For some landlords, the reality of managing rental accommodations can be far from perfect. Troublesome tenants may drain significant amounts of time, finances, and effort. It is crucial for landlords to be well-informed about their legal rights and the various strategies at their disposal when navigating complex tenant-related issues.
How to avoid trouble some tenants?
Conduct Thorough Tenant Screening:
- Credit Checks: Run a credit check to assess the tenant's financial responsibility.
- Employment Verification (Student Verification): Confirm the tenant's employment status and income; check student ID if tenants are students.
- Rental History: Contact previous landlords to verify the tenant's behaviour, payment history, and whether they caused any issues during their tenancy.
- Right to Rent Check: Check their immigration status or citizenship documents.
Use a Detailed Tenancy Agreement:
- Clear Terms: Draft a?comprehensive tenancy agreement that outlines rent schedules, maintenance responsibilities, and rules for the property (e.g., no subletting, no pets, etc.).
- Deposit Protection: Protect the tenant's deposit in a government-approved scheme and provide them with required documentation.
Meet the Tenant in Person:
- Face-to-face Interaction: Arrange a meeting with potential tenants to gauge their personality, intentions, and reliability.
- Property Viewing:?Use the property viewing as an opportunity to assess how the tenant interacts with the space. Check the property condition with tenants together.
- Personal and Professional Reference:?Ask for references from employers, colleagues, or previous landlords. This can provide insight into the tenant's character and reliability to see if they are respectful, responsible, and easy to communicate with or not.
Encourage Longer Rent Payment Terms:
- Six-Month Rent Payments: Consider tenants who can pay rent every six months instead of monthly. This demonstrates financial stability and commitment, reducing the risk of late or missed payments.
- Financial Security: Tenants who can afford to pay six months upfront are often more reliable and less likely to cause financial strain on landlords.
- House Rules: Clearly communicate your expectations regarding noise levels, maintenance, and property care during the initial discussions.
- Rent Payment Schedule: Emphasise the importance of paying rent on time and outline the consequences of late payments or breaches of agreement.
- Added Security: For tenants with limited rental history or lower income, require a guarantor. This person will be legally responsible for covering rent or damages if the tenant fails to do so.
- Guarantor Checks: Ensure the guarantor has a stable income and good credit history.
Stay Involved After Move-In:
- Regular Check-Ins: Maintain open communication with your tenant and conduct?periodic property inspections (with proper notice) to ensure the property is being cared for.
- Address Issues Early: If any problems arise, address them promptly to prevent them from escalating.
How to evict troublesome tenants?
Sometimes eviction is unaviodbale. If a problematic tenant is near the end of their lease, tolerating minor issues may reduce paperwork when regaining property control. If waiting isn't feasible, you can proceed with early eviction. The choice is yours, but?strict legal procedures must be followed in either case.
If you have a problem tenant:
- Remain calm and rational: Speak to the tenant first to understand the reason for their behaviour before taking any formal action.
- Respond to any queries promptly: Try to build a communicative relationship, keep written records of any communication, including dates, and take photos during inspections.
- Seek legal advice if necessary: If things cannot be resolved, it's necessary to take the eviction process.
- Eviction at the end of the fixed-term tenancy: Landlords can reclaim their property at the end of a fixed-term tenancy by giving at least two months' notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. If tenants don't leave by the specified date, landlords can apply for a possession order or eviction warrant. Always seek legal advice tailored to your situation before taking action.
- Eviction during the fixed term tenancy: To evict a tenant during a tenancy, landlords must have a valid reason or breach of tenancy terms under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. Common grounds include?antisocial behaviour, breach of contract,?property damage,?false information,?rent arrears, or?late payments. Landlords must obtain a court-issued possession order; otherwise, they risk committing unlawful eviction. The process must begin by serving a notice to vacate by a specific date.
How to solve these problems easily?
If a landlord is too busy to handle these matters, they can entrust a reputable agency to rent out the property. At JCLIVING, if the landlord fully entrusts the property to us, our professional PM team will provide?a full range of professional services, freeing the landlord from the worries of troublesome tenants!
JCLIVING Service Feature 1: Professional Screnning
- We have robust tenant screening processes in place. We conduct thorough background checks, verify references, and ensure tenants meet your criteria.
- We ensure all legal requirements, such as right-to-rent checks and deposit protection, are handled correctly, reducing your risk of disputes or penalties.
JCLIVING Service Feature 2: Premium Tenants
- Most of our tenants are of very?high quality and can pay rent every six months, which greatly ensures the landlords' funds and can provide significant help to landlords who urgently need funds.
JCLIVING Service Feature 3: Problematic Tenants Eviction
- We will assess the condition of the property and other factors to advise landlords on purchasing landlord insurance?to protect their rights.
- We can take?full responsibility for the eviction process of problematic tenants on behalf of the landlords. If a lawsuit is necessary, we can?complete all procedures within six months at the earliest, allowing landlords to truly have peace of mind.
As a professional letting and management agency, we have a Customer Manager team helping landlords to deal with all these problems. We are a better choice for those landlords who are too busy to handle all processes and questions.
We are currently offering a cashback promotion. If you are a landlord and successfully let your property through us, you will receive ￡500 cashback, which can be used towards future management services. Additionally, if you know and recommend a landlord to us, and she/he successfully enter an agreement with us, you will also receive ￡500 cashback. Feel free to contact us for more details if you are interested.
