Any Landlords? Eviction Advice *** UPDATE ***

[dragstaar]

Right, first things first, I am an inexperienced landlord, and i decided to let the property through the council. This is my first letting.

The tenants that we got are claiming housing benefits, and we were told that once the tenancy agreement is signed, their housing benefits claim will be finalised and we'll start getting fortnightly rental payments.

5 months later, we still have not received a single penny in rent. We left it for so long at the advice of the council as "their housing benefit claim is almost done" every time we called up, but its just been dragged on. I'm aware that technically the tenant ought to be paying me, then claiming the money back from the council, but i was too lenient, and now they've shafted me.

The tenant is a polish family, and is self employed, and the housing benefits department keep asking for different information (why they cant just ask for it all in one go beats me). They've even gotten to the point of asking for a signed letter from EVERY SINGLE ONE of the lady's cleaning clients stating wage, hours worked, and since when. I mean wtf. theres over 50 clients! Why is the standard profit/loss accounts not enough. They were enough for inland revenue?

Heres the dilemma, I've had enough, I want to evict them, because they arent paying up. i've told them that they need to pay rent and they wont.

Do i go Section 8 route, or wait til the 12 months is over and go the section 21.

I was told that there are many tenant-friendly loopholes in the section 8, namely that if they make a small payment before court date, it wont stand as they need to be atleast 8 weeks in arrears on the court day. So whats to stop them doing this? Also, whats to stop them just breaking stuff and claiming I haven't been holding up my side, and generally costing me money,.

I don;t mind cutting my losses of the £6000 rent, I've just had enough. I just want them out of there as soon as possible. Whats the best way to do this? I was also told that if I have a breaking clause in the tenancy agreement i can submit a Section 21 after the 6 month mark?

any help will be appreciated.

[ian789]

Is the house insured?

[cornish]

hi there,

never been a landlord but been on the tenant side of housing benefit and had a non-payment of rent situation.

law is that after they have received the claim they MUST pay something. IF they are claiming to need further info they must have requested it at the outset. They have 6 weeks after the date of the claim to make full payment OR if they are fucking around (common practice i'm afraid) they MUST pay a minimal interim payment and this MUST be ongoing.

They did this to me and my landlord and we both got compensation by taking it to the Ombudsman.

Keep every mortal thing, every scrap of paper, every ticket if you visit their office, the name of every person you speak to, dates, keep records of calls, keep emails etc.

From here on only contact them by email, they will deny calls, then when you produce bills itemising them they will deny the content of the calls. If you write to them they will deny receiving anything, when you produce a recorded delivery receipt they will say that yes they got it. . . .but have no proof of what it said. They are shifty, coniving, heartless bastards (sorry, you can tell i've been stung can't you, lol!).

Tell your tenants they need to take everything to the CAB at once and get them onto the case.

Because the rent is now a certain amount in arrears you can tell the Council they must make payments direct to you and remove the tenants from the equation completely so you know you will get your money.

Give the ombudsman a call yourself and they will send you out forms. It is the Local Government Ombudsman, they have a website.

I really hate to know someone is going through this, i'm so sorry for you cos i've been there and it's well shit!

I wish you the best of luck.
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[Scotsman37]

Usually the 1st payment goes to the Landlord or the letting agent on behalf of the owner of the property, and then the consecutive payments are made monthly after another full month has passed since it was filed to the person's bank account that's claiming housing benefit. i.e. after a month has passed then they send payment, but they have to be continually claiming benefit and appearing at the local jobcentre to sign on every two weeks otherwise they lose all their benefits!

I've been on housing benefits in the past in Scotland and thats how the local council pays out. It usually only takes a few weeks to complete the application process at most!

I guess that Polish family is playing funny buggers with the housing benefit office due to them being self employed. Remember that the government during these past few months has recently stated housing benefit will be reduced to cut costs in attempt to reduce state deficit in the long term!

They are probably trying to confirm their true income/assetts and the info given is not adding up at the end to justify that the info is totally true or they are attempting to scheme money from the system.

[Rogerborg]

Do they actually work? Then go around when they're out, take anything of value, put the rest of their stuff out on the street, and change the locks.

Yes, then the law's on their side, if you're daft enough to acknowledge any accusations they make. But the law is currently on your side, and what good is it doing you? It's your bloody property, not theirs. Dispose of any documentation that you find inside and see if they can prove they were ever resident.

You're not the social services, don't do their job for them. There are plenty of tenants, particularly immigrants, who know fine well how long it takes to get evicted, and who just move from property to property, never paying or intending to pay a penny to anyone. My brother does factoring, and before taking on a new building, he knocks on all the doors. If too many of them no speeky de English, he won't even touch it, because chances are he'll never see any money from them.
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[TiggerRN]

I feel for you mate badly!

I was on housing benefit with a private landlord (a mate) and it only took 4 weeks for my payments to come through.

The other tenant however took a lot longer and started his claim before me, so I am calling shenanigans!

Baseball bat and a few lads sorted our shit out might help you some aswell!

[Raffles]

I am a landlord and I decided from day one that I was not going to accommodate tenants that relied on the local authority to pay their rent.
I also run a company that provides goods and services to two different local authorities and have found it necessary to insist upon advance payment from one of them and I have blacklisted the other. Both of these authorities are controlled by Socialist/Marxist Councils. I think that they delight in causing as much distress and financial hardship as possible to landlords and businessmen who I believe that they regard as evil, rich, capitalist scum.
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A good loser will always be a loser.

[Raffles]

I read a story in todays Hate Mail that will either interest you or infuriate you :-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1360046/New-ECHR-ruling-lead-thousands-tenants-refusing-pay-rent.html
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A good loser will always be a loser.

