G-Force Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Hi & help! In the last couple of weeks we have let out our property on a 6 month short hold tenancy agreement to a family. We used a letting agent to find and vet the tenants and the checks came back OK. In the mean time, I have now found out the people renting the house were evicted from their previous house for non-payment of rent, plus a catalogue of other offences: non payment of bills, benefit fraud, damaging the house, fighting, environmental health violations.....the list goes on. We have been back to the estate agent about why their searches didn't pick up on any of this and they have claimed they did everything they could etc etc (not my fault guv') So, the question is how do we get them out? For the time being they have not breached the lease (as far as we know) except that there are possibly some pets in the house and possibly an additional tenant. Until they do something wrong, I don't think we can do a lot. The other option that we possibly have is to serve notice based on the fact that the house is our own house and our principal residence (we currently work abroad so have no address in the UK). The only difficulty is that I know the legal process takes at least 3 months and I want to get them out ASAP before they damage the house. Any suggestions? If there is a way we could persuade them that it's in their interests to move out? all suggestions welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevetodd Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 As they haven't done anything wrong yet, why not give them a chance? I'm not sure what you could do anyway as they have not done anything wrong yet. When a previous tenant of mine left owing money, a local estate agent rang for a reference, I told them that I could not give him a refernce as he was in arrears with his rent. However the agent got around this by taking his name of the tenancy agreement and just leaving his 2 new flat mates on (for a 3 bed house), the remaining 2 had not worked for 2-3 years but had somehow forged employment references. I tend not to use agents anyway, witnessing this just reinforced that view for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Force Posted August 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Yes this is an option we've already thought of, "maybe they have turned over a new leaf etc"...... They haven't broken any rules, except for the no pets rule in the tenancy agreement which is difficult to prove. I believe they have 3x Cats, x Dogs and a Parrot Truth is I don't want a similar experience to the previous landlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odecar Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 First time they miss rent hit them hard and start eviction proceedings along with debt collectors. Then they will realise play ball or F*** Off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 oh dear LA probs again - ask for an in depth explanation and copies of all references obtained (in writing) See other posts for min reference requirements - I know LA who are well reapected and been in business for many many years whose referencing extends to " i've been doing this fo years, i'm a good judge of character and i can spot a bad 'un ............." For obvious reasons i do not and will not ever use these idiots to assist in finding me tenants .... use www.tenantref.co.uk or similar for minimal referencing....and steer clear of LA's 99% of which are very "dangerous" to your wealth........ This however is not going to sort your present problem out - just minimise the risk of it happening again they have already broken the terms of the contract (????) does it state no pets - easy to prove just get somone to do an inspection with a video cam !...... then agree that pets can stay if they agree to an immediate extra bond payment of say £2000 and agreement to have all soft furnishings curtains carpets etc professionally cleaned - now they have 3 choices 1 agree and pay 2 disagree and get rid of pets 3 leave or 4 actually - stick their finger up at you ... in which case you will need to issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPEL Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 You're unlikely to find keeping pets against your permission are grounds for eviction as it would be discretionary and judges are likely to find in favour of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Force Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Thanks everybody for your comments, I've now formuated a plan for visiting them later this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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