axil23 Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Bit of a mess up happened between my agent and his employee. This agent is normally very good. He gave the keys to one of my properties to a new employee of his who took the advance rent and gave the keys to the tenant. Now this idiot forgot about this all together and only a few days ago did I find out that I had tenants living there. The agent has been very apologetic and the employee has been fired due to some other mistakes. I am stuck with a squatter now. He does not have a agreement as the agent forgot about him and the agreement was never made. There is no deposit and the tenant has now been living there for 2 months (I have been away for the last 6 weeks so was not aware until today) I approached him earlier today and offered him a tenancy if he can bring the rent up to date but he says he has no money as he...... blah blah blah. What are my options now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Make the agent sort it out by getting a solicitor on the job. It is his responsibility He has not acted in your best interests and I take it you have a contract with the agent? Mortitia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Make the agent sort it out by getting a solicitor on the job. It is his responsibility He has not acted in your best interests and I take it you have a contract with the agent? Mortitia I do but he is genuinely a nice guy and I don't want to mess up my relationship with him. He has done a lot for me in the past and I wouldn't feel right as he hasn't offered. If I can I would rather try and evict the tenant myself. Would I need to evict as a squatter? Or a section 8? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 The agent should have insurance for this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbut Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Are you running a business or a charity ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 If you have a good relationship with your LA then surely it should be the LA who should sort out their mess of their own making on your behalf and not you? The LA needs you more than you need them. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 I agree that it's your agent's job to sort it out. To answer your original question the person occupying your house is a tenant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 I agree that it's your agent's job to sort it out. To answer your original question the person occupying your house is a tenant. I know what you guys mean and I completely agree with you. But please understand that sometimes you have to take these small hits for the long term benefit. He is a dear old friend from school days and has been more then apologetic. I really don't want to put stress on a friendship over this. So now shall I proceed with him the section 8 way? Doesn't that require a tennacy agreement? The tenant does not have any receipt of funds paid so can he not be classed as a squatter especially as the only person who knows anything about him has long left the agency. The agency are denying all knowledge of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 I can't imagine any court seeing the occupant, with keys and permission to occupy as any other than a T. You say there is no evidence of granted tenancy but in 2 months no one, you or LA, has done anything to assert otherwise. In practice he is T. As many of us learn T's don't have to pay any thing to have T rights. I also view that repossessing from a T is more straight forward anyway, possibly because I have understanding of the procedure. Allowing your friend to stuff you is your choice, in effect the actions of your LA are your responsibility anyway, as they are under your instruction. It would be for you to claim your losses from the LA later, to reduce the potential it may be intelligent for a negligent LA to take actions to aid resolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 I know what you guys mean and I completely agree with you. But please understand that sometimes you have to take these small hits for the long term benefit. He is a dear old friend from school days and has been more then apologetic. I really don't want to put stress on a friendship over this. So now shall I proceed with him the section 8 way? Doesn't that require a tennacy agreement? The tenant does not have any receipt of funds paid so can he not be classed as a squatter especially as the only person who knows anything about him has long left the agency. The agency are denying all knowledge of him. Your occupant is a tenant pure & simple. I'm a bit puzzled about your LA being an old friend who's been very apologetic but you then go on to say 'the agency are denying all knowledge of him'. Seems a bit odd for an old friend. Anyway you have the advice that your occupant is definitely a tenant so you have to do what's best for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Your occupant is a tenant pure & simple. I'm a bit puzzled about your LA being an old friend who's been very apologetic but you then go on to say 'the agency are denying all knowledge of him'. Seems a bit odd for an old friend. Anyway you have the advice that your occupant is definitely a tenant so you have to do what's best for you. Thank you and thats good to know. Right so now can I give him a section 8 without a tenancy? What should my next step be? I can convince the T to sign a back dated tenancy agreement, he would do that straight away. So then I can proceed with the section 8 route. Love this forum, a Lawyer would have charged me a few hundred quid to tell me that It would be for you to claim your losses from the LA later, I was thinking of doing this anyway in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Don't set up sham situations, that is likely to compound any bad situation. You can repossess without a contract as it's still an AST. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 Don't set up sham situations, that is likely to compound any bad situation. You can repossess without a contract as it's still an AST. Can you advise how I would do that? When it goes to court what do I tell the Judge? That he doesn't have a tennacy and is staying on a verbal AST? I agree about the sham situation but I want to make a AST anyway as I got the council Tax bill for the flat a few days back so need to clear that from my name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 Can you advise how I would do that? When it goes to court what do I tell the Judge? That he doesn't have a tennacy and is staying on a verbal AST? I agree about the sham situation but I want to make a AST anyway as I got the council Tax bill for the flat a few days back so need to clear that from my name. He's already a tenant so you don't need to do anything, a tenancy can be written, verbal, handshake, it doesn't matter. You tell the court exactly what happened each step of the way. I think your best option may be to serve a Section 21 notice. The T has been in your property nearly 3 months now so his tenancy will expire in another 3 months. Serve a Section 21 notice which coincides with the expirey of his tenancy. With a Section 21 you don't need to prove what happened, it's a 'no blame' piece of legislation. You merely ask for your property back & you don't have to give any reasons why you want it back. Your T has no legal right to contest a Section 21 whereas he can contest a Section 8. As regards council tax it's two totally separate issues. You do need to tell the council the name of your T & the date he occupied the property. The person liable for council tax is the person occupying your property so it's up to the council to chase your T for the tax. The council wil try to get the money from you on the basis that you won't know any better & pay up. Visit the link below & scroll down to the section headed: Who is responsible for paying the bill? You will see that you are at the bottom of the list of liable persons. http://www.direct.go...Tax/DG_10037383 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 I believe to evict via a section 21 on a verbal tenancy you do it similar to a section 8 using court form N5 & N119. A section 21 normally you use form N5b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 Thank you. Highly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 Thank you. Highly appreciated. I'm getting a tenant with a verbal tenancy out with a Section 21 but the only difference is that I'll have to attend court to answer any questions the Judge my raise. I've also written to the utility companies informing them that I've served a Section 21 possession notice & that it will take about 4 months for me to get a court order granting me possession & that under no circumstances will I be liable for any utility charges that may accrue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axil23 Posted May 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 I'm getting a tenant with a verbal tenancy out with a Section 21 but the only difference is that I'll have to attend court to answer any questions the Judge my raise. I've also written to the utility companies informing them that I've served a Section 21 possession notice & that it will take about 4 months for me to get a court order granting me possession & that under no circumstances will I be liable for any utility charges that may accrue. 4 months? I am guessing you are 2 months into the tenancy? Is the T paying his rent on time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.