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Experienced landlords rarely fall victim to difficult tenants because they can usually deal with problems before they snowball. However, a landlord with over 30 years’ experience in the private rental sector is facing financial ruin because of a hoarder tenant.
Bad Tenant
The landlord, whose story is set to be featured in Bad Tenants Rogue Landlords on Channel 5, bought an 18-century cottage next door to her own abode. The cottage had a sitting tenant with a rent protected tenancy agreement. The landlord knew the elderly tenant had problems, but she felt that she could help him by bringing the cottage back into a reasonable state.
Unfortunately, it became increasingly difficult to gain access to do any work or meet her landlord obligations. Rent payments were also intermittent. With vermin appearing and rubbish piling up, the landlord contacted the local council to see if they could assist. They produced a report citing serious health and safety issues and even offered the tenant alternative housing, so the landlord could fix the problems, but the tenant refused to leave. Social services couldn’t help either. In the end, the landlord was forced to seek a possession order.
Tenant Claims Harassment
The tenant filed a counter-suit claiming harassment. It has cost the landlord £25k in legal fees to date. If she loses her battle, she could end up having to sell the property to pay the legal bills.
