Local council private rented standards dept!
Discussion
PH'ers - I need some assistance.
I have been posted a letter from the local council citing a house that is rented to a tenant. He hasn't paid the rent for nearly 6 months now and is the subject of a Section 8 and 21 notice and a court date for the S8 to be heard in December.
The letter says that a number of items need to be resolved in the next 8 weeks and mainly relate to the house having damp and a leaky roof. I knew that the house had a bit of damp and that this was a problem. I found this out because when I went to see whether he was moving out (as he said he would) at 3 months unpaid, he told me about the damp. When I told him that I would send someone to fix it he said he absolutely did not want anybody coming round and that we should fix the issues after he left. He was also very aggressive, shouting at me and telling me that he had been referred to some department due to his mental health issues.
He then hasn't mentioned the issues (or paid the rent) since and now I have this letter, which means that the S21 notice will probably become invalid.
The thing i'm curious on though, is that the local council website states that they will only get involved after an attempt has been made to contact the landlord with these issues, by mail or email. Me and the agent have categorically had nothing from the tenant at all, other than a text rambling on about how crap his life is.
Is there any chance that they will rescind this notice? Probably not....
Also they have identified issues that I really don't agree with, is there an independent inspection that can be done, surely the council can't be beyond reproach?
Sorry for the rambling, any advice appreciated...
I have been posted a letter from the local council citing a house that is rented to a tenant. He hasn't paid the rent for nearly 6 months now and is the subject of a Section 8 and 21 notice and a court date for the S8 to be heard in December.
The letter says that a number of items need to be resolved in the next 8 weeks and mainly relate to the house having damp and a leaky roof. I knew that the house had a bit of damp and that this was a problem. I found this out because when I went to see whether he was moving out (as he said he would) at 3 months unpaid, he told me about the damp. When I told him that I would send someone to fix it he said he absolutely did not want anybody coming round and that we should fix the issues after he left. He was also very aggressive, shouting at me and telling me that he had been referred to some department due to his mental health issues.
He then hasn't mentioned the issues (or paid the rent) since and now I have this letter, which means that the S21 notice will probably become invalid.
The thing i'm curious on though, is that the local council website states that they will only get involved after an attempt has been made to contact the landlord with these issues, by mail or email. Me and the agent have categorically had nothing from the tenant at all, other than a text rambling on about how crap his life is.
Is there any chance that they will rescind this notice? Probably not....
Also they have identified issues that I really don't agree with, is there an independent inspection that can be done, surely the council can't be beyond reproach?
Sorry for the rambling, any advice appreciated...
Your mad tenant is clearly devious.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repa...
Respond the the council stating the dates that you served the section 21 and the dates that your tenant asked for the remedial work and that the tenant has refused you access to carry out the work. Ask them to suspend until after the tenant has gone.
If the section 8/21 were served before the remedial work was requested, it can't be a revenge eviction & it's reasonable for the council to suspend the notice as the tenant will be leaving shortly.
Basically cover your butt to prove that this isn't a revenge eviction as the tenant seems to be lining up his ducks to contest the notices.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repa...
Respond the the council stating the dates that you served the section 21 and the dates that your tenant asked for the remedial work and that the tenant has refused you access to carry out the work. Ask them to suspend until after the tenant has gone.
If the section 8/21 were served before the remedial work was requested, it can't be a revenge eviction & it's reasonable for the council to suspend the notice as the tenant will be leaving shortly.
Basically cover your butt to prove that this isn't a revenge eviction as the tenant seems to be lining up his ducks to contest the notices.
Section 8 can't usually be considered to be a revenge eviction, but a section 21 can. Section 21 gives guaranteed repossession, whereas section 8 doesn't. It's easier for the tenant to drag out a section 8 repossession than a section 21. Something tells me this tenant isn't planning to go quietly.
OP, at the end of the process, please leave the tenant a truthful review on landlordreferencing.co.uk.
Edit to add:
If the tenant can get the S21 nullified by claiming it's a revenge eviction, then he still needs to deal with the S8.
There are a number of grounds for which an S8 can be issued linky. You can ask the court to look at multiple grounds, but these must be declared when the S8 is served.
An S8 on the grounds of unpaid rent (grounds 8) can be dodged. The tenant must have at least 8 weeks unpaid rent on two dates, the date the S8 was issued and the date of the court hearing.
If, on the day before the hearing the tenant made a payment and cleared all but seven weeks of rent then the mandatory repossession can't be granted under reason 8.
