Squatters

[diy_fun_uk]

Just been watching the first in a new series of a tenants/landlords from hell tv prog. Okay, I know these sort of progs are produced in such a way as to get viewers worked up, nevertheless the core content is a true reflection of what the tenants and landlords are going through.

One thing that genuinely confuses me is squatting, and I need to be careful that I don't go down a conspiracy theory route about it. Let me explain. They stated on the prog that squatting in residential property has been illegal since 2012. Result? Squatters simply started to squat more in commercial properties. Why wasn't this simply made illegal at the same time?

The prog gave an example of an elderly gentleman who had bought a piece of land, I think with a view to selling it on to further fund his retirement. When he bought it, there were people living on the land in caravans. He came to an agreement with them re stay for so long and then move out. Did they? I'm sure you don't need three guesses. End result, he needs to get the legal system involved and eventually between bailiffs and the police the squatters are evicted. The cost to the land owner for all of this? £15k!

This is where part of me thinks in a way, these sort of issues feed part of the legal and judicial machine. Bailiffs, eviction specialists, police, courts, prisons etc. And the cases seem to take forever to work their way through said system, with costs racking up all the time.

In another example shown on the prog, it took a landlord 18 months to get a non paying tenant out of his property. These people know how to play the (overly long and complex) system, buying themselves time. Okay there's a side debate about the rights and wrongs of private landlords, however the guy in this example had a mortgage on the place, so he had over a year of mortgage payments to make with no rental income. When she was eventually evicted and they got into the property, it was an absolute tip, and I mean almost literally like a tip! How much will the landlord get back from the evicted tenants? Probably zero.

I think the law needs to be simplified. If you can prove you own a property / piece of land and people squatting on it have no legal right to be there (e.g. tenancy agreement) it should take no more than a month from your legal rights being established to complete the eviction process. This refers to out and out squatters. For tenants who stop paying rent for whatever reason, the process should take no more than three months to get them evicted once it has been established the landlord has done nothing wrong in terms of tenancy compliance. Those involved would unfortunately still need to pay costs in relation to the legal processes, however the financial impact would be reduced if these cases didn't drag on for often in excess of a year!

 

[securespark]

Yeah, these shenanigans drive me ferkin nuts and have put me off ever being a landlord.

 

[motorbiking]

Getting a tenant out who has stopped paying rent can be done in a few months. But typically they know to just get behind a bit rather than stop all together. The second point is these damages are all recoverable. Not that, this helps if they don't care about CCJs etc. The Assured Tenancy System is very much stacked against the Landlord. Its like there is an assumption you are going to rip people off. The short term let approach or HMO is much better for a Landlord, which is why so many have switched to that system.

With a short term let, you simply tell them to leave and if they don't you can get the police involved. No need for court.

 

[johnny2007]

Getting a tenant out who has stopped paying rent can be done in a few months. But typically they know to just get behind a bit rather than stop all together. The second point is these damages are all recoverable. Not that, this helps if they don't care about CCJs etc. The Assured Tenancy System is very much stacked against the Landlord. Its like there is an assumption you are going to rip people off. The short term let approach or HMO is much better for a Landlord, which is why so many have switched to that system.

With a short term let, you simply tell them to leave and if they don't you can get the police involved. No need for court.

Also, a lot of landlords are keeping a box room for themselves with a few clothes and personal items so to rent the rest of the house to "lodgers" who can be kicked out without notice at any time.
I don't blame them.

 

[Mottie]

Also, a lot of landlords are keeping a box room for themselves with a few clothes and personal items so to rent the rest of the house to "lodgers" who can be kicked out without notice at any time.
I don't blame them.

Slightly off topic but a bloke I know bought a piece of land from the local council to turn into an MOT station, which he did, but the local council retained ownership of one square foot of the plot right in the middle of it!

 

[HawkEye244]

I think about selling my rental almost every day. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, which I hope doesn't come across that way, I don't want to be a landlord anymore.

I've never had a tenant default on rent. Had smelly tenants, noisy tenants, insanely clean tenants. It's all been good insight.
Same with letting agents: good, bad, average.

Would you marry someone you don't love ? That's how I feel about my rental these days.
If I had a need for the money I would put it on the market at the next changeover.

