I absolutely love your work and you are a gifted writer – keep it up.

Absolutely agree with the points you make here:

a) LHA tenants not paying rent is out and out fraud – misuse of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that is meant to be for rent but ends up in pubs and bookmakers
b) If you went into a high street supermarket, trashed it, pissed on the floor then walked out with a crate of champagne without paying you would be quite rightly arrested. And in some countries, they would cut off your right hand. Not the same with rented property unfortunately.
c) You cannot even take a measly £4 ride on the Tube without paying and if you don’t pay you get arrested straight away. Unlike rented properties.

I provide a service to paying customers. Most are great. But the ones who steal property and do not pay / misuse the service should be treated as thieves pure and simple.

Hang on in thee and don’t let the HPC / anti-landlord to$$ers get to you.

cheers

Dougal

What you fail to understand is that any issues that the tenant have are issues the tenant has to deal with. If they have a drug issue they should seek help. Why should any landlord be expected to provide rent free accommodation to anyone. Do you think the banks will allow for payment free months because a tenant has cash flow issues?.

If you cant afford to rent, you should talk to the council, don’t expect a free ride from a landlord who themselves are just about able to keep up the repayments. You make it sound like landlords are somehow able to excrete funds at will from a rear orifice.

Perhaps your contempt would be better directed to those tenants who expect everyone to bail them out. Sort yourselves out, and do whatever it takes to get yourself sorted, i don’t know get two jobs, get three whatever, some of us landlords do JUST THAT to get ahead in life.

TB

What the fuck is this country coming to?

Jimmy

You have been very fortunate to leave your parents ‘loving arms’ with some decent savings – not all of us have this good start in life. To invest those savings in property was probably a wise choice (certainly at the time, however recent events have obviously changed the world massively).

Many of us do not have the opportunity to invest in our own home, let alone a property to rent out; and so we are left with renting a property – it’s the closest we can get to a ‘home’.

I’m not going to berate you for your choice of phrases which truly shocked me, but I would like to say this: please remember that although it may feel like your tenants are deliberately avoiding you/not paying you/ripping you off, this is quite unlikely to be the case.

Many tenants, particularly DSS, simply do not have extra cash lying around. When a payment is missed by the council (as frequently happens) there is nothing with which to pay you. Councils can be utterly useless when it comes to housing benefit, and don’t seem to realise that their lack of organisation can result in a tenant losing their home.

It is unfair to assume that your tenant is a ‘crack whore’. And if she is, then she clearly has far more problems in her life than worrying about whether you cover your mortgage or not. It’s irresponsible of you to imagine that the lives of your tenants will not affect you. Renting a property to somebody else involves taking a huge responsibility which maybe you were too young to comprehend.

From your posts, it doesn’t appear that you have ever lived on the breadline, or tried to bring up a child on benefits. Let me tell you it is extremely difficult, and puts your sob story to shame.

I appreciate the frustration you must feel, particularly since she has not apologised to you, and keeps making excuses, but it is worth remembering that her life is probably a great deal harder, and that it is probably not just you she can’t afford to pay.

It is relatively easy to make money when you already have a little to start you off. Don’t assume that people on DSS are scumbags or work-shy – it is simply not true. And on the taxpayer thing – many people on benefits have paid their taxes and NI over and above the benefits they receive, so don’t assume they’re being supported by you either.

I really hope you can learn a little humility in this game and don’t be so quick to judge others – you never know what might happen to you in your lifetime, don’t count on life always being this good to you.

Apart from that, I can understand what a nuisance people like that can be. Although I dont really agree with some of the methods recommended in the last post..

I feel for you mate I know what your going through.

If they are doing drugs then use your digital camera to record this if you can. Then let the police know.

Complain constantly to the council and Environmental Health who will come round and take pictures etc..

Finally fight fire with fire and make their life hell.

Put super glue in their locks. Send pizzas round there….Smash the odd window…Be creative and of course get away with it….Under cover of darkness mate….

Good Luck Bruvver !!