‘Bastard Landlords’ but what about bad tenants?

‘Bastard Landlords’ but what about bad tenants?

8:34 AM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago 8

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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth wants to rephrase the words ‘ Rogue Landlords’, to the words ‘Bastards Landlords’, as Rogue sounds to soft and cuddly.

In my eyes the words should be rephrased to ‘Criminal Landlords’, as they can make tenants lives horrendous, but you need more enforcement and convictions for that word to be officially used.

I suppose I do appear on a TV programme called ‘Bad Tenants, Rogue Landlords’ so that doesn’t help.

So what about all those tenants that intentionally go out of their way to give landlords false referencing with the intention of not paying the rent and staying in the property for as long as possible or damage a property which is costing landlords £1000s.

Tenants also intentionally subletting or using the property for a brothel or cannabis factory.

We see this on a daily basis at Landlord Action with the numerous cases we have. We have seen landlords facing financial ruin because of this.

I’ve heard landlords call these type of tenants worse words than the word ‘ Bastard’. For years I have been calling for a ‘ Professional Bad Tenant database’ to inform landlords and agents of potential scammers.

We now have a ‘ Rogue Landlord’ database in some areas and its time to get the balance right.

What do you think bad tenants should be called? I’m running a poll on twitter and I want to know your thoughts – https://twitter.com/PaulShamplina/status/1067392566776217602

Contact Landlord Action

Specialists in tenant eviction and debt collection. Regulated by The Law Society.


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Comments

Annie Landlord

11:11 AM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

I voted and I believe such tenants should be referred to as criminal, because that's what they are. The naive (and ultimately damaging for tenants) anti-every-landlord attacks, that seem to be appearing in the media and social media every day, shouldn't force us into a race to the bottom. We are professional business men and women and we need to maintain that image, however hard it may be. To do otherwise plays right into the hands of those who attack us.

Luke P

12:12 PM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

The Twitter link doesn't work, but I found it and voted. I see Giles Peaker agrees with 'Criminal Tenant', but doesn't crow much about the many hundreds that are not held to account, rather rabbiting on about LLs non-stop.

Mick Roberts

15:44 PM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

There should be free easily accessible easy to use Professional Bad Tenant database.
Eventually tenants would get wind, & some of them may behave a bit better.
Landlords wun't have as much expense in damage etc., & then the vulnerable that Landlords are now trying to avoid cause of over-regulation, we'd now check the database, Oh she he has had 3 Landlords in 10 years, all say she's brilliant, I'm gonna' take her.
The good tenants then would be able to get houses regardless of on HB UC etc. And clearly for us all to see, the bad ones wouldn't & rightly so, & they may learn to up their game. It's a win win for everyone except those that are guilty of wrecking it for everyone else.

DALE ROBERTS

16:49 PM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

I believe Property118 is affiliated to Tenant Referencing which is a very good platform for landlords to list "criminal" tenants. The more we all make use of LR the more renowned it will become and thus "criminal" tenants will realise that there IS a system to track their rental history making it far more difficult for them to thieve from other unsuspecting landlords.
The UK government needs to understand that with a growing housing shortage and dwindling new builds the PRS is the only solution. Regulation must be passed that provides landlords with the same protection tenants enjoy. Presently the laws are so heavily weighted in favour of "criminal" tenants that they encourage, endorse and entertain what has become a legitimate industry of deliberate theft. In what other profession could one live rent free, trash the property and escape the consequences thereof?

Mick Roberts

17:08 PM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DALE ROBERTS at 28/11/2018 - 16:49
Brilliant words Dale.

Presently the laws are so heavily weighted in favour of "criminal" tenants that they encourage, endorse and entertain what has become a legitimate industry of deliberate theft. In what other profession could one live rent free, trash the property and escape the consequences thereof?

wanda wang

21:45 PM, 28th November 2018, About 5 years ago

Well, it doesn’t matter what do you call these type of people, it does matter have Bad Tenant database, so they can be exposed. Who will take on this challenge?

DALE ROBERTS

9:23 AM, 29th November 2018, About 5 years ago

Landlords have to work within the confines of the very strict data protection laws in the UK. Contravening them can result in serious consequences and I personally would not want to fall foul of them. As I have already noted above, there is an existing and excellent site for uploading criminal tenants and I would urge all landlords to make use of it.

Annie Landlord

9:30 AM, 29th November 2018, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 28/11/2018 - 15:44
You're right Mick. I wonder sometimes when I hear media reports what the real story is of, eg. someone who has had to move eight times in two years, . The inference is always that landlords have evicted on a whim, using S21, but a decent, paying tenant would have to be incredibly, or should I say unbelievably unlucky to have rented from eight bad landlords in succession!

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