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Landlord Blues: Renting out the house from hell

I am using this blog to publish extracts from my third book on the subject of dealing with tenants from hell. The aim of the book and blog is to give people an insight into what the life of a landlord can be like and to provide tips for making landlords’ lives easier. This is done by describing real experiences of our worst-case scenarios. This should help you avoid getting into the same fixes.

Running the hot water tap to warm yourself up?
Monday, May 12, 2014 @ 2:10 PM

We then received the following from Okie :
Okie (9.09am, 11th December):
Good morning  Adrian. How are you? The last time we spoke you said  Jason was leaving end of October. You later told me that he was leaving in November. We are approaching middle of December and he is still around. Last night was horrible, as I couldn’t sleep due to the horrible noises he was making, some construction kind of noise, he and his friends.
I need a honest date when he is leaving, please. If at all he is leaving, if he is not please tell me. Thank you.
Me to Jason (13.17, 11th December):
What date next week are you leaving? I am instructing bailiffs tomorrow because you are disobeying the judge’s order and not leaving today. This is costing us a further 110 pounds, which will be added to your debt to us. The bailiffs will fit us in quickly as they feel sorry for us decent landlords having tenants from hell. I know you were making a racket again last night as I received a complaint from someone in the street. You should leave of your own accord as soon as possible unless you want to be physically ejected from our house. I repeat: what date are you going?
I also replied to Okie:
Me (9.48, 11th December):
We’ve followed all the legal procedures and the judge has ordered him to leave by today. He says he is going to leave next week but we are instructing bailiffs to throw him out. We can’t make the process go any more quickly; we can only follow the lengthy court process. 
I was clarifying that we are not ‘liars’ as he was implying. He was no bloody angel anyway. 
Okie (10.16am, 18th December):
That’s fine. I had made enquiries at the council office and they timeframe they’ve told me such process goes through isn’t as lengthy as this one. And that’s very surprising coming from council officials. They did say the almost two months process this one is taking is not possible.
Me (11.22, 18th December):
What are you saying then? Council officials are not landlords and they are not lawyers. What a strange message to send us. Do you think we want  Jason to stay at our house? We have been in this business for a long time and have a vast amount of expertise. I have even written books on it and have a doctorate in criminal justice. I don’t appreciate having you cast aspersions on my honesty. Don’t send me any more texts like this. I find them annoying.
Okie (11.31am, 18th December):
Just offering a suggestion. I did ask the question to them when they came to office, even before I initially asked you.
Okie (11.34am, 18th December):
So it’s clearly not an aspersion on your honesty. I don’t doubt that at all. Just a suggestion to help on an issue that is pending, that’s all.
Me (11.39am, 18th December):
What is the specific suggestion that will help? There was no suggestion, apart from you thinking ‘council officials’ know more than us. In fact they are advising him to stay until he is physically thrown out. The council works for the bad tenant against decent landlords.
Okie (11.41am, 18th December):
Ok I see. Just felt that they could do things faster, that’s all. No worries.
Okie (12.15am, 18th December):
I apologise if you felt wrongly about the message. Certainly it had no ill intent.
He was definitely next in the firing line. Alan the painter said that not only did he put all the rings on the cooker on to ‘warm’ himself up, but he actually ran the hot water tap into the sink for the same reason and that all of the lights in the house were left on at all times. It was like they were in a competition to work out who could use the most electricity. Okie also then texted to say his rent would be late (after we'd asked, as we had to ask every month, where it was).
Adrian to Okie (11.20am, 19th December):
Thanks for update. If u need to pay late u should inform us rather than us chase u. Please pay on time next month. Thanks.
Okie (11.30am, 19th December):
Sorry  Adrian, didn’t inform you as I believed I would source funds elsewhere. I should have told u on those occasions we saw at home. A million Thanks for understanding. Best regards.

 

 



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