 

[Diver Fred]

I've been a landlord for 40 years, had the same tenant for over half that time. Changed from a 'Registered' tenancy to AST when those tenants left. Now have tenant with AST.
Differences? with Registered tenant I was responsible for building structure, exterior decoration and building structure. With AST I'm responsible for just about everything which means I find all the dodgy bits the previous tenants did.

Whilst AST rents are higher than Registered tenancy rents the overheads are much higher - so much so that it is not easy to make a living out of letting - certainly so with only one or two lets, particularly if the landlord wants to maintain good standards on and in the property.

Today with all the changes in Letting legislation I've made the decision that the tenant gets notice to go later this year, either be 6 months or 2 years. Then the property will either be sold or knocked into it's neighbour to make one larger house.

 

[johnny2007]

Slightly off topic but a bloke I know bought a piece of land from the local council to turn into an MOT station, which he did, but the local council retained ownership of one square foot of the plot right in the middle of it!

The cheeky buggers!

 

[motorbiking]

With the latest Electrical requirements I can't see how you can get an older property to pass an inspection.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Getting a tenant out who has stopped paying rent can be done in a few months. But typically they know to just get behind a bit rather than stop all together. The second point is these damages are all recoverable. Not that, this helps if they don't care about CCJs etc. The Assured Tenancy System is very much stacked against the Landlord. Its like there is an assumption you are going to rip people off. The short term let approach or HMO is much better for a Landlord, which is why so many have switched to that system.

With a short term let, you simply tell them to leave and if they don't you can get the police involved. No need for court.

Good luck with that. I've heard of quite a few cases where the tenant has left the landlord with a bill of thousands in remedial works and/or unpaid rent and if they are legally made to pay, the repayment plan is often not worth the hassle if the tenant can prove they're on low income. One I recall from years back they had stacked up something like £10k in unpaid rent. The agreed repayment plan was something like £50 a month given the ex-tenants low income status.

 

[fillyboy]

I've tended to avoid working for landlords for a number of reasons but about twelve years ago one phoned me, he'd been recommended by another customer, he had six 'low end' properties and he'd just taken back possession of one after having evicted the drug addicts who rented it. With not having received any rent for about six months plus the legal fees, he was quite a few grand down, and the property had essentially been trashed, he was almost on the verge of a breakdown when he took me to see it.
long story short, I took it on and allowed him to help doing odd jobs, new kitchen & bathroom, skipped all the rubbish, redecorate throughout, I think it came to around 5k or thereabouts before carpets, he was well chuffed and we became good friends.

Within a year he had a repeat situation with another property but he was a lot more relaxed about it having been through it before. Following that 2 properties needed complete refurbs purely because the tenants were so filthy, and I'm talking sh1t stuck to the toilet walls filthy.

He sold them all two years ago, got out just at the right time I think, I doubt he'd have seen any rent in the last 12 months.

I maintain a few holiday lets but again, I generally avoid them. Anyone who phones with a list of jobs that need to be done between 10am and 4pm on a Saturday are told to **** off.

 

[fillyboy]

With the latest Electrical requirements I can't see how you can get an older property to pass an inspection.

What's changed, is it more than a standard check these days?

edit: thinking about it, maybe only a safety check was needed on the gas side when I last got involved.

 

[durhamplumber]

I've never had a tenant default on rent. Had smelly tenants, noisy tenants, insanely clean tenants. It's all been good insight.
Same with letting agents: good, bad, average.

I have had idiot tenants of most varities..Some great tenants but the trend over the years was seriously down hill.Sold up in the end..
Not worth the hassle.Worked for some equally mad landlords and letting agents.

 

[EFLImpudence]

What's changed, is it more than a standard check these days?

Exactly - what is a standard check?

The government has introduced new legislation with terms which don't mean anything - Electrical Safety Standards - Qualified Person - etc. such that reports by inadequately experienced people are leading to mistakes costing the landlord for unnecessary remedial work.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/312/part/2/made

 

[Doug99]

Students can be reasonably reliable tenants. They may party most nights but at least you know the property will be vacated at the end of the academic year. During the summer months airbnb short lets fill the gaps.