Right complex situation thats giving me a headache! I’m getting legal advice in the morning but would like to hear the experinece of some of the LL on here.
We have tennants that come to the end of a six month AST on the 28th Feb. They gave written notice to quit at the start of Feb which we accepted. They have been consistently late with rent and we want them out. Last week the property they were going to fell through as they didn’t pay the deposit on time and the new landlord lost patience. They haven’t paid Febs rent so we said we don’t want them to stay.
As I understand it we can apply to the court for a possesion order for the 28th? Does anyone know if this is correct?
The confounding factor is that they are a family with young children so I doubt the court would find in my favour but I just want to get them out as quickly and painlessly as possible.
As I said I’m getting legal advice but this is my first time as a landlord and not a tennant so would like to get any experince of people who’ve been through similar.
Thanks!
Matt

bump for the late arrivals…

Sorry mate no real advice as such, just sympathies. Sounds like a tough situation to be in, obviously you need the property to work for you but also it must be hard to evict a family with no where to go.

Sounds like you have your head on strait and seeking legal advice really will be your best bet with this.

They’ve given notice they’ll leave, the way I see it is that as thier contract is up and they’ve decided not to renew it then they’re duty-bound to leave on the date written.

The fact they have children shouldn’t factor in a courts decision really. They can go to sheltered accomodation. Besides if they are constantly late with payments you SHOULD have a written record of payments and dates signed by the tennant to cover yourself in the event they claim that they’ve paid you for the next month if it did go to court.

If you wanted too help them out and don’t have another tennant that’s signed a lease you could offer them a month by month contract while they sort themselves out somewhere too live. But make sure it’s written and signed by both parties.

I am a ll so sorry to hear about this, my worst nightmare tbh.

They need not have given notice but it is nice to, so plus pt for them there.

Sadly if they stay 1 extra day over 6 mth ast they trigger a periodic contract by default & they are then on 2 mths notice from you, 1 mth for them.

I’d go & talk to them, remind them of their obligations & what the effects of a ccj are. Take a witness or video the meet as they may pull a dirty & accuse you of harrassment.

Then go legal, serve notice & go after arrears, do they have any money or a guarantor?

Good luck, don’t let them get away with it.

Thanks for the replies guys.
It is just a sad situation really, I don’t want to turf out a family onto the streets but don’t know what else I can do. Hopefully the solicitor can give me some sense!

You don’t want to evict a family, but you don’t want to be providing free housing for them either I’d imagine.

Chances are, when they do get the boot they won’t be “homeless”, they’ll just start the cycle again and find someone else to take the piss with. Don’t beat yourself up about it.

If they have children, won’t the local authority pick them up and provide accomodation? Then they won’t be on the street.

You need to get decent advice. From an expert. Quickly. This could go very wrong for you. Do it now. That is all.

My last tenant was taking the piss with paying her rent ! always late and pleading poverty asking if she could pay in installments, I felt quite sorry for her and her kids when we issued notice for them to vacate the property.

Come the day she moved out I was told by the neighbours that she had been bragging about all the holidays she had been on that year and she also had bought a new car!!!

Yep get legal NOW!!!

Sounds like you are in a better position as they have given notice but no idea. Trying not to sound like a complete and utter **** but it’s not your problem that they have screwed up. It’s not your problem they have kids. There are systems in place that provide here.

Sadly if they stay 1 extra day over 6 mth ast they trigger a periodic contract by default & they are then on 2 mths notice from you, 1 mth for them.

Is this true as they have already given notice to move on the 28th ?

Two months missed rent (consecutive) is the minimum for legal eviction – but you need to go to court to get an eviction order (been there). My advice is go see a solicitor pronto. If it goes to court you’ll need to hire a Barrister as well (worth every penny). Do not event think about DIYing it, you’ll get thrown out. We lost £6k evicting tenants last year as initially we were nice, then DIYed it, then went through Solicitors / Barristers. Utter nightmare. Took another £2k to redecorate the flat to re-let, so all in all an expensive hobby. Won’t get a penny back from the evicted tenants even with a court order for the debt (as all the court do is award you £2 / month for several hundred years and they just don’t bother paying the £2, so there’s bugger all you can do).

If you purchased some landlord specific insurance then your insurers may be able to help. Presume you didn’t though if you are off to your solicitors.

May be cheaper and easier to pay their deposit for them to move…

I have been a Landlord for over 10 years now in the Southampton area.
We have 9 properties and have experienced a range of tenants.
Some very bad and have dealt effectively with a whole range of problems.

Legal advice/paying solicitors can be AVOIDED.

Instead of trying to go thro what you must do here, l would be very pleased to have a chat if you email me as in my profile.
Every case is slightly different and call for bespoke tactics. The legal path is well- defined and the court staff are very helpful.
We had a family who quit owing rent and a big clear-up bill. They ended up with a court order to pay us back
over 24 months and we got the lot!
Please contact me.
Cheers Paul.

Does having kids in the property make any legal difference when it comes to eviction time?

Good posts above but just be aware that internet forums are biassed towards the bad. I have been a ll over 10 years with a few properties & only had 1 bad tenant, I just had a chat with her & she paid & disappeared.

Sadly councils advise tenants to default & will only rehouse them if they have to, ie, after they are declared homeless.

Good luck with all this, it would be doing my head in if it were one of mine.