problem tenant

[littleblue]

Can someone help. I am a resident landlord, and live in the ground floor flat. 6 weeks ago a lady moved into a first floor flat, paid 4 weeks rent upfront, but no deposit,, she said I would get that the following week. She has paid no more money, so now owes me 2 weeks rent plus deposit. She works from home, refuses to talk to me, and will not open her door, if I catch her outside she swears, at me and runs back into her flat. How can I evict her.

Does it make any difference to the rules because I live on the premises, or do I still have to go through the courts to get her out.

Thank you.

[Preston]

Hi

It might be worth you having a look at the answers to the "nightmare lodger" thread earlier on this website, although it does sound to me that there might be some important differences.

The following leaflet gives some excellent information on resident landlord lettings.

http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/6-living/housing/pr...tting-rooms.pdf

The first question for you to decide upon is whether in fact you will count as a resident landlord. In a nutshell, if the block is a purpose built block of separate flats and all you share with the other residents is hallways and accessways, then you wont be classified as resident and your tenants will almost certainly be ordinary assured shorthold tenants.

If however, the different flats were created by converting a property which was previously just one residence - regardless of when that happened, before or after you bought it - then you will be counted as resident. In this case, the tenant has less security than an assured shorthold tenant.

And following on from this, if you share some living accommodation with the other tenant - bathroom, kitchen or living room, but it doesnt need to be all three - then you will be resident and the tenant will be counted as an excluded tenant. In this case, the tenant has less security and the procedures you need to go through to evict are quite a bit simpler.

By the way, for you to be counted as resident, you must also live in the property as your main residence and must have done so at the start of the letting.

Anyway, let us know a few more details and I'm sure you'll get some more detailed advice.

Preston

[littleblue]

Hi

It might be worth you having a look at the answers to the "nightmare lodger" thread earlier on this website, although it does sound to me that there might be some important differences.

The following leaflet gives some excellent information on resident landlord lettings.

http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/6-living/housing/pr...tting-rooms.pdf

The first question for you to decide upon is whether in fact you will count as a resident landlord. In a nutshell, if the block is a purpose built block of separate flats and all you share with the other residents is hallways and accessways, then you wont be classified as resident and your tenants will almost certainly be ordinary assured shorthold tenants.

If however, the different flats were created by converting a property which was previously just one residence - regardless of when that happened, before or after you bought it - then you will be counted as resident. In this case, the tenant has less security than an assured shorthold tenant.

And following on from this, if you share some living accommodation with the other tenant - bathroom, kitchen or living room, but it doesnt need to be all three - then you will be resident and the tenant will be counted as an excluded tenant. In this case, the tenant has less security and the procedures you need to go through to evict are quite a bit simpler.

By the way, for you to be counted as resident, you must also live in the property as your main residence and must have done so at the start of the letting.

Anyway, let us know a few more details and I'm sure you'll get some more detailed advice.

Preston

[littleblue]

Hello again, thank you for your reply. I am a resident landlord, living in a converted house, made into 5 separate flats, and my home is the ground floor flat. I hope you can help me further now.

Thanks again.

[Preston]

Hi

From what you have said, then, you are a resident landlord and you have what is called a non excluded resident landlord letting. I assume that you dont have a written agreement as you havent mentioned one so far, but if you do, please say because this could change the situation.

The good news is that, provided you havent agreed with the tenant that she can stay for a fixed minimum period of time, you can serve her with a notice to quit - i.e. a notice asking her to leave. The leaflet I referred to earlier covers this in a bit more detail, but in summary the notice should give at least four weeks notice (as I understand it you have said her rental period is four weekly?) unless you have agreed a different notice period with her. The notice should end on the last day of the rental period. So, as you are half way through a rental period at the moment, if you serve the notice now you will in effect have to give her six weeks.

The notice must also contain certain prescribed information; fortunately this is all included in one of the appendices of the leaflet.

If she doesnt leave after the notice has expired, you can apply to the Court for a possession order, which you will get without the need to prove any grounds other than you have served the notice to quit. You will be able to apply for a money judgement at the same time.

As a tip for the future, law stationers have some good resident landlord tenancy agreements which would be worth using, because they make all this sort of thing clear, as well as dealing with things like responsibility for utility payments, council tax and the like.

Anyway, hope that all makes sense and is helpful.

Preston

[littleblue]

Hi

From what you have said, then, you are a resident landlord and you have what is called a non excluded resident landlord letting. I assume that you dont have a written agreement as you havent mentioned one so far, but if you do, please say because this could change the situation.

