My tenant pays his rent and is generally very good, however, he drinks heavily at weekends and verbally abuses his neighbours, who want me to evict him. Am I obliged to serve him notice?
There is a very fine line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and people’s perceptions vary significantly, depending on the situation.
As a landlord, you are not technically responsible for your tenant’s behaviour, unless you have authorised the nuisance, or were aware the problem was likely or foreseeable at the time you rented out the property. In the case of a tenant becoming a bit rowdy after a few drinks at the weekend, it is doubtful you would be held liable. As such, the decision to serve notice or not is down to you.
It is advisable to monitor the behaviour of tenants and speak or write to them requesting they refrain from doing anything that causes a nuisance. What action you then take depends on the nature of your relationship with the neighbours. Having a good rapport with those living around your rental property means they’ll keep an eye on it for you and many of our landlord clients really appreciate the support of neighbours.
You may decide to serve notice on your tenant to preserve any goodwill you have locally, but we would recommend speaking to him first and obtaining his version of events. Serving notice can cause the landlord/tenant relationship to deteriorate and may result in potentially expensive issues down the line, for example, withheld rent or damage to the property. Whilst the neighbours may be grumbling, they do not have to deal with the consequences of evicting a tenant and the potential cost of issuing court proceedings.
If your tenant is not in arrears and is otherwise of good character, your options may be limited to serving a Section 21 notice. For this to be valid, you must have provided a number of prescribed documents in accordance with the regulations. If this didn’t happen, eviction may not be straightforward. It may, therefore, be worth explaining this to the neighbours, to help them understand your lack of action.
Should you discover your tenant’s behaviour is criminal, you could be held liable if you have not taken responsible steps to alert the police. Indeed, we are seeing an increasing number of landlords reporting tenants for cultivating cannabis in their properties. If you or your agent carries out an inspection and fails to report illegal activity, you could face prosecution yourself.
To find out more about evicting a problem tenant, don’t hesitate to contact me. We can assist you with the provision of all necessary documentation and advise on the best course of action. Email: anna.pettinger@tayloremmet.co.uk
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