Advice please

[Jeanie]

Does anyone have experience of the following?

I have a tenant who is in receipt of HB, and is in arrears. A telephone call to the local authority has advised that if I submit a letter with a rent schedule they will consider paying me direct. I only want to rent the property out for about another year, then move into it, at present I understand that the rent arrears would be grounds for eviction (this ground is included in the AST agreement), but, if I accept payments direct for the next year, would I still be able to evict on the grounds of arrears, from what will be the previous year? It is an AST let and I hope to be retiring in about one year and would like to live in the property myself.

I am wondering whether to consult a solicitor before I accept direct payments. Thanks in advance for any input on this matter.

J

[Trenners]

Hi Jeanie,

All the Council are trying to do is ..... HELP YOU. The implication is that the reason why your tenant has fallen into rent arrears is because they have spent their Housing Benefit money that was paid to them (by the Council) so that they could pay you your rent!

The solution - from the Council's perspective - is straightforward. Pay the rent directly to you (then the tenant cannot get their hands on your money).

However ... all of this has got nothing, whatsoever, to do with the money that has already been stolen from you (by your tenants) ..... ie: the Housing Benefit that has been kept by them and spent by them!

If it were my property I would give the tenants an ultimatum. Pay me the rent you owe ... or I will throw you out. In the meanwhile ... I would ALSO work with the Council to get the future rent paid directly to myself (so that the tenants cannot steal from me in the future).

Hope that helps ...

Mark

[Jeanie]

Thanks Mark, I have now been in touch with the LA and they have frozen the next payment of rent whilst they investigate, which they have said is a matter of procedure, then I will receive payments direct. My concern is now that I am going to be paid regularly, in a year or two when I hope to move into the property myself, that one of the grounds for eviction could still be arrears, which I doubt will ever be paid back.

J

[Trenners]

Thanks Mark, I have now been in touch with the LA and they have frozen the next payment of rent whilst they investigate, which they have said is a matter of procedure, then I will receive payments direct. My concern is now that I am going to be paid regularly, in a year or two when I hope to move into the property myself, that one of the grounds for eviction could still be arrears, which I doubt will ever be paid back.

J

Hi Jeanie,

If you do not (or cannot) agree a repayment plan with the tenant regarding the arrears that they currently owe you ...then my advice would be to evict using a Section 21 notice - which demands possession of your property back (without having to give or prove a reason) with 2 months notice.

I would approach the tenant - tell them they owe you £xxx - and that you want to agree a weekly repayment plan (even if it is only for about £10 a week). In my experience, DSS tenants can afford to make this level of repayment "if they want to" .... and if your tenants don't want to ..... KICK THEM OUT.

An alternative approach is to simply right off the arrears the tenants currently owe ...... but I would not even consider doing this until I had at least tried to agree a repayment plan with them ... and I would only ever consider writing off the arrears if a) I was convinced they were good tenants and that they would have no opportunity to rip me off again in the future.

Mark