Tenant broken boiler, refusing me access to check it
Discussion
sevensfun said:
How did you manage to ‘persuade’?
In one case, they'd already been having trouble before the pandemic. We told them that we suspected they were just going to get into a deeper and deeper financial hole, and offered to waive their debt if they left quietly. They seemed relieved to have the opportunity to go and live somewhere cheaper.The other one was a total chancer, and (funnily enough) an estate agent. I told him that we'd see him in bankruptcy court if we had to, and that my first action would be to call his professional association. That was pushing the very edge, but he left. However, he left substantially after he promised, and left a sub-tenant who we had to buy out. We won a small claims judgement for those costs and some others against the original tenant, which we'll enforce at our leisure.
NNH said:
Simpo Two said:
bristoltype603 said:
Also it sounds with compulsory purchase on the horizon that you may have a golden parashute out of this.
Yep, take the money and run, older and wiser. Your tenants deserve to be bulldozed 
So, another update.
In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I must say however, that our experience with Universal Credit has been absolutely shocking. To save people reading through the whole thread, here's a bit of background.
When the tenant moved in, rent was paid by UC directly to us. After a few month the tenant changed it so that they would receive the rent. Back in January we submitted a UC47 and received confirmation that it had been setup. After a couple of months of no payments from UC I chased it up, only to be told by UC that the tenants circumstances had changed and the direct payment/managed payment had been stopped. Nobody had told me about it. In April I submitted another UC47, but based on previous experience I rang UC almost weekly to chase things up. Each time I rang I was told that it was with another department and someone would call me back, no-one ever called me back. Then one day, out of the blue, a lady from UC rang me to try and help, she said they didn't receive the UC47 but not to worry as she's put the details in based on an old UC47 but with updated information (outstanding rent etc). It looks like either she messed that up, or the tenant has had this payment arrangement cancelled as well.
So essentially there's a number of cock-ups. The first, UC (in my opinion) shouldn't allow tenants to change the rent to be paid to them. The second problem was that my request for direct payment was successfully setup but then cancelled without telling me. The third problems was that not a single person I spoke to at UC told me that there was no UC47 on the system when I kept ringing for progress, so we went on for a couple of month when all I had to do was submit another form. Finally, I have no idea whether the person who setup the last management payment over the phone messed up, or if somehow the tenant knows a workaround which forced their circumstances to change and managed payments to be cancelled. The whole experience with UC has been a complete shambles.
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I must say however, that our experience with Universal Credit has been absolutely shocking. To save people reading through the whole thread, here's a bit of background.
When the tenant moved in, rent was paid by UC directly to us. After a few month the tenant changed it so that they would receive the rent. Back in January we submitted a UC47 and received confirmation that it had been setup. After a couple of months of no payments from UC I chased it up, only to be told by UC that the tenants circumstances had changed and the direct payment/managed payment had been stopped. Nobody had told me about it. In April I submitted another UC47, but based on previous experience I rang UC almost weekly to chase things up. Each time I rang I was told that it was with another department and someone would call me back, no-one ever called me back. Then one day, out of the blue, a lady from UC rang me to try and help, she said they didn't receive the UC47 but not to worry as she's put the details in based on an old UC47 but with updated information (outstanding rent etc). It looks like either she messed that up, or the tenant has had this payment arrangement cancelled as well.
So essentially there's a number of cock-ups. The first, UC (in my opinion) shouldn't allow tenants to change the rent to be paid to them. The second problem was that my request for direct payment was successfully setup but then cancelled without telling me. The third problems was that not a single person I spoke to at UC told me that there was no UC47 on the system when I kept ringing for progress, so we went on for a couple of month when all I had to do was submit another form. Finally, I have no idea whether the person who setup the last management payment over the phone messed up, or if somehow the tenant knows a workaround which forced their circumstances to change and managed payments to be cancelled. The whole experience with UC has been a complete shambles.
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
Edited by TheBinarySheep on Monday 5th July 15:06
sevensfun said:
Just what I was thinking...
Interesting to hear if he believes this could have been done better...!
It probably could have been done better, but I've been on the phone to UC fairly regularly chasing things up. The main issue is that the agents on the other end of the phone don't give you much information and you have to sit and wait for someone in a back office somewhere to deal with it and get back to you.Interesting to hear if he believes this could have been done better...!
At the beginning of the year I listened to the letting agent and just say back and waited for UC to setup the payment. The letting agent kept telling me that UC can be slow. This time however, I've chased it up all of the time. It seems pointless going through the whole process again though if the tenant is just going to have their circumstances changed every time I get a management payment setup.
You would think that UC would be wise to tenants changing their circumstances in order to get managed payments cancelled.
I bet the DWP are sending a letter to the tenant telling her that a managed payment is being set up to send the money directly to you.
Looks pretty easy to challenge this from a scumbag tenants point of view https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/bene...
Looks pretty easy to challenge this from a scumbag tenants point of view https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/bene...
TheBinarySheep said:
So, another update.
In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I must say however, that our experience with Universal Credit has been absolutely shocking. To save people reading through the whole thread, here's a bit of background.
When the tenant moved in, rent was paid by UC directly to us. After a few month the tenant changed it so that they would receive the rent. Back in January we submitted a UC47 and received confirmation that it had been setup. After a couple of months of no payments from UC I chased it up, only to be told by UC that the tenants circumstances had changed and the direct payment/managed payment had been stopped. Nobody had told me about it. In April I submitted another UC47, but based on previous experience I rang UC almost weekly to chase things up. Each time I rang I was told that it was with another department and someone would call me back, no-one ever called me back. Then one day, out of the blue, a lady from UC rang me to try and help, she said they didn't receive the UC47 but not to worry as she's put the details in based on an old UC47 but with updated information (outstanding rent etc). It looks like either she messed that up, or the tenant has had this payment arrangement cancelled as well.
