My tenant stabbed his wife and trashed my property

Once upon a time I'd have agreed with John Daley (who believes the landlord should be ashamed for seeking to evict someone in such circumstances). Sadly, as a landlord owning a small portfolio and an agent managing many hundreds I've become more hard-bitten over the years.

You're not social services nor are you a charity. Its sad that this tenant is in such an unfortunate situation but its not your job to sort her life out for her.

All the evidence available suggests you have a tenant with a violent partner who is behind on the rent, has trashed the place and there is virtually no hope of the situation improving.

Get proper professional advice and FOLLOW IT TO THE LETTER.

I'm afraid I too would evict her. We had a tenant flood, trash and set fire to one of our properties, she blamed her boyfriend because they'd had an argument. They are now living together in some other poor landlords house 🙁
Give it a few weeks she'll be saying it was an accident (she fell on the knife) and he'll be back playing happy families, evict asap !

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

John is this you?

Did this thread really wind you up that much that it inspired you to create a new Twitter account?

How sad it that? !!!

@ArthurProperty @Property118 Hi my tenant is a victim of domestic violence what's the best way to evict her?

— Hi I'm A Landlord (@GimmeTheRent) February 10, 2014

.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/02/2014 - 09:06":

It must be exhausting jumping to conclusions like that. I have not created anything on twitter, indeed I don't ever recall using it. You have my email and could have PM'd me to find out

In any case, whilst I am sure that many of the posters on this site are proud of their 'hardnosed' business skills, seeking the eviction of a woman who has been subjected to a serious assault is hardly anything to be proud of.

Just take a moment to think how this story would play on a local paper or radio station. The PRS needs to improve it's image and practice to have any hope of avoiding draconian regulatory action.

A lot of the Landlords on this site operate in the bottom end of the rental market, where by definition tenants will be unreliable and vulnerable. It's hardly reasonable to whine about tenants behaviour when you must be aware what your trading position is in the sector.

It is also ridiculous that one poster with a bad experience of the Local Authority gives advice that appears to apply to all councils.

At the end of the day there is nothing in my post that can be construed as anything other than advice to the landlord in order to mitigate the losses that might arise from this situation.

If Daniel can get early posession by agreement and co-operation it is likely to be the the quickest route to seeing his income restored. In the meantime he's not likely to get anything now or in the future without helping a benefit claim being processed quickly..

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "11/02/2014 - 12:23":

OK fair enough John, it's certainly rattled somebody's cage though.

Thank you for sharing your perspective too. We do not have to agree on everything, that's what makes discussion forums so interesting 🙂
.

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "11/02/2014 - 12:23":

John, a few years ago I'd have agreed with you, as I said in my earlier posting.

The trouble is (based on my experience managing literally thousands of tenancies over the ten plus years I've run an agency) I know that there's about a one in ten chance that with my help and support a tenant in this situation would sort herself out, and about a nine in ten chance that the outcome would be something along the lines suggested by Sally T in her post.

Cynical? Undoubtedly, but based on boat-loads of experience.

Look at it this way. Regardless of her (or his) need, if a victim of domestic violence trashed her (or his) local Tesco and started helping themselves to the contents of the deli counter without paying, would the branch manager:

a) Give them free meals and offer to help them sort their problems out
b) Call security

Surely the answer would be b) ?

So why would I be expected to help out the same individual whilst allowing them to trash my house and live in it rent free?

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "11/02/2014 - 12:23":

It's a difficult balance John.

I have had situations similar to this myself, and helping the remaining partner to sort out the mess is by far the best short term solution.
If they don't want or appreciate your help, then that's another matter.

In both cases, my remaining tenant decided to find different accomodation later on, presumably to make a fresh start.

One problem in just "chucking them out", if you operate in your local area, is that you potentially build up a pool of people who will have a grudge against you.
- Just best not to pop into a local pub that they might all be drinking in, eh ?
- Who doesn't like a juicey story about a hard-done-by tenant by an evil, money-grabbing landlord ??

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "11/02/2014 - 15:00":

'helping the remaining partner to sort out the mess' Our tenant trashed and flooded our property, framing her boyfriend who she accused of abusing her. We tried to work with her and the following week she set fire to property causing 20k worth of damage and to top it off she started a fire in the property next door the week after which in turn set fire to ours again (insurance is a nightmare).
We no longer do compassion, it costs far too much money 🙁

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "11/02/2014 - 15:00":

Interesting comment by Jeremy - the notion that a landlord's judgment might be coloured by the fear his tenant would hold a grudge against him, and indeed that a landlord might have so many problem tenants as to build up a whole pool of people who dislike him.

I'm not out to pick an argument with anyone who self-manages (its your property and you're entitled to make your own choice). However, using a reputable managing agent certainly overcomes this issue.

A reputable agent wouldn't allow a problem tenant to stay in a property just so they could go into the pub without looking over their shoulder. If a tenant is in such serious breach of the terms of their tenancy that a possession order is warranted then we get them out and accept that sometimes they'll denounce us as the evil capitalist sons of Satan. Its part of the job.

And whilst even the best agent can occasionally have a tenancy turn sour there'd be something seriously wrong if you used a reputable agency and had a whole series of problem tenants.

Reply to the comment left by "Sally T" at "11/02/2014 - 15:21":

Sorry Sally, I should have re-read your original post, I am very sorry, my cases were not anything like yours in those respects.

- I am fully with you Sally, if it was me in your position, I think I would go further than the law to get them out. but I can't condone that method, of course.

We had a group of youths going round vandalising stuff for a year in our village, with the police being (alledgedly) powerless to stop them. The 'real' criminals were getting so fed up with so many coppers cars in the area, they "had a word" with them, the ring leader was black and blue the next day, and all the vandalism stopped !! - surprise, surprise.

Steve, yes, I thik the odd one or two bad tenants have coloured my view of past tenants.
You are quite right, using a 'reputable' agent should screen out most problem tenants.
I now use agent(s) whenever one of mine come back onto the market - simplifies the deposit and inventory issues as well.

I used to let to "needy" people, those that would have found it hard to find a place....
--- I have learnt my lesson, a practical lesson, theory lessons are better in these cases though, and alot cheaper !!

If we all donated to P118 what we potentially save from the advice on here, Mark would be a millionaire by now 😉 Ha ! (not another one, I hear him say )