My tenant stabbed his wife and trashed my property

My tenant stabbed his wife and trashed my property

10:28 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago 30

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I have joint tenants who signed a 12 month assured shorthold tenancy agreement. They have been in the property nearly five months. They have always been late paying their rent and have not paid this months rent.

A few days ago I had a call from a neighbour to say the Police had been there and arrested the male tenant for stabbing his wife,who had been taken to hospital.  She is OK and back at the house but he has been remanded to prison with a likely prison sentence.

She claims the rent money is in his wallet which he had on him at the time.

What route can I go down to now to give her notice to quit as she is never going to pay the rent.

I did an inspection on the house and it is a tip. My tenant stabbed his wife and trashed my property

She has also not complied with the tenancy by having a dog and hamster at the house.

Thanks

Daniel

 


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:32 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi Daniel

What an awful story.

I'm pleased to hear the wife is OK though despite everything else.

The route you need to take is a section 8 notice.

I strongly recommend that you seek professional advice from Landlord Action as this will save you money in the long run.

Landlord Action are the UK’s leading eviction specialists and have successfully evicted over 20,000 bad tenants. Please see >>> http://www.property118.com/tenant-eviction/39099/

What referencing was done on these tenants before a tenancy was granted as a matter of interest?

Do you employ a letting agent and if so what advice have they offered?

Did you purchase RGI (Rent Guarantee Insurance)?

Was there a guarantor?

Does you landlords insurance cover malicious damage caused by tenants?
.

10:48 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Ouch. It's quite a hazard when you own property in disreputable areas, as I have found to my cost. Over 10 years what used to be a decent but poor part of Middlesbrough has become a dumping ground for troublesome tenants, with the result that decent people simply don't want to live there.

John Daley

10:54 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Hold on, this woman has been stabbed by an abusive husband and you first reaction is to find an 'easy' way to evict her.

You should be ashamed to be posting such disgraceful advice. Is there a hint of humanity here.

Daniel, the answer here is to contact the Council. Thay will have a team called tenancy sustainment or private sector team. They will help you and the tenant work something out. Probably an LHA (Housing Benefit) claim.

Then they will work with Social Services to see if she needs to move away to protect her. Either way she won't be working and your only way to get the rent will be to work with the Council to make the claims happen. It may be a 'disorderly departure' but you'll get an early possession if you help them arrange for her to move on and surrender the letting.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:55 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jerry Jones" at "10/02/2014 - 10:48":

There's not a lot you can do when an area turns bad other than to cut your losses or hope for a turnaround and grin and bear it out in the meantime. That's one of the reasons I chose to limit my exposure to any one area.

I am currently in a position where I have going to have to cut my losses on a deal for this very reason.
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Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:00 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "10/02/2014 - 10:54":

Hi John

I'm a big softie really 🙂

It is the combination of all factors which would lead me to want to get her out ASAP. Private landlords are not charities.
.

micky alderson

11:10 AM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

If in doubt do a drive-by at night...a dog of any no matter how small is hard to hide look for Doggy-Doo keep a record of your visits so they don't do the old " it's my Mummies pooch and she's in Hospital " blah blah!!!!

My view on the stabbing part of this sorry tale " it was the hamster wot done it!!! "

Bye the bye there are no bad parts of MiddlesbROUGH the whole place is a Kharsi and as for the residents.......

Industry Observer

12:19 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

If the dog eats the hamster that is 50% of the illegal pets problem solved.

John the comment from Daniel is that she cannot afford the rent so Mark is right. By the way you don't know why he stabbed her, if you don't like conclusions jumped to how do you know it wasn't self defence?

Interesting issue here will be the need to serve notice on him no matter where he is, especially s8 which must be served on all known tenants at all possible addresses.

micky alderson

12:36 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Okay I've worked it out, Dog eats Hamster , then Dog eats Wife, then Dog bites man , then Dog dies , then Man goes on TV show and then gets re housed ( under mental health act ).

Or North Korea invades M'boro and eats everybody!!!!!!

13:04 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Luckily I only have two in the area I am talking about - the other two in Middlesbrough are less problematic and perhaps only an en-suite bathroom rather than a khazi. Luckily I also have some down here in the South West, all so far above water! The two in the troublesome area are a long way under (financial) water, so not possible to cut and run but they did enable me to refinance to buy all the others back when the valuations went from 30 to 75 grand in a year!

What I am now doing is trying to find ways to manage them effectively, working with a local ethical/social housing-type letting agent who houses people with a lot of supervision and support.

Sam Wong

14:01 PM, 10th February 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "10/02/2014 - 10:54":

Oh me bleeding heart.

It is people just like you who cause half the problem in this world.

Daniel : whatever you do, dont go within a hundred miles of the Private Sector team. Their mandate is to look after the tenants and their rights come what may. If you think you got trouble now, just wait till they get involved.

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