had had their bluff called over not paying rent due to the electrics they were trying a different tact. They had told him that they had spoken to Shelter who advised them that if they claimed the house was damp and unfit to live in they could claim their deposit back even though they had rent arrears.

Their 6 moth tenancy agreement ends on 5 March, but they have verbally told me that they are moving out on Friday 9 Jan. They have also told me that they are taking me to court as I did not deposit their money within 30 days, because of this I can’t issue them with a section 21. Landlord action advised me to write to them telling them I’d offset £1000 of their arrears against their deposit and if they agreed to this I could then serve a section 21. They refused to sign the letter though and have now said that this is classed as harassment as I did not use and ADR form (?). They say they are now seeking legal advice against me. I have had numerous texts from them with veiled threats and have also suffered verbal abuse from the wife.

I am hoping that they do move out on the 9th and I hear nothing more from them, but I have a feeling they are so nasty that they will take me to court. I went out of my way to help them when they first moved in even helping with getting their children into local schools (they have caused them no end of trouble too) and when the husband was looking for another job I got in touch with someone to help. I am in no way the horrible person they are making me out to be and I can only hope that any judge see’s through them.

The whole situation has made my health even worse. I feel sorry for whoever has them as tenants next.

Carla

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Comments

Carla Lewis

9:59 AM, 7th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "john " at "06/01/2015 - 19:56":

Thank you for your comments John, i'm sorry you had a similar experience. A hard lesson learnt , I can't believe how underhanded some people can be. If I do rent again I will use an agent to credit check and reference.

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Carla Lewis

10:11 AM, 7th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mary Latham" at "06/01/2015 - 14:32":

Thank you Mary. I hope they do just go on the 9th but I have a feeling that they are after compensation through the DPS however what you have told me gives me strength. I can prove the rent arrears so how do I issue a Money Claim online?
They are apparently going to see somebody today to seek legal advice against me....probably CAB or Shelter or possibly Tenancydepositprotection.com who seem all out to get money from landlords.
It would be good to talk to you so I will get your number.Thanks again.

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Carla Lewis

10:24 AM, 7th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Hall" at "06/01/2015 - 14:20":

Thank you Tim, your comments have been very helpful. I still have not received written confirmation that they are leaving on Friday although seeing packed boxes through the window suggests they are. My son also overheard them saying that they were not going to tell me where they are going so I don't know if they can try and take any action against me if I don't have a forwarding address. I can only wait and see what the end of the week brings but the comments left on this forum have made me feel much stronger so thank you again.

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John

10:38 AM, 7th January 2015, About 10 years ago

You can easily find them. You just need to wait 6 weeks approx until they settle in their new place and then use a finder service. It costs about £50 i think. There is finder monkey as an example.

http://www.findermonkey.co.uk/

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13:14 PM, 8th January 2015, About 10 years ago

I really hate reading posts like this. Tenants abusing landlords in this fashion is just disgusting. Lots of people have given some great advice but I wanted to pick up on a few things:

Deposit Claim

You say that you protected the deposit late and the tenants are threatening to take you to court for your breach. On the face of it, it looks like a claim could have arisen. Before you resign yourself to this, think carefully about the dates;

Deposit protection requirements kick in when the deposit is received, not the start of the tenancy (although normally this is the same date). You have said that it took them a month to get the rent and deposit up to date so your 30 days started from the date they paid the deposit. You need to think carefully about what money you received and when. The later you can argue the deposit was paid, the better. You may even find that, by some interpretations of the facts, you did protect the deposit on time.

This is irrelevant if you have failed to provide the Prescribed Information but if you have done so, there may be something here.

Value of this Claim

The claim is for between 1 and 3 times the deposit. Your post says that they paid a deposit of £100. This could be a typo (you could have meant £1000) but if this is the case, the maximum value is only £300.

Even with a deposit of £1000, things are not as bleak as they appear. I doubt your tenants will be able to fund this litigation so their only hope is a No Win No Fee arrangement. No commercial entity is going to fund their litigation if there is a risk they could lose. If you have a counter claim higher than 1 times the deposit (plus the deposit) there is a chance a court would award the minimum penalty, uphold your counter claim and they would 'lose'.

