Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Elite Pete on 03 November 2008, 11:08:59
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A few of you will know that I have a number of properties that I rent out, one is a student let in Liverpool and I have a couple of one bed houses in Winsford which is about 5 miles form where I live. Now you would think that the student property would be the most troublesome, but you couldn't be more wrong. The two houses in Winsford are about 16 months and i've owned them from new, they are really different as in the building was an old warehouse which has been converted and the bedroom and bathroom are downstairs and have original parquet flooring and the kitchen and sitting room are upstairs and have vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and large Velux windows. The first house I had a tenant for 12 month but he stopped paying rent after 9 month and it took 3 months for the courts to get him out. It turns out he has never paid any bills and when after 6 months the utilities companies threated to cut him off, he phoned them up with a false name, said he had just moved in and got another 6 months free. The other house we started off with a young lad who decided after 4 months he couldn't afford it so cleared off, luckily we had his deposit and re-let the house two days later after painting and decorating it. The next people was a young couple, but she couldn't keep her draws on, he found out and after 5 months they moved out, again deposit retained and more painting and decorating. The next person along was a single bloke, he paid the rent for 3 months, then stopped paying and dissapeared after 2 month a three weeks just as the court was giving us the OK to kick him out. He had removed the mains smoke detectors because he was a smoker (even though it says in the contract, no smoking) and the place was a mess. So more painting and decorating and on the 26th October we moved a nice young lady in who's copper Dad and Comet Manager Mum were going to be guarantors, got a call this morning of said young lady, she has stopped her cheque and moved out due to a change in circumstances. What really poxes me off is, by law, I have to put the deposit with an approved 3rd party to be looked after which then takes me months to get back evertime a tenant disappears, if the tenant want to leave they can give me 1 month notice, if I want them to leave I have to give then 2 months notice and then if they don't leave I have to go to court which is about another month. There's no point in me going to the small claims court to try to recover my losses because the tenants usually disappear and even if I do find them the courts let them pay back the money at about a £5 a month so whats the point and to top it off my houses arn't worth as much as I paid for them which isn't too much of a problem because I did this as a pension.
Sorry about the long moan but if I didn't get it off my chest I would burst ::)
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I've heard the same kind of stories from my brother who used to own dozens of houses to let. The tenants now have the rules stacked up too far in their favour. It took my brother months to remove one tenant, when he finally got back in the house they'd gutted it of anything & everything they could, cable, central heating boiler, pipe work etc etc. >:(
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I would hang myself Pete. :y
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I've heard the same kind of stories from my brother who used to own dozens of houses to let. The tenants now have the rules stacked up too far in their favour. It took my brother months to remove one tenant, when he finally got back in the house they'd gutted it of anything & everything they could, cable, central heating boiler, pipe work etc etc. >:(
I wish mine had, that way you can get the police involved for theft and they would find the tenant.
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I would hang myself Pete. :y
You can always rely on Steve for a cheery word ;D
If I did, I would leave you the houses, tenanted with a clause saying you couldn't sell them ;D
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The way I look at it Pete..You can worry yourself sick about it or.........not.
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The way I look at it Pete..You can worry yourself sick about it or.........not.
I really laidback Steve, but if I found out where the other two scroats had disappeared too >:(
But the wife will give me grief about this for days ::)
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my brother found the legal route didnt work, he found a better way, it involved 4 rather large friends & a van & swore blind he didnt know them & it might be someone else they upset that done it ;)
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Is it not worth taking them to small claims ?. If they get claims against them, that should make it harder for them to get credit in the future. And if another landlord checks up and finds out they have been naughty, then they will find it hard to get accomodation in the future.
Ken
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Is it not worth taking them to small claims ?. If they get claims against them, that should make it harder for them to get credit in the future. And if another landlord checks up and finds out they have been naughty, then they will find it hard to get accomodation in the future.
Ken
The problem is, you have to know where they are to go down the small claims route :(
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Is it not worth taking them to small claims ?. If they get claims against them, that should make it harder for them to get credit in the future. And if another landlord checks up and finds out they have been naughty, then they will find it hard to get accomodation in the future.
Ken
The problem is, you have to know where they are to go down the small claims route :(
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Yes, its a shame you haven't got their work, or parents address. I may be doing the same thing as soon as I get the house I am working on finished, and this does not exactly give me confidence ;D ;D
Ken
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I used to rent a nice Flat overlooking the Menai Strights...
I stopped paying rent after 14 months... I moved out 3 months later
Thankfuly the courts saw my point of view, I had 3 steps missing leading to my flat after they rotted threw meaning acrobatics getting in or out - this had been chased by me for 3 months and was still there when I left... I left because of a roofing slate falling off and leaving me with a major head injury...
Worst land lord ever...
Though the he had more agro with the wirdeo's on the ground floor :) they ran a power extension from the hall way to bypass there eletric meter...
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sell all your small properties, buy one big one, and rent to short-stay highly paid footballers :D
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I have just been to see what state she has left the place in and I will have to go and clean again but as luck would have it, as I was going around Morrisons roundabout, I spotted the previous tenants work van so followed it, saw him drop his Mum off at home and then followed him to his new address, his face was a picture when A collered him getting out of his van. He has promised to pay the £1300 he owe's but I cant see that happening, but at least I can get the small claims courts involved :)
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What you need to do is rent a Jimbob to gas them out....
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Nice piece of detective work. :y
Do you deal directly or through a letting agency? just wondering if you could offload a bit of the hassle and the risk by using an agency? They'll take their cut, of course, but there's a balance to be struck, surely?
Kevin
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Nice piece of detective work. :y
Do you deal directly or through a letting agency? just wondering if you could offload a bit of the hassle and the risk by using an agency? They'll take their cut, of course, but there's a balance to be struck, surely?
Kevin
I do all the letting myself because, although the letting agents will check references they dont guarantee rent. The last one I spoke to wanted £350 for the advertising, showing around ect plus 10% of the monthly income for accepting payments each month.
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I do all the letting myself because, although the letting agents will check references they dont guarantee rent. The last one I spoke to wanted £350 for the advertising, showing around ect plus 10% of the monthly income for accepting payments each month.
OK, so you could offload all the easy bits for a rather fortune and still be left with all the risk. :(
Kevin
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I have just been to see what state she has left the place in and I will have to go and clean again but as luck would have it, as I was going around Morrisons roundabout, I spotted the previous tenants work van so followed it, saw him drop his Mum off at home and then followed him to his new address, his face was a picture when A collered him getting out of his van. He has promised to pay the £1300 he owe's but I cant see that happening, but at least I can get the small claims courts involved :)
and now you know where he AND his mother lives!!