| Author |
Messages |
|
captkevey
Posts:1
 |
| 25 Feb 2007 09:02:48 |
 Alert
|
hi i'm new to the fourum can anyone help
my tenant of 5 months is 15 weeks in arrears at 10 weeks in arearrs i told the tenant that i intended to lock them out of the property using a external hasp & staple & a padlock untill she paid in full her arrears.she agreed to this and returned all keys to myself ,it now stands that all her possesions are locked away in the house ,if she wants personal items i let her have access and always have under supervision,there is a stalemate situation now where
1. i cant let the property out untill her item are removed
2. her arrears are growing weekly
she has made no contact and when i call her she wont answer the phone i dont know where she is
do i have the right to remove her items and sell them to reclaim the arrears owed ,or do i have to store them for a set amount of time i've said to her you cant have your goods untill you pay your arrearrs that was the last response i've heard nothing for 3 weeks now help !
any comments please let me know
regards kev |
|
|
|
|
iDream
Posts:1
|
| 25 Feb 2007 14:18:01 |
Alert
|
| I do not understand why you have locked them out and until they pay rent. The stuation for you remains the same whether they are there or not. You need to serve them notice to leave if you can locate them. You cannot sell their items without informing them, the consequencies could be very bad for you. Try and contact employers, guarantors, character references, friends, family or previous Landlord. Let me know how you gat on. |
|
|
|
|
mwoodcock
Posts:1
|
| 28 Feb 2007 05:06:03 |
Alert
|
Hi
You have made a very stupid mistake and if this tenant was to take the matter further you could find yourself fined up to max of 10k and 6 months in prison for unlawful eviction.
You should of gave the tenant the approriate notice.
I would take some legal advice and hopr the tenant does not complain about the way you have managed the situation ands use this as a learning curve.
Good luck |
|
|
|
|
Aithne
Posts:1
|
| 11 Mar 2007 19:28:13 |
Alert
|
Was this a formal Assured Shorthold Tenancy?
I don't know where to start advising you as it seems you have no training, experience, or understanding of housing or landlord & tenant law. You should not be managing your own 'tenancies' with no knowledge of the industry or related law. You are the kind of private landlord that brings the whole industry into disrepute - and you have left yourself vulnerable to charges of unlawful eviction or harassment.
You should have sent a formal 'arrears letter' to your 'tenant' as soon as her first rent payment was missed, followed by another a week or so later if she didn't respond (keeping copies of all correspondence). You should then have visited her (and made a file note of the visit) to try to find out what the problem was, and to find a way to overcome it. All this time you should have been trying to make a payment arrangement with your tenant to clear the arrears in a reasonable time. If all this failed you should then have served a Section 21 Notice (of Seeking Possesion) on her and used the 'accelerated' procedure to recover your property.
As you didn't do any of this I would now advise you to:
A) Make a full and comprehensive photographic inventory of your tenant's belongings, before very carefully wrapping/boxing them and storing them in clean/dry conditions for at least one calendar month while you attempt (and record in detail all your efforts) to contact the tenant, until either i) the tenant collects the goods, or ii) you exhaust all attempts to contact her, in which case dispose of the goods, keeping all receipts and offsetting any monies made against the rent arrears.
B) Seek advice from a specialist housing lawyer.
C) Use a competent agent to re-let your property.
I hope this advice helps you, and I hope you have learned a lesson.
Some generally published advice on Unlawful Eviction and Harrassment follows:
What is Unlawful Eviction?
- Unlawful eviction occurs when a residential occupier is unlawfully deprived of either all or part of their accommodation.
- It is nearly always an offence (unlawful) to evict a tenant without going to court first.
- It is an offence to attempt to unlawfully evict.
- It does not matter if the residential occupier is a tenant or licensee.
- It does not matter if the tenant is in breach of their contract e.g. they owe rent, or won't allow the landlord in to do repairs, or the fixed term has come to an end.
- Even if the landlord has a possession order it must be enforced with a bailiff's warrant.
Common Examples of Unlawful Eviction Are:
- Being locked out of a room
- Being deprived of a room that is normally shared with other people e.g. kitchen or living room
- Being turned out of your home.
AND there is no court order giving the landlord permission to do any of this.
It is an offence for landlords or their agents to:
- Act so that they are likely to interfere with the peace and comfort of their tenants.
- Withdraw necessary services from people living in the accommodation (necessary services include water, gas and electricity, or lifts in a block of flats).
- Act in a way that they know or have reasonable cause to believe that these actions are likely to cause the tenants to leave their home or refrain from exercising their rights.
Unless they can show that they have good reason for doing these things.
|
|
|
|
|
|