[Black Knight]

Never ever, let through the council mate. Quick way to lose out big time.

Just tell them you want the rent and give them notice as per the contract.
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Where does a turn end? 'Where you can do anything with the gas you want to, where you are brave again, where your attention is free from the turn, where you are sure you can do it better next time; that's the end' - Keith Code.

[dragstaar]

Its absolutely infuriating. Honestly, i can totally sypathise with you guys, especially the whole baseball bat thing. I so badly want to do that.

Also, the house is not insured either (yes, stupid of me. I've learnt my lesson)

And yes, I really do think the council suspect shenanigans on the part of the Polish family. But i think the council is fucking me in the arse, seeing as i'm giving them a free house to put their dolescroungers in, and they dont have to worry about them as long as the drag out the claims process.

I've written a letter to the ombudsman, (Both the Local Government and the independent Housing ombudsmen), and we have a meeting with the local MP to sort out the counil's inadequacy. Why can't they just turn round and say "nope, you're not eligible for housing benefits". The fact that they are longing it out makes me wonder how much the council is trying to get a free ride off me.

It absolutely pisses me off. I understand why there are laws protecting tenants, to avoid a situation where all the rich people exploit the poorer people who can't afford a home. But i mean, this is ridiculous. We have these scum who don;t work, and i've worked hard and managed to buy a property, but i have no rights??

It aggravates me to no end.

So do you guys think that I ought to serve the Section 8 or wait til the contract and serve the section 21?

I also heard that if i have a breaking clause (which i think i do), i can serve a section 21 after the 6th month so i can get the cunts out of there asap?

[dragstaar]

[Scotsman37]

Or possibly speak to a lawyer and get some advice!

You might get help buy joining them

https://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/home-page

[Rogerborg]

You're wasting your time going through the legal route. They won't move out until you physically throw them out. In the literal sense of physical. If you go through the court route then ultimately you'll be told that you "can" evict them. Plod will assist to the extend of turning up to prevent a breach of the peace. If the thieving scroungers choose to stand in the doorway, there is absolutely sod all that you can do about it.

Wise up and shortcut the process. Go around when they're out, and put the vermin in the gutter where they belong. Better to have them begging the courts to let them back in than you begging the courts to get them out.
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[Wabby]

[Marmalade]

I'll come and help carry their shit out, wherever it is.

I have to pay my way and its bloody hard, these wankers should be shipped out on the next sinking boat
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[owl10]

[dragstaar]

Quite frankly... I don't have the muscle. This is a big fuck of polish guy, and his mates arent people you'd wanna mess with. My mates are all weedy. So as much as i want to batter them, physical approach will probably mean me getting a battering.

[Pete.]

If you are willing to throw away the 6k back-rent why not pony-up another grand and have someone help them on their way? You'll lose that grand in under a month anyway.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Rogerborg]

Thus the advice to go around when they're out and just get it done.

You can talk to a specialist lawyer about it, but you'll basically be paying them to tell you "Shouldn't have taken on benefits tenants, you can't get a Section 8", which you already know by now. Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[dragstaar]

I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a pussy, I'm worried about the reprocussions of going in there and changing the locks. Thats illegal isnt it?

I know i can play the whole, "you were never my tenant" card, but then my neighbours are cunts and hate me and i'm sure will be witnesses to them, and they also have a copy of the tenancy agreement.

However, the argument of better to fight them to keep them out than to fight them to get them out, has made me think

[Fortuna]

Section 8 = During fixed term.
Section 21 = At the end of the fixed term.

[Raffles]

[Easter Bunny]

Where did you get your tenancy agreement from?

Please dont say WH Smiths?

Section 8 under breach of Tenancy as long as you have got a proper agreement, if they've mucked about this long they will probably take it to the nail.

6 month tenancys are always wise for the first period!

Non direct housing benefit is always a nightmare, they spend it before paying it!
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The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train!

[Redoko]

Any updates?
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[dragstaar]

Right, so after lots of to-ing and fro-ing I'd had absolutely enough of absolutely everything. the council Housing Benefits team were dragging things out unneccesarily and just being generally innefficient.

I decided to get on the ball and did 2 things. First off, I wrote a letter to the Local Government Ombudsman and the Independent Housing Ombudsman. it was a huge Fuck-off 3 page letter outlining every single shortfall on the council's part.

I also arranged a meeting with my Local MP who has been there for something like 10 years. She was incredibly helpful and got on the case too. Local Government Ombudsman rang me and explained that unfortunately, i had to put the case in writing to the Council direct, and only after there is no improvement then, is when they can step in. the guy was genuine, and seem genuinely pissed that he couldn't help because of this rule. But he said that he's have an 'unnofficial chat' with them to help things.

Our Local MP then sends a letter to me, stating that she too has gotten onto the Council's case and said that they are working on it, and that she too will keep an eye on it.

Lo and Behold, a week ago, I get a letter from the Housing Benefits department stating the exact amount of rent that they will be paying, and It came into my account on Monday.

Seriously, so 7 months, and it took a kick up the arse from the MP and the Ombudsman for them to pull their fingers out their arses to get it sorted.

I now have to collect £1014 from the tenants for the outstanding sum (they weren't eligible for the full amount of rent through the benefits system). The guy paid me £500 yesterday, and asked if he could pay the remainder plus next months surplus in one go, which i agreed to. So next month he'll be paying about £650 or something.

Hopefully this is sorted for the moment, but I am still very very wary of these tenants.

As for the help that all of you guys have given me, it has been absolutely invaluable. i know now to get on their case as soon as payment is late by a single day, and i'll have everything ready to serve an S8 if something goes wrong again