Suggestions after section 21 and house full of rubbish?

Suggestions after section 21 and house full of rubbish?

11:35 AM, 28th September 2016, About 8 years ago 4

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I have a tenant that has continually been in arrears and despite me coming to arrangements to assist , the arrears have simply increased as a result of several holidays. I served a s21 and tomorrow they are instructed to move out. (a few days over 2 months notice provided)bin liner

I have sent them 3 letters to arrange to inspect the property , twice they were cancelled and the 3rd occasion they simply did not turn up. The neighbour advised she thought they had moved out and also expressed concern of about 30-40 black bags of rubbish in the back garden. In view of this I entered the property to find it had been very badly damaged and there were probably another 50+ black bags of rubbish throughout the house, giving a dreadful smell.

Obviously aware I should not be in the house I was only inside a couple of minutes. Overall it looks as though beds for the children have been removed together with a number of other items , however there is still a lot of furnishing and personal effects in the house. I would not be possible to live in the property as there is no access to the sink or cooker due to the black bags of rubbish and likewise in the bathroom.
I do not have a phone number and my emails are being ignored.

Tomorrow I am very confident that despite my requests for keys to be returned and property be vacated, this will not happen.

I will therefore have to take action to get custody of the property. I have been advised to send an email advising that I am taking action, and to mention it will cost them money and they they could end up with a CCJ and even face being evicted by bailiffs, which will cost them more. In reality I think they have simply gone to live with parents, took what they wanted and used the house as a dumping ground for everything else. Does anyone have a template for this sort of thing?

In addition to this there are arrears of just £100 below two months rent therefore a S8 has not been served. I plan to peruse the arrears. can I continue increasing the debt until
I get access, in addition to the damages?

Any suggestions or templates for emails or letters via parents house would be much appreciated.

Roger


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Comments

Neil Patterson

11:39 AM, 28th September 2016, About 8 years ago

Hi Roger,

Don't touch anything at the moment as you have no proof they have left the property. (they could be on holiday again)

These types of situation can go South very quickly unless you get it right, which is why we always think it is safer and cheaper in the long run unless you are an expert to use professionals. Please see our tenant eviction page >> https://www.property118.com/tenant-eviction-2/

Susan Robinson

12:41 PM, 28th September 2016, About 8 years ago

Neil's right about getting professional advice, tenants can be very slippery and seem very informed about their 'rights' less so about their responsibilities. Check your tenancy contract, you may have a clause allowing reasonable access for viewings and corresponding tenant co-operation; which may enable your right to enter on that basis, or even because your neighbour has reported the bad smells (think H&S, rats even). If so, take plenty of date/time photographs of whatever tenant furnishings and personal possessions currently remain in the property - you may need these if your tenant also tries to claim council (CT) tax exemption on the grounds they've moved their furniture. It happened to me, and I got a bill for council tax on a property which still had tenant's stuff when she claimed she had moved out earlier and she was claiming CT rebate (!), so I went into dispute with the local authority and won on the basis of the photographic evidence. Sadly, I haven't been so fortunate on the unpaid rent nor the thousands for repairs!

Good luck, a very unpleasant and unfair situation for you.

John

13:06 PM, 28th September 2016, About 8 years ago

This has just happened to me and the legal beagles will put the willies up you. Time for a little common sense though.

Try and establish if they have really moved out and never intend on coming back. You will need to do some digging to get in touch with them. Usually they have just done a runner and that is that.

Obviously you could have a tenant who is playing the game and possibly trying to entrap you into pushing them out illegally. It is possible, but i don't think this is that common.

I had to push my tenant into vacating even though she had actually vacated. Her stuff was there, but in the end she left most of it behind so i was in the position of not knowing what to do. I got through to her dad and he confirmed all stuff was to be binned. It actually went to a charity shop. I was able to clean the house and put everything right (took 3 weeks of decorating and new carpets). I am owed £1700 minus the bond which was protected.

I could have gotten into the house 4 weeks earlier, but i just didn't know what action to take and so just left it to stew. The electric had also been hot-wired last dec apparently.

The house is soon to go on the market as i am not working in this area as much. It has been my most difficult case yet in 15 yrs.

Effectively the house had been abandoned and i think you have grounds to go in and sort out the property. what if the water had been left running ? You have every right to go in and sort out this type of problem. I really think in your case they have gone and probably left stuff they just don't need. Try and get through to them offering to drop of any stuff they still want. they may reply that it is all to be binned and so you have a green light in my book.

Romain Garcin

8:09 AM, 29th September 2016, About 8 years ago

"Obviously aware I should not be in the house I was only inside a couple of minutes"

If you gave the required notice that you would inspect the property then you had absolutely the right to be in the house.

If you already served a s.21 notice you do not need to warn them about action and bailiffs apart from attempting to elicit a reply from them. It would indeed be best if you could have them acknowledge that they have left and do not intend to return.

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