what notice

[bacard]

Dear Sirs

My tenants A.S.T. finishes on june 15 last payment is on may 15 the rent is 635 pounds per month payable every month, mt tenant says he cannot afford to pay full rent anymore so he has only been paying 400 pounds a month for the last 3 months, so he is now in arrears of 705 pounds.

Can anyone tell me what sort of notice i can serve on him to get him out as soon as possible? as i may have a new tenant that can pay the full rent.

and also can i serve a section 8 or another section through the county court court proceedings that would guarantee to get him out quick or in a fixed time and the correct proceedure?.

hopefully you can end my confussion on leagal notices and the conditions that go with them.

regards Bacard

[Simon Dewsberry]

Hi Bacard

I am not a fan of s8 or s21 and have never needed to use either (YET!)

Nor am i a fan of going to court and wasting eve more time.

As you have been aware of this problem have you agreed that he only pays £400 amonth - if so when did you agree that he would pay the rest ?

Have you got any kind of payment plan worked out with him to repay the arrears ?

You say ast ends 15/06 - This may be the end of the "initial fixed term" but unless you have served notice on tenant or received notice from tenant then this is not the end of the ast unless ten agrees to it !

if you have not then you need to do it immediately

I presume you have a bond of at least one months rent £635 (hopefully abit more) If he only pays £400 again in may then tot arrears will be £940 less bond so around £300 (if you have bond) I would still put debt collector on it - usually the threat of this results in tenant magically finding the cash.

Personally my lease has a £5 a day late payment fee + interest at 5% above BoE rate + £15 for each weekly reminder letter and 15% debt collector fees - it is very expensive to be late with rent !!!and this acts as a very motivational deterrent - Is all this legal ? I honestly don't know but the tenant bill gets so big so quick that they just pay it . My theory being that the court will at least enforce debt plus D Collector fees! To Date have never got anywhere close to it ! also Debt collector will keep debt live for 6 years(or more)courts will order £5 week payment which you will probably never see- so why bother !

I recently had tenant who moved out and refused to pay the rent until i relet the prop - it took several months to relet and his arrears after deducting the bond were £1200. After i had added all the fees and threatened (but not actually employed) debt collectors the tot was over £3000 needless to say after a few "recorded delivery" letters and several arguements on the phone he fianally came to se me to put a payment plan in place (in writing - signed and witnessed- as requested by me) i agreed to drop all Costa on the proviso that the origional £1200 was paid within 6 weeks - which it was ! I also negotiate immediate departure (or convenient date) as part of the deal.

This is how i normally handle situations like this - i am not greedy - the aim is just to recover the original debt - not make a fortune out of someone who really hasn't got it-But if they want to play hard ball i will play harder!

Sometimes it takes a sledge hammer to crack a nut !

In future you need to be on top of problems like this immediately ..within days .....or things can get messy.......

( see other previous threads on this forum for full details of debt collector procedures)

SImon

[bacard]

Hi Bacard

I am not a fan of s8 or s21 and have never needed to use either (YET!)

Nor am i a fan of going to court and wasting eve more time.

As you have been aware of this problem have you agreed that he only pays £400 amonth - if so when did you agree that he would pay the rest ?

Have you got any kind of payment plan worked out with him to repay the arrears ?

You say ast ends 15/06 - This may be the end of the "initial fixed term" but unless you have served notice on tenant or received notice from tenant then this is not the end of the ast unless ten agrees to it !

if you have not then you need to do it immediately

I presume you have a bond of at least one months rent £635 (hopefully abit more) If he only pays £400 again in may then tot arrears will be £940 less bond so around £300 (if you have bond) I would still put debt collector on it - usually the threat of this results in tenant magically finding the cash.

Personally my lease has a £5 a day late payment fee + interest at 5% above BoE rate + £15 for each weekly reminder letter and 15% debt collector fees - it is very expensive to be late with rent !!!and this acts as a very motivational deterrent - Is all this legal ? I honestly don't know but the tenant bill gets so big so quick that they just pay it . My theory being that the court will at least enforce debt plus D Collector fees! To Date have never got anywhere close to it ! also Debt collector will keep debt live for 6 years(or more)courts will order £5 week payment which you will probably never see- so why bother !

I recently had tenant who moved out and refused to pay the rent until i relet the prop - it took several months to relet and his arrears after deducting the bond were £1200. After i had added all the fees and threatened (but not actually employed) debt collectors the tot was over £3000 needless to say after a few "recorded delivery" letters and several arguements on the phone he fianally came to se me to put a payment plan in place (in writing - signed and witnessed- as requested by me) i agreed to drop all Costa on the proviso that the origional £1200 was paid within 6 weeks - which it was ! I also negotiate immediate departure (or convenient date) as part of the deal.

This is how i normally handle situations like this - i am not greedy - the aim is just to recover the original debt - not make a fortune out of someone who really hasn't got it-But if they want to play hard ball i will play harder!

Sometimes it takes a sledge hammer to crack a nut !

In future you need to be on top of problems like this immediately ..within days .....or things can get messy.......

( see other previous threads on this forum for full details of debt collector procedures)

SImon

hi simon thank you for your advise

i have not aggreed with my tenant to pay 400 pounds, and i will serve notice on him immediately, what sort of format should the notice be served, ie is it a letter just telling him to move out or something like a s21

regards bacard

[Simon Dewsberry]

personally i would do as above - give him "big bill DC charges etc " then offer a much reduced fig for immediate or short time to vacation

OR

serve a s8 or s21 on him Trenners seems to be an expert if you go this route Mark?

Simon

[Trenners]

Hi bacard,

You need to serve a Section 21 form ending a tenancy during a fixed term - a copy of this is available in the landlord form download area of this site - and you must make sure you get the dates correct on the form - otherwise it will be invalid.

A landlord must always give 2 months notice on a section 21 form. So, if the Section 21 was served today (9th May 2007) then possession could be established ON 9th July. This means that the tenant is free to live and enjoy the property upto, and including, 8th July 2007.

If you do serve a Section 21 then you should get "proof of posting" (if you post it) or, if possible, get the tenant to sign and date the notice if you deliver it by hand. This is important as you may need to prove that you served the full 2 months notice if this comes to court.

In summary, serve the s21 notice TODAY, and get your property back. Once the tenant has gone, employ a debt collector and chase them for the money they owe ..... but get the property back FIRST.

Good Luck,

Mark