burremr Posted May 31, 2016 Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 LA issued abandonment notice 7 days ago to my tenant as communication had dried up. Tenant chirps up 1 day after the 6 month AST break clause to say due to ill health they have moved back to parents. Tenant is two months in arrears. LA has given us three options: 1. Agree to end the tenancy immediately and look for new tenants to commence a tenancy asap. 2 2. Commence the rent and legal protection (RLP) claim and pursue the tenants for the arrears and hold them to the contract. 3 3.. Agree an early release process with the tenants where a new tenant will take over. Outgoing tenant will also be liable for your set up cost for the new tenancy to commence (this will be pre-agreed with the current tenants) I have I have no experience of RLP insurance albeit im paying £16 pm for it. I have taken the option 3 route before but never only when the rent was up to date. Appreciate if there is anyone who seen this before and has a feel for the best way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted June 1, 2016 Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 I'd go for 1 and 2. Never taken out rent insurance myself but getting the property back is vital and re-let to gain income. Tenant needs to sign a Deed of Surrender. Start claim against the insurance now - let us know how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 2, 2016 Report Share Posted June 2, 2016 Option 1 & 2 for me as well. As Mortitia has stated you need a signed "Deed of Surrender" by the tenant. Chase your tenant guarantor for lost rent payment an option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregSmith Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 I know this doesn't provide you with a solution to your problem at the moment, but in future I would advise using an online letting agency. I used LetMe, where they pay Landlords 12 months rent upfront, then they receive the money off the tenants. They also cover any rent arrears from the tenants and there are no deposits or fee's to pay. This would prevent you from having a problem like you have had in the future as you would have already received all the rent in one large sum when the tenants move in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted June 4, 2016 Report Share Posted June 4, 2016 How often would you inspect a property in Lands End gregsmith to know that tenants were not subletting or trashing the place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted June 4, 2016 Report Share Posted June 4, 2016 Gregsmith, There are a lot of people in the private rental sector who, like you, focus on rental income. My experience as a landlord has taught me that should be way down a landlords list of priorities when letting a property. By far the most important priority is picking the right tenants......then there are about 50 other considerations, options, legal issues and choices before even thinking about rental income. Very bad piece of advice. Online lettings agents won't provide a landlord with nirvana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 5, 2016 Report Share Posted June 5, 2016 I have looked at the LetMe website and on the face of it it does appear to be quite a good proposition to any landlord BUT I too would agree with other comments made that the tenant occupying your rental property is the most important factor and not what you can receive in monthly rent. Another important factor is how any business deals with problems or if you like guarantees and we all know that being a landlord is like stepping into a minefield when it all goes wrong with a bad non paying tenant. How would LetMe handle that scenareo? Some LA's only go so far in helping a landlord and then the landlord is on his/her own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted June 5, 2016 Report Share Posted June 5, 2016 Excellent point Melboy. It reminds me of some simple advice I was given many years ago by my boss at the time. He said.....most of us spend half our lives with no spare money whilst we raise our families and are building our careers or businesses. When we finally earn big money, build our investments &/or acquire assets we find everyone in the world is trying to relieve us of our wealth. So, be very carefull if you want to hang onto yours. I've always found that piece of advice spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burremr Posted July 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Hi all, thought I would provide an update as we opted for plan B. Insurance has paid out on the current rent arrears less excess. Fingers crossed inventory and possession follows next month without incident. Will report back in due course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Thanks for the update........keep us all posted as to how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burremr Posted August 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Hi all, thought I would give you an update after choosing option 2 (Commence the rent and legal protection (RLP) claim and pursue the tenants for the arrears and hold them to the contract. ) Possession gained on the 15th August, no meaningful contact from tenants, rental insurance funds are still arriving. Just need to recover the value of the missing and damaged items from the deposit. I'm told the tenants have up to 90 days to respond to the proposed deductions (which they wont) which will be a ball ache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 You did well! Deposit holders (especially DPS) love giving landlords the biggest run around possible - be patient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 4 hours ago, Mortitia said: You did well! Deposit holders (especially DPS) love giving landlords the biggest run around possible - be patient. I agree. Having used the TDS (insurance based scheme where I keep deposits in my account) for many years and occasionally having to use the DPS and even more having just taken over a portfolio of another 80 properties when all the deposits are with the DPS I would tell any landlord to go down the insurance based route. It just seems so much easier to deal with and negotiate deposit deductions and to release the money if you are already holding the deposit. In 12 years I have had only 2 disputes go to abritation (plus a few threats of). All the others have been agreed in house (some reluctantly by the tenant). It is surprising how many tenants will just accept a chq for the balance of the deposit and and invoice/quote for the balance after sensible discussions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 I think successfull agreement with any deposit deductions is in part down to one's negotiating skills. Provided you can produce proof, evidence and a logical argument your chances of persuading a tenant to accept the deductions is greatly improved. As Grampa is dealing with this on a regular basis I expect he is a very, very good negotiator. Practice makes perfect as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 I would like to take credit for it but the credit really belongs to my office manage who has the patient of saint. It is also about having a good inventory, being fair, pragmatic and prepared to make a commercial decision when necessary. A handful of times i have swallowed the cost for a small dispute myself knowing full well it will cost me or my staff a lot lot more in time and therefore money preparing evidence and all the correspondence that goes with it if it goes to abritation. I learn my lesson a few years ago fighting a ombudsman claim for £75 from a former tenant. I spent hours disputing it but still lost, should have just paid up and moved on regardless of fault. You never stop learning. But I find the general rule is if you try to be fair it normally works out and if a tenant wants a second quote I try to get one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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