Mrs J

[Jay P]

Hi, I have a tenant who is not allowing me to refurb the bathroom. There is damage to the flat that her son has caused. I gave her 6 weeks to address this and has ignored my request. I wanted to inspect the flat, gave her ample notice and still no access given. She owes me a lot in rent arrears and is paying an amount each month. As a result her rent is paid directly to me from the council. Other then the obvious Section 21 eviction process what can I do? She is wilfully being uncooperative and get the feeling she wants me to evict her. Any advice appreciated?

[Richlist]

Why cant you issue a section 8 notice ?

[Grampa]

If the bathroom is still functional, no further damage is being caused and the tenant is slowly catching up on the arrears I would consider letting the situation continue until the arrears are paid off as it is unlikely you will get them after she has vacated. Deal with the damaged bathroom after the tenant has left.

If the arrears are increasing and there is further risk of damage to your property you need the tenant out asap. Which if the arrears are more than 2 months rent you can use a section 8 with grounds 8,10,11. You can also serve a section 21 subject to it being served correctly.  This means if one fails you can fall back on the other. 

Have you informed the housing sustainment officer at the council of the situation as sometimes they can help or pay off the arrears if the notice has been served.

Before you serve any notices it is important that the following doc's have been given to the tenant as if the tenant can reasonably say they never received them the eviction will be struck out at the court hearing. We now resend these docs a couple of days before the s21 or s8 are served (proof of postage) with a letter saying "please find attached  the following replacement documents relating to your tenancy" so there is no dispute that they never got them.

1. Deposit certificate 
2. Deposit Prescribed information
3. EPC Certificate 
4. Gas Safety Certificate
5. Electrical Safety Certificate
6. The latest version of the "How to rent Guide"

Also make sure any maintenance requests that you have been informed about are being dealt with and you have a chain of correspondence from & to contractors/tenants as outstanding maintenance the the landlord has been previously informed about in writing but not acted upon could be a ground to strike out a eviction hearing. 

I would be reluctant to spend too much on the bathroom while the tenants are there (if you are kicking them out) as and maybe consider doing the minimum to keep it functional.

Fun being a landlord isnt it?