Tenants owe £10k but daughter is asking for a good reference?

We all know reference for at least part payments is the same thing as take a hike. Put the offer to them, and then they have to squirm as the ball is in their court. No way would they pay even a penny

Reply to the comment left by Frank Jennings at 19/06/2024 – 10:02
The arrears are not the daughter’s arrears. Releasing information may breach the data protection act.

Just say no.

Please just reply that you are unable to give a reference as the daughter is Not a Tenant in the property.
IF you give her a reference she maybe able to use that against you in court as your paperwork will say eviction of Mr and Mrs Tenants but not include the daughter so they might be able to block the eviction.
She has No history of paying rent
She may well have No credit history.
Just politely refuse

Reply to the comment left by Frank Jennings at 19/06/2024 – 10:02
The daughter is not party to the tenancy agreement, so if the OP discloses the tenancy history and debt, it could be used against as a breach of GDPR.

The daughter may have No idea about her parents not paying the rent !
She might be the nicest, well spoken and harding working young lady who would be horrified about her parents situation if she knew.
However she is Not a tenant so just refuse in a polite manner

I’ve had a couple of these over the last 2 years.
From experience from start to finish getting rid of a non paying tenant will cost you between £10,000 and £15,000 if you start the moment they are 2 months in arrears.
This is a truly frightening figure. This includes the arrears, the court costs, the further non payment of rent while it’s happening and rectifying the property afterwards.
I am a medium size portfolio landlord with leveraged properties. My business is pretty robust, but I still had to sell a property 2 years ago, a property last year and one this year to ensure I had cash reserves.
This sort of debt could wipe out a small landlord.
DO NOT pass these people on as a problem. You could literally be costing someone else their own home further down the line.
It is a horrible situation to be in but follow the process and ensure they don’t do the same to someone else. Eviction and CCJ is the only way.
These sort of people have to realise their actions have consequences.
You have no obligation to the daughter and in this situation I would politely decline saying you are unable to give a reference as she has never been in contract with you.

I would strongly advise against giving any reference to the daughter at all, and especially not to mention or include any details of the parents/your tennants affairs.

Not only because of the reasons mentioned by others, but you’d also likely be in breach of data protection/GDPR laws/regulations as you’d be disclosing the details of someone to someone else, without their express permission.

You CANNOT negotiate with the daughter as she is not your tenant. She can offer to give her parents the money to pay the debts but that is about it. If you give her any financial details about the debt or otherwise (she can get that from her parents), you will be breaking the GDPR rules, this could make life difficult for you if it all becomes nasty (which it will as soon as you try to evict).

You have no tenant landlord relationship with the daughter if she is not named as a tenant on the TA.

If giving her a landlord reference you are likely committing fraud.