tenant left after 3 months into 6 month agreement?

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Due to her mothers bad health one of my tenants left 3 months into a 6 month agreement. she rang telling me the situation the day after that months payment hit my account. so really giving me a months notice. She then over the next three weeks moved out droping the keys back to me a week early. not by request just wanted to. went to check flat that evening and found living and bedroom carpets in need of washing not stinking but not to my standard.. £75 later and another £180 to the agents who did a great job finding new tenant in matter of days. I didnt mind spending the money. now i have a so called freind of hers baggering me for the money left on her lease for the last week. I think i was very understanding even to the point of changing door lock and droping keys to her in work three weeks into her lease on a wim that she thought some one had been in flat??? I like to think that im a good landlord but where do you draw the line. Also the deposit has been kept as the lease was broken wot do you guys think.

P.s. didnt charge her for the new 5 lever union £50 dead lock plus carpenter for hour plus driving 8 miles to her works to give her key im i a soft touch or wot?

Cheers.

Robert.

[Mortitia]

Hi Robert,

I think the word is 'badgering'. Well, in my view you have acted quite reasonably but then you did keep ALL the deposit which you don't say how much. Getting a new tenant quickly means you do come out on top.

Why not be a gent and as a gesture of goodwill offer or send a cheque for say £50-100 stating exactly what it is in a letter. That way everyone goes home happy and your reputation is in tact.

I once got in similar situation after 2 days of a tenancy - couple had big bust up at move in party, trashed house and wanted everything back - rent+ deposit. No chance, even though father of female was in local C.I.D. and tried to apply pressure at letting agent. The finding of class A drugs at the scene soon shut him up. It took me 8 weeks to get new tenants so rent/deposit went on that and the clean up. LA blacklisted them to all in the area - and they were looking to rent again withing 3 months!

Good luck with your new tenants,

Mortitia

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Hi Robert,

I think the word is 'badgering'. Well, in my view you have acted quite reasonably but then you did keep ALL the deposit which you don't say how much. Getting a new tenant quickly means you do come out on top.

Why not be a gent and as a gesture of goodwill offer or send a cheque for say £50-100 stating exactly what it is in a letter. That way everyone goes home happy and your reputation is in tact.

I once got in similar situation after 2 days of a tenancy - couple had big bust up at move in party, trashed house and wanted everything back - rent+ deposit. No chance, even though father of female was in local C.I.D. and tried to apply pressure at letting agent. The finding of class A drugs at the scene soon shut him up. It took me 8 weeks to get new tenants so rent/deposit went on that and the clean up. LA blacklisted them to all in the area - and they were looking to rent again withing 3 months!

Good luck with your new tenants,

e

the deposit was a month in advance below £400 but wot about £180 finding fee for her and the next £180 finding fee three and a half months later it all adds up. thanks for the feed back cheers Robert

p.s your right badgering was wot I was trying to say spelling never my strong point but i can count cheers.

Mortitia

[Trenners]

Hi trebor,

Well I think you are being greedy. It is reasonable to charge the £180 finders fee (to replace the tenant because they left early) out of the deposit but I think it _unreasonable_ to deduct the £180 finders fee (that you paid to find the tenant in the first place).

Why ? Well, if the tenant has stayed the full term of the tenancy then you would have paid the initial £180 to the tenant finder .... and I don't see why you should deduct that fee twice - just because the tenant left early.

Don't be greedy - return the £180 back to the tenant ....

Mark

[J4L]

Agreed with Mark.

Will Landlords EVER stop thinking of how to tuck tenants up!!!!!!!!

[Preston]

Hi

I'm not sure I fully understand all the details of this situation, but my view would be it is reasonable to at least ensure you are not out of pocket. So I guess that would mean deducting from her deposit any monies you need to cover damage, cleaning etc and the rent between her moving out and the new tenant moving in.

Is that pretty much what you have done anyway?

Preston

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Agreed with Mark.

Will Landlords EVER stop thinking of how to tuck tenants up!!!!!!!!

I think you may be confused the deposit was never going to be returned as my tenant was in breach of agreement I could have held her to the remaining two and a half months. Then i would have repaid deposit I bent over back ways to help her. This at the end of the day is my buisness and buisness have to make money. Wot would you do if your boss asks for half your wages back because his buisness needs money. I think you would tell him to stick it and by the way this is a landlord forum if you tenants only knew the amount that us landlords make it would open your eyes. If any thing rents should be at least 25% higher than thay are most of us a bearly covering our loans. you poor hard done by tenants.

