Surrounded By Zulus I imagine he dips into his savings or goes without in his own home.

someone on the “no train ticket” thread said they would just buy the guy a ticket if he didnt have one – surely the same person can just pay this persons rent.

same thing surely?

“due to being relocated with my job and not been able to sell it to make enough to cover what I owed on the mortgage that we decided to let it out.”
This has happened to me when I was made redundant a while back. Had to rent out as I couldn’t afford a large loss due to negative equity. (And the cost of selling the house.) You get an agent as you are too far away to see what’s going on due to relocating. Then you find out that the agent is useless and just takes your money and does nothing else. A neighbour eventually contacted me and told me that the tenent was trashing the house. Kitchen trashed by water damage and the toilet smashed. I still ended up selling at a loss because of the damage.

“He is fortunate enough to be able to afford to own/have a mortgage on a property surplus to his actual needs.”

No he isn’t the rent covers the mortgage.

someone on the “no train ticket” thread said they would just buy the guy a ticket if he didnt have one – surely the same person can just pay this persons rent.

But I thought he HAD a ticket, it was just that his iPhone ate his diabetes. Or something.

Surrounded By Zulus I imagine he dips into his savings or goes without in his own home.

Good strategic plan there.
I could actually help the OP, but I don’t think he could afford my rates. no such thing as a free lunch and all that.

hora – then why is he bleating on about not getting rent paid on time and the financial hardship that it’s causing him?

hels approach seems to be far more professional.

1 – But he is a victim of circumstance, not a professional landlord.

EH? What’s the difference? 😕

Business is business is business. Pure and simple. No use expecting sympathy just cos you’re a ‘nice guy just trying to get along’- Capitalism takes no prisoners. Dog eat dog. Might sound harsh, but that’s the way it is.

Another positive is that the OP will have (hopefully) learned from this experience, and be better prepared next time.

No he isn’t the rent covers the mortgage.

Yes he is he has somewhere else to live.

Ffs I didn’t buy the house to rent it out, we lived there quite happily for 3 years until I got posted to a diffeent raf camp(that’s right I’m armed forces) so tried for around 6 minths to sell before we ran out of time so rented it out whilst I pay the military rent to live in one of their houses.

Had to have a boiler fitted to rhe house last week so now I’m diwn 2k for that to.

Had spare cash but that had to go to getting the car repaired whilst i was away on exercise abroad, which in turn messed around a lad in here as I was buying his bike off him at the time .

Hence why I’m trying to sell my pitch now to free up some cash to help pay my father in law back for the cash he lent me to sort boiler.

Not once have i said i bought tue house as a prifit making scheme

EH? What’s the difference?

Business is business is business. Pure and simple. No use expecting sympathy just cos you’re a ‘nice guy just trying to get along’- Capitalism takes no prisoners. Dog eat dog. Might sound harsh, but that’s the way it is.
If you can’t see a difference then it really is pointless trying to explain it to you.

So what is the difference then? Care to explain it to me please?

Half you lot are a real bunch of morons. Must be the time of the year or something.

Regardless of how he handles his business, insurance, rental income…- hes still entitled to be peeved when being taken for a ride. Give the guy a break. Or obviously if you are so laissez-faire with paying, just give him your money for free and not pay your own mortgages.

Singletrackworld; If you work hard, successful or feckless dolescum your not wanted. Everyone else is the middle is.

So what is the difference then? Care to explain it to me please?

No I won’t. You are clearly not able to grasp the difference so I am not going to bother – I have already told you that.

8)

Anyway, who the hell pays anything on time these days when they can get away with not doing?

er, people that have a bit of respect?

TJ – the balance of power is squarely in the tenants favour. It is very hard now to evict tenants. Local authorities are trying to reduce homeless numbers therefore they do not want private landlords being able to readily turf people out, particularly low-income, vulnerable families.

You can argue this if you like (and I’m sure you will) but this information comes from my dad who has been a private landlord for 25+ years in Scotland, to around 20 properties, and was heavily involved in setting up the Landlord Accreditation Scotland scheme in Edinburgh. I’m sure that you are similarly qualified to make your assertions…?

No I won’t.

If you could, you would, I’m sure.

There isn’t a difference, ultimately. There aren’t any laws that apply differently to a ‘nice guy renting his house out while he’s away with work’, than those that apply to ‘professional landlords’.

Not that I know of anyway. Feel free to prove me wrong.

WWJD? What would John Mclane Do?

“Whether it’s an overcooked turkey, or a family illness, most of us have suffered through a Christmas gone bad. You can learn a lot about yourself by your reaction to adversity. Some of us retreat into a virtual coma of chocolates and crap telly. Some of us smash plates and storm off to our rooms. And some of us man the hell up and deal with the situation, by any means necessary. Which is what Bruce Willis’ John McClane does in John McTiernan’s action classic, Die Hard. When Eurotrash terrorists gatecrash the Christmas party he’s flown three thousand miles to attend, jeopardising his chances of a sexy sleepover with his estranged wife, McClane doesn’t retreat into the night, or sit sobbing through repeats of The Two Ronnies. Instead, unfettered by a lack of footwear, barefoot Bruce takes on the terrorists, picking them off one-by-one with a combination of bullets and salty one-liners that would turn Santa’s beard white (if it weren’t already), before dispatching the chief bad guy with the aid of seasonal sellotape. How’s that for Christmas cheer?”

