Evicting tennants

[TryingAgain]

I just wondered whether anybody can share any experiences on this- good or bad?

I have a house which we let out, we went via an agent and he paid every month for 6 months, then the tennant asked me to deal with him directly, which I stupidly agreed to do and he has messed me around ever since. I have had every excuse under the sun:-

1. He has lost his job
2. His uncle has died and he has no other family so his paying for a funeral
3. He has had money taken out of his bank
4. He hasn't been paid properly
5. His mom has died now and- he has no family so he is paying for another funeral-
GOD this guy should go and love on Corontation Street

My DH went and knocked the door again yesterday as yet again no payment or contact, no answer to the door, then the tennant called me saying I was harrassing him and threatening to kill me! So we have now got the plice involved too!

I have now appointed an agent and he is going to be issued with a section 8 notice today.

has anybody been to court?- how long did it take? did you get your money back?

Would just be interested to hear any experiences x x

[Hols969]

OMG poor you. No advice really. I love to watch Judge Judy and she puts them down when they owe money and they say they are being harrassed - its coz you owe the money, what did you expect ....

Glad you have got the police involved as well. Good luck.

[wellington]

We've been to court over non-payment of rent, and I'm sorry to say it took ages - I recall over a year, although it was my husbands property and he dealt with most of it. It went all the way through court and appeal, despite the fact that the man had simply not paid up for all that time. He was evicted in the end, but we never got the money, because he simply didn't have it. We have had another similar case on a joint tenancy, and also never got the money, even though we won in court, because the options open to me were to make all the other tenants pay for up for the one who didn't pay, or to get the bailiffs to take property from his guarantor (his mother) I didn't feel either option was fair, to be honest, so I lost out. Expensive principles!

[thebuzz]

I run my own property lettings company and we have had this a couple of times. Both times it went to Court, the first time didn't take too long, a couple of months if I remember, and they had to pay us back a set amount each month. They did this for about 4 months then stopped paying and our old terrible agent didnt bother getting forwarding details so we couldn't chase them.

The second time has been a real hassle. We are still fighting it and it's been about 2 and a half years now. We keep going to court and winning, then he appeals and the appeals keep getting granted. The last time we had to go he settled out of court the day before and paid us back an agreed amount for one month, then the excuses started (one of which was he had to pay for his best mans dead wife's body to be flown back into the country!). Because we had a court order saying he had to pay back X amount each month we are going back to court and he has to list his assets that we can take. I doubt we will get them though.

Unfortunately, the law always sides with the tenants as there are so many dodgy landlords out there. It's understandable but when you have people like me who are doing it for a serious job and doing anything right it gets very very annoying.

I would say go ahead with the Section 8 and anything else you can throw at him. Some people pay up once court is a real possibility and hopefully your tenant will be one of those people.

[beaglelady]

First of all I sympathise. I was in this situation a few years ago took a year to sort. I would never not go through an agent now even though it costs. Hope you get sorted soon

[TryingAgain]

Well he hasn't contacted the agent yet. He has until 14th November and then we have to get a Court date. The agent seemed to think he may turn up with the money or some of it like the day before or something he said thats usually what they do. I asked about time scale for worse case scenario and he said that in all the years he has done this he has been to court loads but has never had to get the bailiff to physically move somebody out.

So we have been funding 2 mortagegs for the last 6 months and can't afford to do it anymore so I need to ring the mortgage lender this week and explain and as them for a payment holiday- not going to hold my breath but the bottom line is that I am not going to spoil my familys Christmas because of it. Keep you posted x

[TryingAgain]

Well they haven't responded to any letters and calls from the agents so court proceedings have been issued and we are going to Court on 22nd December!

I am glad the date has come through before Xmas, after all the worry and upset they have caused my family over the last 6 months I hope it ruins their Xmas. How on earth people can live their lives like that is beyond me.

Im not being harsh, but when my husband got made redundant, we scrapped by and made arrangements to pay what we could afford, we didn't pay nothing and abuse the lender and make threats. I can't wait till they have gone x

[Hols969]

Thats good its before xmas, hopefully it is on its way to being sorted out for you.

[TryingAgain]

drove past the house yesterday and they have got their bloody xmas tree up! so they obviously have no intentions of leaving this year! Honestly I could cry, I just don't understand how people can live like that, he is not answering the phone or the door to the agent, so I am expecting him not to answer to the court and drag it out as long as possible and cost be a fortune

[TryingAgain]

Thought I would give a little update. We are due to go to Court to gain possession on 22nd December. the cheeky git hasn't answered any of our letters or calls or answered the the agent. He has put his Xmas tree up!

Then yesterday morning he called me out of the blue around 9.30, I didn't answer, I called the agent and they think he got the Court summons yesterday in the post! If he had the money and was offering to pay he would have just called the agent so I guess he was calling to have a go at me 'how dare you do this to my family at Xmas etc etc', so I am glad I didn't answer.

Let you know what happens when we got to Court . . . x

[Hols969]

Good, good luck it would be lovely to have it partially resolved for xmas.

[TryingAgain]

well, he has called the agent and told them he has moved out and just partner and daughter living there, we are not getting a penny out of him and he will see us in court on 22nd December! I feel sick to my stomach.

Both of their names are on the tennancy agreement and on the court documents. The agent is convinced that we will get possession when we go on 22nd December and my husband is convinced that the tennant won't turn up. He is the type of person who can threaten and swear at you on the phone but hides behind the settee when you go round there.

Anybody who has been through this before, is it realistic that this is all going to be sorted when we go to court on 22nd Dec?

The agent told me he is 99% certain that we will get our possession order on 22nd- he said the worse that could happen is it could get adjourned but that is highley unlikely! what do you think? x

[Sammi]

This would make me SOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad. Why do they think they are entitled to live there for FREE? Grrrrr. I would want to punch his smug face (sorry I'm not usually a violent person!).

This is probably an awful thing to say, but one side of my family aren't quite as 'nice' as the other side (they don't work, don't want to, but could, just lazy and happy to live of benefits, some of which they aren't even entitled to and I *may* have reported them for fraud. And also sub-letting a council property whilst living with friends for extra money. *May* have reported that too. But thats another story!). Anyway, apart from being rougher and rough, they 'know' people who would quite literally go round, pick the tennants up by their ears and leave them on the street.

If they don't turn up to court, I'll give you their number if you like. Just a thought...

[thebuzz]

As the tenancy is in joint names then they are both liable for the debt, he can't do anything about that. As for possession, yes you might get it but they could appeal and if they do then they wont move out until the appeal date. What with it being so close to xmas the court wont do anything about it until next year. If you're lucky then the partner and child will move out but you'll still need to chase the debt. The other thing is although they may be told to leave, the court may need to provide bailiffs etc to get them out and do the court order and the likelyhood of this happening this side of christmas isnt great.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones and the go on the 22nd

xox

[TryingAgain]

Thanks for your response Buzz.

I now I won't get them out before Xmas, but I just want the Court Order so it won't spoil my holiday worrying about it. I spoke to the agent again yesterday and he keeps re-assuring me it will all be ok and that they are both named on all documents and so it will be sorted in Court.

I really hope they don't turn up, I am dreading it, I will let you know how I get on, its next Thursday x