Vile tenants ganging up on me, please HELP!

Vile tenants ganging up on me, please HELP!

11:39 AM, 18th May 2015, About 9 years ago 46

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Long story cut short … the last tenant (A) to move out of one of our small portfolio of 5 houses failed to pay her rent for the last month, left some minor damage etc etc and so this weekend we claimed the full amount of her deposit back from the DPS. Vile tenants ganging up on me, please HELP

Her response was to send me a batch of obscene texts and Messenger messages and then, worse to post a vile message across local social media – naming me as a thieving landlord who doesn’t arrange repairs, leaves the property unsafe etc etc – and describing our property (which she lauded on the same social media sites when she moved in as being ‘lush’) as a dangerous s**t hole.

She (tenant A) is blaming all kinds of supposed damage to her property, accidents she apparently sustained and her daughter’s ill health on the house – well, you get the picture of the weekend we (well me really, as this was all aimed at me personally) have endured.

By yesterday evening she (tenant A) had made contact through Facebook with the last tenant (tenant B) before her – who left the house in a disgusting condition btw and also forfeited the majority of her deposit, and believes she (tenant A) has ‘confirmed’ with her (tenant B) that the repairs that she (tenant A) is now claiming weren’t done were left over from then – which is an easily demonstrable lie as we have receipts and communications from both of them detailing what issues had ever been reported to us, and when each was dealt with.

I suppose apart from the vile personal attack the main thrust of tenant A’s argument is that a ‘roof leak’ was not dealt with. There WAS a leak through the roof that damaged the upstairs landing ceiling in the house in 2013, so a year before tenant A moved in. That leak was eventually located and traced to the neighbour’s chimney and fixed. The neighbour in question paid for 50% of the repair.

Tenant A caused a leak in the bathroom which damaged the kitchen ceiling (which has now been repaired and we didn’t charge her for that) and they are both now screaming all over social media that the 2 unrelated leaks are the same and were not dealt with.

She (tenant A) also seemingly now believes that the first month rent she paid us (in advance) entitled her to assume that would not need to pay for the last month she was living in the house – enabling her to allege (on social media, so the world and his wife have suddenly become legal experts advising her how best to ‘bring me down’) that I have stolen her first month’s rent money that she paid ‘up front’ (and which she is now saying I told her would be lodged with the DPS with her deposit – obviously untrue.)

Our Tenancy Agreement clearly states that rent is due each month in advance. She (tenant A) was given a receipt for the initial cash payment she made (deposit + first month’s rent) and her other rent payments have gone straight into our bank.

To make matters even worse (if that is possible) our next prospective tenants (tenant C) who were due to move in early in June, have seen all the nastiness emblazoned across Facebook and have decided they don’t now want to live in our house for fear of this last nasty piece of work (tenant A) taking repercussions against us by damaging the property – and so they have withdrawn and they have requested their deposit back (which I have just repaid)

My question is this: what do we do next??

All constructive feedback with me much appreciated.

Thanks

Denise


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Comments

19:58 PM, 27th May 2015, About 9 years ago

Well .. actually none of this nastiness happened until after the tenant had vacated the property, check outs had been done etc etc - and none of our tenants have ever been a friend either.
Engaging with them on Facebook was my attempt at making it easy for our younger tenants to keep in touch/report issues etc - and until she left and we put in a claim to the DPS for rent arrears, fuel debts left on the meters etc from her deposit things had always worked well enough even with this vile troll - BUT we will either not be using it again, or will be starting and using a separate FB account page created especially for tenants - and tbh whether they are friends or not does not actually stop them slagging us off on their own social medial pages if that's what rocks their boat or all of their barrack-room lawyer friends from chipping in with their dodgy opinions - it just meant that we were aware of it well before all and sundry stated calling me to tell me what was on there (and I'm guessing her obscene texts would have arrived whether we shared Facebook details or not). You can't ever, it seems to me, even guess what nastiness some folk are capable of and 'you lives and you learns', and having heeded everyone's advice and warnings on Property118 we're ready now to move on to the next tenant - who will hopefully be more like all of our other tenants and less like this latest piece of lowlife

Andrew Holmes

22:04 PM, 27th May 2015, About 9 years ago

Face book is a great way to check possible tenants out. I have lost count of the times possible tenants have turned up stating one thing to me, however after putting their name into the search engine on face book it is pretty clear they live a different life to what they had told me.

You can do this with existing tenants also, but never become friends with tenants on face book, keeping a professional distance is very important in dealing with tenants.

Mick Roberts

7:15 AM, 29th May 2015, About 9 years ago

Yes very good Andrew, I too put their names (prospective tenants) into Facebook & whey HEY, u see that they hang around with drug dealer Jeff, their best mate is Knife Slasher Andy down the pub & on their Facebook main wall, they are slagging off their current Landlord & telling everyone how they gonna' smash the house up when they leave.
And their current dizzy mates agree with 'em 'cause their circle of mates think the same as them.

13:09 PM, 29th May 2015, About 9 years ago

Hi - there are remedies to this. Would be happy to assist you. I have had a similar situation to deal with.

13:30 PM, 29th May 2015, About 9 years ago

Thanks Peter - it looks as if she may finally have given up (as she has now responded to the DPS and released the deposit - and it's arrived in our bank today) but if not I may very well take you up on that offer please (or do we maybe need Judge Rinder? lol)

We did have a further communication from her last weekend (so 2 days before she agreed our submission to the DPS) stating that what she was referring to as a 'leak from the roof' that she said she'd had verified by a - wait for it - 'professional timber' (!!) - but what, of course we know to be an overflow she caused herself in the bathroom directly above the kitchen, had ruined her fridge (checked by my step son and seen to working directly after he stopped the overflow), her fridge freezer (there wasn't ever one in the property anytime we visited) and her stereo (one would assume if she had one it would be in the lounge) were ruined - so presumably what she was now calling a leak through the roof, had crossed the house and gone through 2 floors and had, while it was engaged in those complicated manoeuvres, also popped into the lounge!!

She went on to suggest that if we gave her £500 we could go our separate ways and wouldn't hear from her again!

Needless to say we will reply to her generous offer (now that the deposit money is safely in our bank) and refer her to her own contents insurance provider - pointing out that if she can prove to their satisfaction that she has a valid claim that they will then negotiate with our insurers (who we would be sure to inform of our opinion about her claim) to settle any liability - but that should she wish to communicate with us at any point in the future she will need to do so via our solicitors

Chris Townsend

2:29 AM, 7th June 2015, About 9 years ago

I'm new here but just read through the thread - I'm glad to hear it seems to be working out and you got some of the money back from them. I'll be honest this kind of thing is what puts me off getting in to renting a house out... but hopefully it is not that common and can be avoided in some cases by a bit of research on potential tenants as others have suggested here. Nice to see everyone being supportive and offering advice on here too

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