Tweet
Hello all
I need some help and advice. I rented my property out to a friend's sister in 2008 as I was moving out of the area and renting somewhere closer to work with my partner. At the time, it was either rent it out quickly or just liaise with the building society to call it quits (a lot was going on in my life at the time).
I never asked for an original deposit as they were friends and I did draw up a AST agreement for 6 months. All went well for about 2 years as she was receiving housing benefit and I got paid regularly.
Payments from then on became irregular and there was always communication to say she would be £50 short this month and could she add it onto next month. Some months it was only half rent paid and she tried to catch up. I accepted this as I thought the net effect over the months would right itself.
Back in December 2012, she was under investigation for fraudulently claiming housing benefit because she hadn't declared her partner living there and her housing benefit stopped, Since then I have never received a full months rent on time and she is permanently in arrears. I have since learned from other friends and family that her spending habits do not reflect this and I am being taken advantage of.
I have said to her that if she does not make an agreed payment by the end of this month that I am happy with and regular payments thereafter she will have to move out.
No, the tricky part. The AST is no longer in existence and by that I mean, I cannot find the original that I signed back in 2012 (a renewal on the original for 6 months) so it has expired and is on a monthly periodic agreement. I doubt she will have a copy and the original electronic version I had was on my computer which was stolen earlier this year so I have no evidence that an AST is in existence. She never paid a deposit and will not have any proof that she paid anything when she moved in.
I have a complete breakdown of all the communication (via FaceBook) of her admissions of not paying the rent and me giving her ample opportunities to pay and I have created a statement for the past 6 months showing all her payments against what she owed.
I have given her the ultimatum that if she doesn't pay by 31st August I will issue her with 8 weeks notice to move out (using a section 21).
Is this the right thing to do? I am worried I haven't got any leverage because I do not have a signed copy of the original AST nor do I suspect her to and in any case it will have expired 2 years ago.
I would be grateful for any advice as I just want my property back so I can decide what to do with it and the fact that I would rather have it empty than pay for her to live in my house!
Thanks
I need some help and advice. I rented my property out to a friend's sister in 2008 as I was moving out of the area and renting somewhere closer to work with my partner. At the time, it was either rent it out quickly or just liaise with the building society to call it quits (a lot was going on in my life at the time).
I never asked for an original deposit as they were friends and I did draw up a AST agreement for 6 months. All went well for about 2 years as she was receiving housing benefit and I got paid regularly.
Payments from then on became irregular and there was always communication to say she would be £50 short this month and could she add it onto next month. Some months it was only half rent paid and she tried to catch up. I accepted this as I thought the net effect over the months would right itself.
Back in December 2012, she was under investigation for fraudulently claiming housing benefit because she hadn't declared her partner living there and her housing benefit stopped, Since then I have never received a full months rent on time and she is permanently in arrears. I have since learned from other friends and family that her spending habits do not reflect this and I am being taken advantage of.
I have said to her that if she does not make an agreed payment by the end of this month that I am happy with and regular payments thereafter she will have to move out.
No, the tricky part. The AST is no longer in existence and by that I mean, I cannot find the original that I signed back in 2012 (a renewal on the original for 6 months) so it has expired and is on a monthly periodic agreement. I doubt she will have a copy and the original electronic version I had was on my computer which was stolen earlier this year so I have no evidence that an AST is in existence. She never paid a deposit and will not have any proof that she paid anything when she moved in.
I have a complete breakdown of all the communication (via FaceBook) of her admissions of not paying the rent and me giving her ample opportunities to pay and I have created a statement for the past 6 months showing all her payments against what she owed.
I have given her the ultimatum that if she doesn't pay by 31st August I will issue her with 8 weeks notice to move out (using a section 21).
Is this the right thing to do? I am worried I haven't got any leverage because I do not have a signed copy of the original AST nor do I suspect her to and in any case it will have expired 2 years ago.
I would be grateful for any advice as I just want my property back so I can decide what to do with it and the fact that I would rather have it empty than pay for her to live in my house!
Thanks
Comment