I don't know how high the rent arrears are but I am willing to bet they have also caused some damage. Total up everything they could potentially owe and if your past the minimum award mark, you may have enough ammunition to show any No Win No Fee lawyer that the risk is too high.

You can add to this all of your grievances against the tenants in an attempt to show this is more likely to be a 1 times award case rather than a 3 times case.

This is a fine balance and, in any case, a court can always order the maximum award. The key will be to push the idea that the risk is too high for the tenant/No Win No Fee lawyer with a view to come to a sensible arrangement.

S21 Notice

Even if they have agreed to leave, serve a notice. Best case scenario, they leave and you won't need to rely upon it. But, you want to cover yourself anyway. If the deposit is protected, you can serve a S21 but this isn't the end of the story. If you haven't serve the Prescribed Information, the S21 notice will be invalid. Make sure you have given the tenants this information BEFORE you issue the S21.

Moving Forward

I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully, they will move out and you'll never hear from them again.

If they don't move out, serve a S21 and go through the normal procedure. Remember that you are well within your rights to stand by the contract and sue them for the total amount of rent up until the end of the contract. This may be worth pointing out to the tenants as this would destroy the value of any claim they have against you (unless they pay off all their arrears and the rest of the rent due).

Please do come back and update us all on the situation.

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Carla Lewis

9:54 AM, 9th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Thank you for all of your comments and advice. The tenants have left this morning whilst I was not there but have told a neighbour that they will send the keys to me through their solicitor. I obviously have spare keys and will go and change the locks. I can only assume I am allowed to do this as they have left breaking their tenancy or have they got some right to the property until their tenancy end date in March. I have had no written confirmation from them either. This is all so frustrating.

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Graham Durkin

11:07 AM, 9th January 2015, About 10 years ago

This issue has been raised several times before on this site, the tenancy is still live ,they have not given you notification in writing of leaving , what if they contact you and say they want to come back and give the house a "full clean". lots of different scenarios and then people came back with alot of different views.me i would change the locks ,full inventory stating defects with a witness,get back on track ASAP , Not sure you could claim unpaid rent if you relet during that period . make a call to a legal beagle as a statutory notice may need to be stuck to the door.

Best thing is you have your place back , really pleased that it appears to worked for you this time ,but don,t be so trusting cos it is a business and if you are as nice as you say then it will be the TENANT WHO LETS YOU DOWN EVERY TIME .

Good luck for 2015

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Reader

9:19 AM, 10th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Call in one of the professional eviction firms like Landlord Action, avoid the TV invitation, take some immediate advice about serving a Second 21 immediately. Write off your debts and repairs.Do use a CCJ to try reclaim monies. Next time thoroughly reference, avoid any tenant in a hurry. Ideally find an ARLA registered agent to act on your behalf next time. You will need to carry on trading to write off some losses.

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Joe Bloggs

11:07 AM, 10th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Anthony Endsor" at "06/01/2015 - 12:18":

'No matter how much the tenants insist on moving in sooner, you must always make sure the property is 100% ready before you allow them to set foot in it, as once they are there their rights are in place, including the right to sue for things such as this with the electrics, etc.'

IMO NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE READY. EG REDECS, MINOR REPAIRS ETC CAN BE DONE AFTER MOVE IN (WE CONFIRM WHAT WILL BE DONE, I.E. WHAT IS OUTSTANDING AT PRE-CONTRACT STAGE). EVEN MORE SERIOUS REPAIRS CAN IN THEORY BE DONE AFTER MOVE IN AS LONG AS DONE IN REASONABLE TIMEFRAME AND FULLY DISCLOSED.

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Phil Godwin

19:50 PM, 10th January 2015, About 10 years ago

Try using one of the rent guarantee schemes, that do the vetting of the tenant. It takes the decision making away emotion loaded decisions into somebody elses financially vetted one.
Its costs a bit but takes the worry away, and no-one tries to wiggle around it.

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