You couldn’t make it up indeed!

The government don’t help either with this situation.

You have a house with a mortgage worth £xxx. You loose your job. You could sit still and become a statistic and drain on society or “get on your bike” and find a job elsewhere. If you find you have to ride your bike a long way to find that illusive job and the house you “own” (by that I mean own the debt on) is too far away from the job you have to rent another place to live closer to the job. If the situation is temporary or you simply can’t sell the house you might find yourself paying both a mortgage and the rent which most folks could not afford. In that situation (like Renton’s above) renting out the house to cover some of the costs is the only sensible option.

I’m not sure then why the taxman think’s he’s owed some of the profit from the renting out of the house – remember it’s only the interest of the mortgage that you can offset against the rental income not the whole repayment mortgage. This means that if you for example can rent out your own house for say £600pm and rent another one so you can stay in work for £600 you are out a substantial amount of money once the taxman has his share. At a time of rising unemployment when we should be encouraging people to look imaginatively about staying in work there should be some sort of tax exemption on the rental income of your house if it’s the only one you own (i.e. you pay rent for the one you live in yourself, have previously lived in it and own no others so this is not some sort of investment wheeze for people with lots of spare cash).

Kit – sorry mate, but that hardly provides an unbiased point of view now does it.

Wunundred!

I appreciate the Op is just trying to get along, and do the best he can, but it’s a cruel, harsh world out there, and you need to be prepared for any possible eventuality.

Kit – sorry mate, but that hardly provides an unbiased point of view now does it.

No, but it is professional and informed from experience, particularly recent. I’ve been a tenant for 13+ years too. What is TJ’s recent experience? As far as I’m aware he owns the property he lives in, has done for some years, and is not a landlord.

It’s still only opinion, not fact, Kit.

Ok so. At any stage, my LL could serve notice on me, and I have to be out in 2 months. Not such a great problem for me, as I live on me own, but what if I had a family with children? 2 months to find another home in the same area hopefully, for the same sort of money. Ok. But what if I coont, had to move out of the area, find new schools for my kids, possibly even have to find a new job. In two months? Not to mention the expense, stress and disruption.

I struggle to see how I, as a tenant, am in a more ‘powerful’ position than a landlord…

There aren’t any laws that apply differently to a ‘nice guy renting his house out while he’s away with work’, than those that apply to ‘professional landlords’.

No, no laws I agree entirely. But pity, sympathy and understanding on behalf of someone thrust into a situation they didn’t instigate (as he is armed forces, I doubt he had much choice in where he was told he had to go) is something we shouldn’t be afraid of giving.

If he was a professional landlord out to screw over hapless tenants then yes, go ahead and laugh and give him both barrels, but the OP does not appear to be that.

No, no laws I agree entirely

Of course you have to. How can you possibly disagree with one what is always right? 😕

But pity, sympathy and understanding on behalf of someone thrust into a situation they didn’t instigate is something we shouldn’t be afraid of giving.

I’ve said, I hope the OP gets it sorted out asap.

Renton, my missus is in the RAF so i can to some extent relate to your experiences. Hope you get soughted soon.

Elfin, as i understand it the tennat only has to give 1 months notice on an agreement. Furthermore, due to Renton’s job the RAF may theoretically have given him significantly less than 2 months notice to move leading to all the stresses you outline.

Elfinsafety – Member
No, no laws I agree entirely
Of course you have to. How can you possibly disagree with one what is always right?
(Elfin – I wasn’t argueing about that so you can’t now tell me you were right 😕 )

But pity, sympathy and understanding on behalf of someone thrust into a situation they didn’t instigate is something we shouldn’t be afraid of giving.
I’ve said, I hope the OP gets it sorted out asap.

Except you ALSO say…

Business is business is business. Pure and simple. No use expecting sympathy just cos you’re a ‘nice guy just trying to get along’- Capitalism takes no prisoners. Dog eat dog. Might sound harsh, but that’s the way it is.

and

I think too many people go into something like this think it will simply be easy money coming in on a regular basis, with minimal effort. Certainly most of the LLs I’ve had seem to think this. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks, and the learning curve is very steep, with little room for error.

Like any business venture, it requires a lot of thought and planning. And if you don’t consider the worst case scenario, and make contingency plans, well, that’s your lookout really. If any other type of business failed cos the person din’t things through enough, there woon’t be a lot of sympathy. Why? It’s business, not some idealistic lovely utopian dream.
Which both show you don’t have any real sympathy (possibly because of your own experiences?) and assume he did it simply to make money whereas the OP has stated already that he rented out of necessity due to his employment in the Armed Forces.

