A ‘sorry’ state of affairs – tenant apologises to landlord

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It’s
a topic I have spoken about many times before, but sadly it doesn’t appear to
be improving.  Councils are still being
forced to respond to Britain’s housing crisis by telling tenants who have been
asked to leave by their landlords, to stay put until they are evicted.  In many cases, landlords are left with thousands
of pounds of rent arrears and legal costs, as will be shown on this week’s
episode of ‘Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords’ (Monday 24 June, 9pm, Channel 5,).

Landlord
Action was recently appointed by IT sales consultant, Dale Prime-Holder. He
came to Landlord Action desperately seeking help on behalf of his elderly mother,
whose tenant had stopped paying rent for over a year but was refusing to leave
the property. They had also discovered that the tenant had moved her daughter, her
daughter’s partner and their child into the property.

The
rent arrears had reached in excess of £10,000 and Dale’s Mother could no longer
afford to wait. I felt particularly saddened when she told me that she felt extremely
guilty for having to go down the eviction route and really didn’t want to go resort
to court proceedings, but felt like she had no choice as she had been using her
own pension money to pay for various bills at the property.

On
the flip side of this story is the tenant. Dale’s mother had used a reputable
letting agent who had carried out all the necessary referencing checks.  Unfortunately, referencing cannot predict someone
falling into unforeseen financial difficulties. Dale’s mother found 62 letters
addressed to the tenant, nearly all of which were chasing money.

As
the population has swelled due to people living longer and immigration, the
country’s housing stock has failed to grow at the same pace.  The resulting imbalance – and the exorbitant rise
in house prices, particularly in the south – has pushed rents higher.

It
has become very difficult for those on lower incomes to find suitable
properties when they try to move, and many are turning to local authorities for
help.

But those who approach the council
are being told they cannot get local authority assistance unless they are
homeless, and so should stay in privately rented properties until they are
forced out by bailiffs.

On
the day of the eviction, the tenant had already left the property before the
bailiffs arrived.  Then, suddenly she appeared
after realising she needed a letter from the bailiffs to prove to the council
that she had been evicted. At this point, the tenant apologised to Dale’s mother.
You couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

The
councils say they will work with households to avoid eviction yet contradict this
by advising that if tenants walk away from the property, they have a legal
right to stay in, then the council has no obligation to find them housing. Local
authorities only have a duty to rehouse them in emergency circumstances – and
that is only when the bailiffs are at the door.

Both landlords and tenants are trapped by this system and something needs to change. What’s more, many landlords use a ‘non-fault’ Section 21 notice to evict tenants and forfeit reclaiming rent arrears, which in many ways is to the benefit of the tenant. If the government abolishes Section 21, tenants who fall into rent arrears and are served a Section 8 notice, may found it more difficult to be re-housed.

Watch
Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords on Channel 5, Mondays at 9pm

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