[Selkirk]

I think the real message is just to be fair really.

cheers

Selkirk

[SPEEDTWIN]

I think the tenant was lucky that new tenants were found fairly quickly. When will tenants learn that they have signed a legally binding contract and why shouldnt there be at least some small penaty for being allowed to be released early. If i cancel or change any insurance policy i have, i have to pay a fee and my phone Co want over 2k for me to get out early and they couldnt care less what sob story i give.

Some agents I know put in the tenants t&c's that if a tenants wishes to be released early and it is agreeable to the L/L they have to pay 10% of any remaining months rent as a fee. What isnt clear if that is going to the agent or L/L but i suspect the agent.

As stated earlier it is deciding was is fair and acceptable.

[Guest trebor69trebor]

I think the tenant was lucky that new tenants were found fairly quickly. When will tenants learn that they have signed a legally binding contract and why shouldnt there be at least some small penaty for being allowed to be released early. If i cancel or change any insurance policy i have, i have to pay a fee and my phone Co want over 2k for me to get out early and they couldnt care less what sob story i give.

Some agents I know put in the tenants t&c's that if a tenants wishes to be released early and it is agreeable to the L/L they have to pay 10% of any remaining months rent as a fee. What isnt clear if that is going to the agent or L/L but i suspect the agent.

As stated earlier it is deciding was is fair and acceptable.

oh thank god some sense at last i just took on new tenants for one of my shops it cost me £470 for tenant find £179 for lease to be drawn up and £279 for new building insurance and about £200 of other bits and bobs this on top of the fact the rent is not even covering the loan to buy shop so this money i laid out i will never see again so if this tenant want to leave after three months wot do i do then just smile and give him some more money for the hell of it i think people need a wake up call and stop wrighting rubbish and agreeing with people who know nothing about property.

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Agreed with Mark.

Will Landlords EVER stop thinking of how to tuck tenants up!!!!!!!!

Just been to barry spoke to agents in high street happened to mention your rubbish and it seems they know you and guess wot your not well liked im not to supprised gareth right!

[landlord1]

Robert,

This is a business and the tenant renaged on the tenancy agreement. You do not have to return any of the money you received. If the friend persists on you returning money then you can advise, should you receive any more harassment, then you will be seeking the remainder 3mths rent which you are entitled to!

I am a landlord and have been very fair in the past but this has never done me any favours and has cost me alot of financial loss with bad tenants. Unfortunatley, now I have no sympathy, it's a business and should this have gone through an agent absoultely no money would be refunded and they would be looking for the remaninder rent.

Good luck.

Hayley

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Robert,

This is a business and the tenant renaged on the tenancy agreement. You do not have to return any of the money you received. If the friend persists on you returning money then you can advise, should you receive any more harassment, then you will be seeking the remainder 3mths rent which you are entitled to!

I am a landlord and have been very fair in the past but this has never done me any favours and has cost me alot of financial loss with bad tenants. Unfortunatley, now I have no sympathy, it's a business and should this have gone through an agent absoultely no money would be refunded and they would be looking for the remaninder rent.

Good luck.

Hayley

The daft thing is it was done throw an agent but they once pay'd for client find want nothing to do with the situation. only wish i was making enough money i would do full management so i never have to deal with bloody tenants ever again. well when i move over seas i will have to but thats a few years off yet so i buying more at the moment so just have to grin and bear it thanks to you all cheers trebor.

[J4L]

Just been to barry spoke to agents in high street happened to mention your rubbish and it seems they know you and guess wot your not well liked im not to supprised gareth right!

Well well well.

interesting post actually.

I hope you enjoyed Barry, it's a nice place.

Firstly, Shall I tell you why the local agents don't like me? It's because I do a better job than they do. I highlight their inadequacies and I'm much cheaper than they are and provide a better service. This is true for Landlords AND tenants.

For so long these agents have all followed one another like sheep. They've hijacked the market place and charged extortionate prices for too long and I've entered the game and am slowly stealing all their customers.

This is called competition and unfortunately (or fortunately from my perspective) they don't like/ not prepared for change!

Shame really you didn't speak to any of my many Landlords or Tenants, you'd have gotten a whole different picture.

Secondly, Might I answer this "Wot would you do if your boss asks for half your wages back because his buisness needs money. I think you would tell him to stick it and by the way this is a landlord forum if you tenants only knew the amount that us landlords make it would open your eyes"

I AM the boss so this would never happen, and by the way I understand that this is a LL's forum and I'm not a TENANT and I know exactly what Landlords do and don't make, my eyes are wide wide open.