Who cares if Elfin or anyone has sympathy or not, really? This holier than thou stuff is horrible! I’m going to flounce!
*Brrrrrr*

Which both show you don’t have any real sympathy

No, I merely stated that the OP shoon’t expect any sympathy. Plz 2 read proply thx.

And don’t make stuff up that you think I’ve said.

As for the OP’s job; well, one could argue that being in such a profession that requires you to move about all over the place, might not be conducive to home ownership. And it certainly does not in any way seem ideal, from what I can tell. And the OP does have choices; he can sell the property, then perhaps buy again when he’s more settled. Etc.

Of course this is purely hypothetical and detracts from the OPs reality, with which I sympathise, as it does not in any way sound too nice.

But ultimately, we’re free to make choices in life, and if we’re going to make choices, then we need to know about the pitfalls and risks at every step, if we are to protect ourselves.

And don’t make stuff up that you think I’ve said.

I am not making anything up – I simply copied your posts back into mine to remind you of what you said 😕

I do feel sympathy for the OP. I’m sure there will be lots of reluctant landlords out there given the falls in house prices. It’s easy to say that you should be prepared for things like this when you make the decision to buy, but lots of people take risks because otherwise they might never own somewhere. I did, and it could have gone wrong. Still could 🙁 Having said that, a career where you have to move around a lot would seem to make home ownership slightly counterintuitive.

So if somebody is sent overseas to work (like MrsP) they wouldn’t be able to provide a home for someone while they were away because they wouldn’t be able to move back in to their own home when they returned.

Well I guess the point is that if someone is renting a house, then it’s their home and not yours. It’s almost irrelevant that a tenant only has to give a months notice, because the impact on their life of losing their home is probably more significant than a landlord losing a few months rent.

Kit

My mrs used to work for housing aid before the law changes. I used to rent under a secure tenancy with an assessed fair rent back in the 80s

Then you had a secure tenancy – now you do not. then you could not be evicted without good cause, now you can be evicted on a whim. then you could get your rent assessed by the council and a fair rent that was binding decided, now you cannot.

Seriously there have been major changes in the law that give the landlords much greater powers than they used to have and remove a lot of tenants rights.

The whole short assured tenancy was brought in deliberately to remove tenants rights.

Renton – this is why when doing the sums I always say to people count on9 months rent a year only to allow for the muck around you might get.

bikebouy – Member
The Law is always on the tenants side
TandemJeremy – Member
Bikebouyy – the law is on the landlords side…
bikebouy – Member
The Law is on the tenants side.
TandemJeremy – Member
Bikebouy – seriously the balance of the law has shifted so far in favour of the landlord its not funny.

thepurist – Member
“The law is on the landlord’s side” – MY RSE!

TandemJeremy – Member
Not having security of tenure puts the law squarely on the landlords side

Kit – Member
TJ – the balance of power is squarely in the tenants favour.

TandemJeremy – Member
Seriously there have been major changes in the law that give the landlords much greater powers than they used to have and remove a lot of tenants rights.

Books still open…

TandemJeremy – Member
Or call the police and have you arrested. Threatening and harassing tenants is taken pretty seriously

LOL done this a few times for friends My way of thinking is your confronting like for like
you just need to be one step ahead.
Another way i done, was to gain entry and claim squatters rights, that got rid of them.
The door was left open so I went in and changed the locks.

so when i get given my notice i shall just sit tight get given a crap reference and when i do finally get evicted i shall be screwed?

Is that what is meant by rights,

I have to ask the landlord if i want to put up some pictures?
I have to ask the landlord if i want to insulate the house to save me money, but then i can be evicted at two months notice?
I have to accept that the blown double glazing is a fact of life?
I have to accept that the roof leaks?
I have to accept that the electrics are questionable?
I have to accept rent increases as and when?

Why do i have to accept? because if i complain i get given notice.

Then i have to accept the shafting by Agents and landlords and their imaginary credit and reference checks. I have to find the hundreds for a deposit in the knowledge that i’ll probably get shafted for the last deposit.
I have to accept that in 6 months the landlord will put up the rent.
I have to accept that i am subsidising home owners and their energy saving measures in the knowledge that i am not entitled to them.

Yeah the system really works in the favour of tenants!!!

As to the OP, it is a shit situation, notice has been served, the agent is there for a reason, get them to do their job! and take your business elsewhere as they seem not to give a ****. There are good tenants and bad, much like people in general.

As it stands as of today the letting agent has been trying since I contacted them last week to contact the tenants and the garuntor, both of which have been refusing to pick up phone calls or respond to emails.

not looking good is it!! 🙁

I’d be expecting the agency to be using registered post and personal visits by now, not emails…

Im getting the impression the agent really isnt arsed about it!!

looks like Im not going to get it this side of xmas.

I do hope you get it sorted – do the agents subscribe to a code of practice or belong to a licence scheeme that lays down conditions – may be worth seeing if you can pursue them for being lazy gits?