So essentially there's a number of cock-ups. The first, UC (in my opinion) shouldn't allow tenants to change the rent to be paid to them. The second problem was that my request for direct payment was successfully setup but then cancelled without telling me. The third problems was that not a single person I spoke to at UC told me that there was no UC47 on the system when I kept ringing for progress, so we went on for a couple of month when all I had to do was submit another form. Finally, I have no idea whether the person who setup the last management payment over the phone messed up, or if somehow the tenant knows a workaround which forced their circumstances to change and managed payments to be cancelled. The whole experience with UC has been a complete shambles.
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
I'd be tempted to send the above to the head of department (and your MP), but realise any action like this is just likely to raise stress levels.In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I must say however, that our experience with Universal Credit has been absolutely shocking. To save people reading through the whole thread, here's a bit of background.
When the tenant moved in, rent was paid by UC directly to us. After a few month the tenant changed it so that they would receive the rent. Back in January we submitted a UC47 and received confirmation that it had been setup. After a couple of months of no payments from UC I chased it up, only to be told by UC that the tenants circumstances had changed and the direct payment/managed payment had been stopped. Nobody had told me about it. In April I submitted another UC47, but based on previous experience I rang UC almost weekly to chase things up. Each time I rang I was told that it was with another department and someone would call me back, no-one ever called me back. Then one day, out of the blue, a lady from UC rang me to try and help, she said they didn't receive the UC47 but not to worry as she's put the details in based on an old UC47 but with updated information (outstanding rent etc). It looks like either she messed that up, or the tenant has had this payment arrangement cancelled as well.
So essentially there's a number of cock-ups. The first, UC (in my opinion) shouldn't allow tenants to change the rent to be paid to them. The second problem was that my request for direct payment was successfully setup but then cancelled without telling me. The third problems was that not a single person I spoke to at UC told me that there was no UC47 on the system when I kept ringing for progress, so we went on for a couple of month when all I had to do was submit another form. Finally, I have no idea whether the person who setup the last management payment over the phone messed up, or if somehow the tenant knows a workaround which forced their circumstances to change and managed payments to be cancelled. The whole experience with UC has been a complete shambles.
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
Edited by TheBinarySheep on Monday 5th July 15:06
TheBinarySheep said:
So, another update.
In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
I am not certain at what stage you are at in obtaining repossession.In my last post I said that we'd managed to get a managed payment setup. Well, I still hadn't heard anything from that so I chased up Universal Credit and emailed a couple of people who's email addresses I still had from previous correspondence. On Friday, I got two emails from a guy at UC, the first said that the managed payment couldn't be processed because it wasn't on the correct form, then I got a second email minutes later to say that the managed payment had been stopped because the tenants circumstances had been changed. I've emailed the guy back to try and find out which reason it is.
We've already initiated court action, I'm just disappointed that it doesn't look like we're going to receive a penny in rent while that's ongoing (which could be months).
I'm praying that the tenant digs their heels in and stays in the property until the bailiffs turn up to turf them out, because I'll be there, taking in the pleasure of seeing them being turfed out onto the street like the rubbish that they are.
Edited by TheBinarySheep on Monday 5th July 15:06
You have brought this situation upon yourself, as we all can do at times. It must be nearly twelve months since you have gone without rental payment. In May when your tenant sought an agreed payment to vacate the property, I was one that in the same situation, as I have been, then I would have bit the bullet, paid the monies and obtained repossession.
Believe me with bailiffs repossession, there will be no pleasure for you, particularly when you eventually view inside the property.
Surely its time to write to your MP & council leadership team?
I always find documenting my vitriol cathartic. Just make sure you go both barrels. Explain the hardship caused, the ineptitude, unwillingness to communicate and demand an answer as to if its bad legislation (i.e. the MP's issue) or if its bad execution of the legislation (i.e. Councils fault).
State very clearly you want a simple answer as to why it appears the tenant can simply declare an undisclosed "change of circumstance" every time you are setup as the recipient of the UC. Who can fix this? Legislation or implementation.
I always find documenting my vitriol cathartic. Just make sure you go both barrels. Explain the hardship caused, the ineptitude, unwillingness to communicate and demand an answer as to if its bad legislation (i.e. the MP's issue) or if its bad execution of the legislation (i.e. Councils fault).
State very clearly you want a simple answer as to why it appears the tenant can simply declare an undisclosed "change of circumstance" every time you are setup as the recipient of the UC. Who can fix this? Legislation or implementation.
iwantagta said:
Surely its time to write to your MP & council leadership team?
I always find documenting my vitriol cathartic. Just make sure you go both barrels. Explain the hardship caused, the ineptitude, unwillingness to communicate and demand an answer as to if its bad legislation (i.e. the MP's issue) or if its bad execution of the legislation (i.e. Councils fault).
State very clearly you want a simple answer as to why it appears the tenant can simply declare an undisclosed "change of circumstance" every time you are setup as the recipient of the UC. Who can fix this? Legislation or implementation.
This. This. This! I always find documenting my vitriol cathartic. Just make sure you go both barrels. Explain the hardship caused, the ineptitude, unwillingness to communicate and demand an answer as to if its bad legislation (i.e. the MP's issue) or if its bad execution of the legislation (i.e. Councils fault).
State very clearly you want a simple answer as to why it appears the tenant can simply declare an undisclosed "change of circumstance" every time you are setup as the recipient of the UC. Who can fix this? Legislation or implementation.
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