FluffyJames
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My tenants' tenancy should end on the 12th February 2022. Last month's (December) was paid over two weeks late and only £1,000 of a £1,600 rent was paid. I was told that the outstanding arrears of £600 would be paid the following week. This never materialised and no word from the tenants. I did send a Section 21 notice to the tenants on the 24th December 2021 by recorded delivery asking the tenants to vacate the property by 28th February 2022. However, the Section 21 wasn't actually signed for as received until December 30th 2021 making the Section 21 invalid. I then sent by registered post another Section 21 asking the tenants to vacate the property by March 12th 2022. Once again, the Post Office were unable to deliver the letter as no-one was at home. A card was left by the Postman to collect from the nearest depot and this was not done so again this second Section 21 is now out of date.
January's rent is now due and this hasn't been paid either with no explanation from the tenants. I receive regular messages from the tenant constantly telling me that the boiler has broken down. Each time he has reported this I have got a British Gas engineer to the property as soon as possible. To date, I have had two plumbers from DynoRod call to the property and two British Gas engineers. All have reported that the central heating boiler is working and they have records to confirm this. I also put in new mixer taps for the shower. I have always been there when the plumber / engineers call and the boiler, heating and hot water are always working when they leave. The tenants have also said that there is condensation in the property. It took me a few days but I did manage to get an appointment with a condensation company and booked an appointment for Monday, 10th January 2022. I offered my tenant this date and he never answered my request until I had to message him the day before the appointment and he denied me entry into property. I then had to cancel the condensation company. I offered the tenant two more dates to carry out a condensation survey and they never answered my request. Tonight (Tuesday) at 7.40pm I received a very angry message from my tenant saying that the boiler is not working and complaining that he has to pay the rent. In total since November I have had two plumbers and two British Gas engineers and all have said that they cannot find a problem......however, my tenant insists that the boiler is not working.
I'm not sure what my next steps are now. The gas engineers detected no smell in the house which my tenant also complained about. However, my tenants hang wet clothing all over the house, over door frames, on top radiatiors, over banisters. The refuse to open windows and do not ventilate the property as requested. My tenants pay approximately £200 a month less than the market price. This was done so that the medium sized back lawn (no other shrubs) could be cut during the summer months. The lawn has never been cut since the start of their tenancy. When mentioned to my tenant a few weeks ago, that the lawn was overgrown he flew into an absolute rage with me shouting at me and telling me to 'never ever mention that bloody lawn again'. He also told me that I was to 'never ever mention the outstanding rent to him'. I'm at a loss as to what to do now as he is a very difficult person to speak to.