Thirdly, "i just took on new tenants for one of my shops it cost me £470 for tenant find £179 for lease to be drawn up and £279 for new building insurance and about £200 of other bits and bobs this on top of the fact the rent is not even covering the loan to buy shop so this money i laid out i will never see again"

I'd say that this was a very bad business move then. You can't take your frustrations out on Tenants or Agents because of your lack of planning. Although this may be due to the present market you should have shopped around for a better agent who would have done you a better deal, I bet I would have beaten the others out of the water on price!!

Can I say here that the reason I agreed with Mark wasn't the fact that you were keeping hold of the deposit but was your insinuation that you were going to charge the (ex) tenant the £180 fee that the agent charged you initially for finding HER!

You should take this up with the agent I think. As an aside, if you had spoken to any of my LL's you would have found out that I NEVER EVER charge a Landlord to find a tenant, regardless of how a tenant leaves! This means that if you'd come to me you'd have saved yourself £360 straight off. Like I said just now, shop around and you'll find that there are agents who will give you a better deal than you're certainly getting at the moment.

Think I'll finish this off by copy and pasting my original comment but going to make some 'slight' changes to it for the benefit of robert.

Will Agents EVER stop thinking of how to tuck Landlords up!!!!!!!!

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Well well well.

interesting post actually.

I hope you enjoyed Barry, it's a nice place.

Firstly, Shall I tell you why the local agents don't like me? It's because I do a better job than they do. I highlight their inadequacies and I'm much cheaper than they are and provide a better service. This is true for Landlords AND tenants.

For so long these agents have all followed one another like sheep. They've hijacked the market place and charged extortionate prices for too long and I've entered the game and am slowly stealing all their customers.

This is called competition and unfortunately (or fortunately from my perspective) they don't like/ not prepared for change!

Shame really you didn't speak to any of my many Landlords or Tenants, you'd have gotten a whole different picture.

Secondly, Might I answer this "Wot would you do if your boss asks for half your wages back because his buisness needs money. I think you would tell him to stick it and by the way this is a landlord forum if you tenants only knew the amount that us landlords make it would open your eyes"

I AM the boss so this would never happen, and by the way I understand that this is a LL's forum and I'm not a TENANT and I know exactly what Landlords do and don't make, my eyes are wide wide open.

Thirdly, "i just took on new tenants for one of my shops it cost me £470 for tenant find £179 for lease to be drawn up and £279 for new building insurance and about £200 of other bits and bobs this on top of the fact the rent is not even covering the loan to buy shop so this money i laid out i will never see again"

I'd say that this was a very bad business move then. You can't take your frustrations out on Tenants or Agents because of your lack of planning. Although this may be due to the present market you should have shopped around for a better agent who would have done you a better deal, I bet I would have beaten the others out of the water on price!!

Can I say here that the reason I agreed with Mark wasn't the fact that you were keeping hold of the deposit but was your insinuation that you were going to charge the (ex) tenant the £180 fee that the agent charged you initially for finding HER!

You should take this up with the agent I think. As an aside, if you had spoken to any of my LL's you would have found out that I NEVER EVER charge a Landlord to find a tenant, regardless of how a tenant leaves! This means that if you'd come to me you'd have saved yourself £360 straight off. Like I said just now, shop around and you'll find that there are agents who will give you a better deal than you're certainly getting at the moment.

Think I'll finish this off by copy and pasting my original comment but going to make some 'slight' changes to it for the benefit of robert.

Will Agents EVER stop thinking of how to tuck Landlords up!!!!!!!!

Thats more like it better to elabarate on your feeling than just posting one liners lets people see that your not a so called "sheep" hope your buisness does well and not go the way of mr dobbs of one move many thanks Robert.

P.S I let my shop very cheep on a long lease just to get it off my books very busy with my residential property at the moment.

[J4L]

Many thanks for the well wishes.

I know craig very well actually and his problem was initially a little of the sheep scenario but his biggest downfall was more like his growth plans were a case of him running before he could walk, and turned out to be more expensive than he'd imagined.

We visited this guy on his opening day 'under cover' and said we had 5 properties we'd like to put with him on a fully managed basis.

Ya think he would move on his 10%??

Haha, nope.

And that was on his FIRST day!!

If we can be any help with your residential property feel free to call me.

[Guest trebor69trebor]

Many thanks for the well wishes.

I know craig very well actually and his problem was initially a little of the sheep scenario but his biggest downfall was more like his growth plans were a case of him running before he could walk, and turned out to be more expensive than he'd imagined.

We visited this guy on his opening day 'under cover' and said we had 5 properties we'd like to put with him on a fully managed basis.

Ya think he would move on his 10%??

Haha, nope.

And that was on his FIRST day!!

If we can be any help with your residential property feel free to call me.

Do you work in the cardiff area