Discretionary repossession could still be granted under grounds 10 & 11, but only if the landlord cited these when the S8 was served.
It is also possible for a tenant to ask the court to reduce the arrears if the landlord has failed to do repairs that the tenant has asked them to. Again, if this means that the tenant owes less than 8 weeks of rent on either the court date or on the date the S8 was served, then repossession can't be granted under for ground 8.
The Shelter website has a load of advice aimed at helping tenants avoid eviction. It's well worth a read for any landlord not wanting their tenant to outsmart them.
I'm not a lawyer, just a landlord. I've never served an S8, instead I used a S21 to get rid of a problem tenant last year.
OP, at the end of the process, please leave the tenant a truthful review on landlordreferencing.co.uk.
Edit to add:
If the tenant can get the S21 nullified by claiming it's a revenge eviction, then he still needs to deal with the S8.
There are a number of grounds for which an S8 can be issued linky. You can ask the court to look at multiple grounds, but these must be declared when the S8 is served.
An S8 on the grounds of unpaid rent (grounds 8) can be dodged. The tenant must have at least 8 weeks unpaid rent on two dates, the date the S8 was issued and the date of the court hearing.
If, on the day before the hearing the tenant made a payment and cleared all but seven weeks of rent then the mandatory repossession can't be granted under reason 8.
Discretionary repossession could still be granted under grounds 10 & 11, but only if the landlord cited these when the S8 was served.
It is also possible for a tenant to ask the court to reduce the arrears if the landlord has failed to do repairs that the tenant has asked them to. Again, if this means that the tenant owes less than 8 weeks of rent on either the court date or on the date the S8 was served, then repossession can't be granted under for ground 8.
The Shelter website has a load of advice aimed at helping tenants avoid eviction. It's well worth a read for any landlord not wanting their tenant to outsmart them.
I'm not a lawyer, just a landlord. I've never served an S8, instead I used a S21 to get rid of a problem tenant last year.
Edited by mikeveal on Friday 29th November 12:35
Great pointers there thanks very much.
Spoke to the council man yesterday and turns out he was fed a load of lies by the tenant, he also appreciated that none of the workmen that had been in the past wanted to come back due to the tenants attitude.
When I asked for suspension of the notice his opinion was that if i wrote him a letter with the evidence attached regarding the tenant and his lack of co-operation he may be able to do something.
Spoke to the council man yesterday and turns out he was fed a load of lies by the tenant, he also appreciated that none of the workmen that had been in the past wanted to come back due to the tenants attitude.
When I asked for suspension of the notice his opinion was that if i wrote him a letter with the evidence attached regarding the tenant and his lack of co-operation he may be able to do something.
If it makes you feel happier, it’s taken me and probably 4 others about 1.5 weeks of hourly negotiating with a nutter of a tnt to get 2 days work done. Including putting right her smashing up what we’ve done in the odd hour of allowed access to the home. Easy answer would have been, f you and go, but life isn’t that easy. Still I’ve now got her in court shortly for possession due to behaviour.
Sir Bagalot said:
Is your tenant receiving housing benefit?
If two month in arrears you can apply to the council to have the housing benefit paid directly to you
Yep got the universal credit coming to me directly now - even though he tried to stop me buy giving them a rental contract that said I wasn't the landlord..If two month in arrears you can apply to the council to have the housing benefit paid directly to you
Landlords ar now preventive from serving a Section 21 6A retaliatory or revenge notice evictions. The same means that s21 notices will be invalided where the tenant has complained about the condition of the property and that complaint has been upheld by the local authority by the service of an enforcement notice;
It appears from the OP's post, that the Section 21 notice was served before the local council's housing/environmental health department became involved, served an enforcement notice on the OP/LL, therefore the OP's Section 21 notice appears to be valid.
A large percentage of Section 21 Notices fail at repossession court hearings, due to invalid dates on the notice, or failure to serve the tenant with copies of the EPC, Gas Safety Certificate and The How to Rent Guide, and/or protecting any Deposit monies.
It appears from the OP's post, that the Section 21 notice was served before the local council's housing/environmental health department became involved, served an enforcement notice on the OP/LL, therefore the OP's Section 21 notice appears to be valid.
A large percentage of Section 21 Notices fail at repossession court hearings, due to invalid dates on the notice, or failure to serve the tenant with copies of the EPC, Gas Safety Certificate and The How to Rent Guide, and/or protecting any Deposit monies.
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