Vile tenants ganging up on me, please HELP!

Hi Denise

I will get this into our Newsletter tomorrow and give it some further thought over night as I've never experienced an attack of this nature myself.

Chin up, I'm sure other members will be keen to offer you sound advice.
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I would take screenshots of her FB posts and then write to her with copies reminding her that Libel is still an offence in this country. Also point out to her that under the Law of Tort you are entitled to sue for damages for any financial loss (Tenant C + subsequent void) as a result of her libelous actions.
Was there an inventory when she moved in? Did you do regular inspections? Can you get statements from various contractors to substantiate your version of events?
Good luck!

Would it not be best to de-friend the ex-tenants on FB, re advertise your property and just let them get on with it. Why you would want to be "friends" with a tenant in the first place is beyond me. Keep it professional and keep off FB.

I'm not a big user of Facebook but I seem to recall having seen something which allows a person to report a comment on the grounds of defamation.

I think it's also possible to delete your own comments isn't it?

Any avid FB users out there who can advise?
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "18/05/2015 - 13:09":

You can certainly delete your own posts, so Tenant A could delete her defamatory comments if she chooses to, which is why I suggested taking screen shots if they were needed for any future action.
I don't know how easy it is to get FB to delete anyone else's posts, I've never tried.

We do have an inventory with pictures, plus pictures taken when she left.

I have un-friend-ed her (and un-friend-ed Tenant B when she moved out and may also un-friend Tenant C when I have a minute) but still subscribe to some of the sites she has posted (where in fact we have posted property vacancies in the past and found these 3 tenants - but you can be sure that won't be happening again)

All but one of her postings that I am aware of have now been removed as I requested that happen of the moderators as soon as we saw what she was up to.
The one that is still 'live' is I believe her own site and she is the moderator.

I did not comment personally at all on any of her postings, so have nothing to delete.
We (well my daughter does) have screen shots of her postings with ‘advice’ offered by all of the so called legal experts who chose to judge me based on her post rather than on any knowledge of me or how we actually operate as landlords, from before they were removed. Her obscene texts are of course still on my phone - and we have dated communications when she ever asked for jobs to be done, and receipts and invoices from the tradesmen who did them.
My partner e-mailed her last evening explaining what a month’s rent in advance means, telling her that he understands that she is cross and disappointed but that we will not be messed around and that she must remove the posts she has left around immediately or we may have to take action through the courts. He also detailed all of the repairs she has reported that have been sorted and her other comments about things that were either fixed before she moved in or were just not true.
She replied to him this morning stating that she is planning on taking us to court for a £1000 worth of spoiled property and her daughter's asthma caused by the ceiling she ruined in the kitchen!

We do regular inspections - and have copies of the reports we sent her after they had been done. We also have texts and messages from her from before she moved in right up to less than a month ago telling us how wonderful we are and how good we've been as landlords - and now I need to do as I was told before His Lordship went off to work this morning, and leave this all this for now and go do something nice!

Reply to the comment left by "D D" at "18/05/2015 - 13:39":

If you have the mental stamina to tough it out, I'd tell her to go ahead and do her worst. If, as you say, you have sufficient evidence to disprove her allegations she won't get very far. You could also say you will be going for a Costs Order to be awarded against her if you end up having to defend a vexatious claim. If the judge considers it to be vexatious he/she will be on her like a ton of bricks.

I've had a very similar thing happens to me. I have done a lot of restructuring on the portfolio I manage and as a result I had to evict quite a few tenants who missed rent, or wrecked the house.
When people are told they can no longer live in a house for free they sometimes get a bit upset.
A few of them did exactly the same thing to me, I decided to fight fire with fire and simply pointed out the facts, notably that they were lying and they were terrible tenants. I didn't allow myself to be drawn into an argument but felt I had to put my case forward and let people decide for themselves. Fortunately I had a lot of kind comments from my good tenants which helped me somewhat.
The fact is that tenants are in abundance. Get it advertised and get new tenants in as soon as you can to limit your losses, just make sure they are referenced properly so this doesn't happen again.
All the best.
Ross

Ha ha sounds like a normal weekly event for me.

I thought I’d comment when Mark needs a hand because he hasn’t experienced this himself.

I try to avoid adding tenants (tenants that become mates) through Facebook, as sometimes it does go wrong, & tenant is always right, Landlord is always wrong. Tenant always wants more than what Landlord wants to give. Tenant wants luxuries, Landlord should only be spending what ‘needs’ to be done.

There’s a Facebook page my way called Spotted Bulwell. I get on with 95% of my tenants, & on Spotted Bulwell when anyone wants house, normally someone recommends me. But when my name comes up, there is always the odd one who also gets their odd mate to back em up to say ‘Mick’ is s__t, Mick don’t do any repairs. Obviously they won’t mention the fact, that they wrecked the repairs that you was doing for them.
And bad for us respectable Landlords, these people normally have a few mates that are like them & believe them, & wade into the discussion, so u don’t want their mates in the future anyway,

In your case, block them through Messenger, that’s one part solved.

I have had it once before where like u, tenant C, didn’t want a house cause she genuinely thought I didn’t do repairs ‘cause of what tenants a & b were saying. I’m sure for u, tenant D is waiting for your advert.

You ask what to do next? Avoid Facebook for your next tenant, easy really isn’t it. Problem solved.

Ha ha & as I read on, Elaine says it so simply.

U say u MAY un-friend tenant C? Get it done now.

David Beckham, so many million like him, a few million don’t.
Michael Schumacher, maybe 100 million love him, 2 million don’t. To do what us Landlords are doing, we are gonna’ get loads like us ‘cause they want a house, unfortunately we also gonna get some dislike us, jealousy, bad tenants etc.
We just got to shrug our shoulders & get on with it. Or get a job working for someone else.

I have hundreds on Facebook wanna’ be me mate ‘cause I’m the ‘house man’, but I know it would go wrong if I added them all.
Part of our job, avoid Facebook friends tenants if u can. I’ve got a special page for me & tenants, but I don’t hardly use it ‘cause I think in Landlords tenants game, it could go very wrong.

As many say, Landlord-ing is a young mans game.

And as Ross says, tenants are normally in abundance.