Tenants separating – what to do?

Hi Anne

Having been caught out big time in a similar scenario I think you should read this article I wrote to see how bad things could get >>> https://www.property118.com/perfect-tenant-evicted-prostitute/29056/

If ever I’m faced with a situation like this again I will re-reference the tenant and if I can’t purchase RGI then the tenancy will have to end and there will be no new one. If tenant references up start from scratch as if you’ve found a new tenant is my advice.
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And in addition to Mark’s excellent advice above check both your buildings and contents insurance to ensure they are not invalidated by having a housing benefits tenant. Likewise the terms of your mortgage if you have one on the property. My particular insurer will not allow HB tenants. That suits me as I don’t take them anyway, and is also a valid reason for refusal.

Thankyou both for your comments, would you mind explaining to me why some insurance companies don’t offer cover for LA tenants. I’m a newbie landlord and learning everyday

Anne it’s because their risk profile puts benefit tenants at a higher risk of causing damage to property than professional working tenants.

And I forgot to add that some lenders exclude benefits tenants for the same reason. If they are issuing a 60% or 85% LTV on a property then they want to protect that investment.

I’ve often wondered if a lender requires you to give a tenant a S21 to go with their P45! Furthermore, what if they are still in the fixed tenancy – you cannot!

Depending on the number of bedrooms and whether she has dependants and of what age etc and IF she declared her partner (you don’t mention them as married – so I assume not) as a partner or someone she was renting on a sharing basis with (people try this one to get more benefit), then the amount of housing benefit payable may be hit by the so call Bedroom Tax (The Under-Occupancy Charge – a stupid vote grabbing idea. There is already an area by area cap on housing benefits directly related to the same rules used to apply the penalty, the charge simply penalises those savvy enough to find/negotiate a rent at below mark rate – and thus hits landlords by reducing the available pool of tenants for these properties. If the caps were wrong, they should have been reassessed, from examples I am aware of one of the main issues lie in the areas being too big, low cost areas are lumped together with high cost ones, to create an average, meaning the cap is too high for the low cost area, but unrealistically low for the higher cost area – this is the real “social cleansing” mechanism, but as its more complex the press have ignored it ).