The good news is that, provided you havent agreed with the tenant that she can stay for a fixed minimum period of time, you can serve her with a notice to quit - i.e. a notice asking her to leave. The leaflet I referred to earlier covers this in a bit more detail, but in summary the notice should give at least four weeks notice (as I understand it you have said her rental period is four weekly?) unless you have agreed a different notice period with her. The notice should end on the last day of the rental period. So, as you are half way through a rental period at the moment, if you serve the notice now you will in effect have to give her six weeks.

The notice must also contain certain prescribed information; fortunately this is all included in one of the appendices of the leaflet.

If she doesnt leave after the notice has expired, you can apply to the Court for a possession order, which you will get without the need to prove any grounds other than you have served the notice to quit. You will be able to apply for a money judgement at the same time.

As a tip for the future, law stationers have some good resident landlord tenancy agreements which would be worth using, because they make all this sort of thing clear, as well as dealing with things like responsibility for utility payments, council tax and the like.

Anyway, hope that all makes sense and is helpful.

Preston

[littleblue]

Hi

From what you have said, then, you are a resident landlord and you have what is called a non excluded resident landlord letting. I assume that you dont have a written agreement as you havent mentioned one so far, but if you do, please say because this could change the situation.

The good news is that, provided you havent agreed with the tenant that she can stay for a fixed minimum period of time, you can serve her with a notice to quit - i.e. a notice asking her to leave. The leaflet I referred to earlier covers this in a bit more detail, but in summary the notice should give at least four weeks notice (as I understand it you have said her rental period is four weekly?) unless you have agreed a different notice period with her. The notice should end on the last day of the rental period. So, as you are half way through a rental period at the moment, if you serve the notice now you will in effect have to give her six weeks.

The notice must also contain certain prescribed information; fortunately this is all included in one of the appendices of the leaflet.

If she doesnt leave after the notice has expired, you can apply to the Court for a possession order, which you will get without the need to prove any grounds other than you have served the notice to quit. You will be able to apply for a money judgement at the same time.

As a tip for the future, law stationers have some good resident landlord tenancy agreements which would be worth using, because they make all this sort of thing clear, as well as dealing with things like responsibility for utility payments, council tax and the like.

Anyway, hope that all makes sense and is helpful.

Preston

[littleblue]

Hello again, thanks for your reply. I have always found it difficult to get answers to problems with being a resident landlord, even the Citizens Advice Office, and Solicitors never know the rules.

I have sent for the booklet you advise, but I seem to be doing things wrong

I have always given my tenants a six month tenancy agreement is this necessary.

Do I have to give them a contract at all.

If they are paying rent weekly, after the 2nd week of non payment of rent, can I give them notice

The best news is that the lady who was the problem, left last night, still owing rent of course.!!!

Thanks again for your time.

[Preston]

Hi

Your situation is relatively unusual these days, so some advisors wont have dealt with your kind of problems before. I've been around long enough to remember the old restricted contract lettings (back in the 80s) which were quite common then because the buy to let market wasnt anywhere near as developed as it is now and lots of people used to let rooms in their own homes.

Anyway, in answer to your question, you dont have to give a six month agreement. Whether you do is a commercial decision on your part really - do you think you need to give some security to the prospective tenant in order to attract them to your property? If not, then just give them an ordinary periodic contractual tenancy, which effectively will run from one month to the next (assuming rent is payable monthly) until you give the appropriate notice to end it.

Its definitely a good idea to have written agreements though. Even if you dont give them something in writing, there is still a contract, its just more difficult to figure out and to prove exactly what the terms of the contract are if its not written down.

With regard to your point about weekly payment of rent, yes you could opt for this; it would mean that your minimum period of notice to give to the tenant would be four weeks, ending on the last day of the rent week (so, in effect, between 4 and 5 weeks notice depending upon exactly when in the week you serve it). If your tenancy agreement requires longer notice, though, then this will override the basic common law requirement for 4 weeks.

Overall, look on the bright side; you do have more control as a resident landord and once you have found a decent agreement to use that suits your needs, you will be in a much clearer and probably more comfortable position.

If you find an agreement and want someone to have a look at it, by all means let me know. To find one, have a search for "non excluded tenancy agreements" or "resident landlord tenancy agreements". Several come up, although I havent yet found a free one.

Preston

[littleblue]

Thank you very much for all your help, it is very much appreciated. Best wishes