[Anonymous]

hi all

quick one, i am renting at the moment on an 11 month contract, and was wondering what the law is on renewing the contract, in this case, does the landlord have to give us notice as to whether it will be renewed or not , and if not how much notice does he have to give us?

[Anonymous]

I am a landlord based in the UK who has rented out an apartment on an unfurnished 11 month let. My tenants are in arrears and are not responding to any of my calls.
They have signed a contract with my lawyer, which they have clearly breached.
Has any other owner had a similar problem and what legally is the best course of action apart from physically evicting them?

[katy]

Its par for the course on the CDS your lawyer will have to present a court case. cheaper and faster to get the heavies in 8)

[Anonymous]

Hello JB – hate to be the bringer of doom – but i had the same problem 2 years ago. Everyone thinks that an 11 month contract is bullet proof – after all the law is after 12 months it is the tenants who have the rights. Problem is an 11 month contract is considered by the corts just as much in the favour of the tenants as a 12 month – it is a permanent contract and they have rights you just wouldnt believe. Even if you do a 6 month contract and renew it – it is a 12 month contract – continuation.

Your only recourse of action is to start legal proceedings. Thsi is going to cost you 700 or so for the court hearing and 250 for a procurador – plus of course your lawyers fees. If they havent paid you will need proof – contract, where the money was meant to be paid into etc and statements from your bank account.

If tenants are not getting in touch then send a Buro fax – this is a legal letter which is sent recorded delivery. This should state that they owe you x amount for months outstanding (and list the months)

If they still refuse to answer then this goes in your favour in court – but dont expect it to go our way. If they suddenly pay before the court date then you effectively start from scratch – and in which case send a bruo fax every time they default. I was lucky because the tenants got fed up with the agro of receiving a buro fax every month (after 9 months they had paid for 4 months). So they left to find somewhere cheaper. I shudder to think wha might have happened if they didnt.

In short act now and do not extend their contract – you WILL regret it if you do. Although the chances of you not extending it if they want to are very slight.

But act now, speak to you solicitor and get onto it straight away – the longer you leave it the worse it becomes

Good luck

Vince

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your good advice.

You would not believe it but 10 mins after I posted this my tenants rang me. They have agreed to pay money tomorrow and a further amount in 2 weeks. This wont clear the arrears but it is a start.
Contract renewal is due in 2 months time so I will take your advice on board.

[Anonymous]

some extra info for you

i looked into this and apparently you need to give notice one month before the contract expires, recorded delivery if you want them out.

if not then the contract can automatically renew for a minimum of 5 years!!

[Anonymous]

With regard to my problem tenants, the situation has got worse.
They are now 3 months in arrears and have again stopped answering calls or e-mails.
On the advice of my lawyer I issued a Notice to Quit letter two weeks ago for them to pay all the arrears or vacate the apartment this week. Court proceedings would then commence.
This was delivered to them by hand. It appears that despite this they are making no effort to move out.
I pay all the utility bills by direct debit and the tenants are supposed to pay me but they never have. I am now going to cancel my electric contract and have the power disconnected.

Does anybody know how I stand legally in this case by removing power supply?
The fact is if they had been dealing with the utility companies direct they would have been cut off months ago.

I still may have to resort to physically evicting them if all else fails.

The contract renewal date is 30th November.
Any advice would be appreciated

[Anonymous]

Hi JB

you think along the same lines I did. I used to pay the bills and decided to stop paying them. Iberdrola cut the electricity off, they complained to the courts and I had to pay to get it reinstated – out of my own pocket. It just doesnt compute – hence wjy having any sor to flong term tennant is a hit and miss affair – in the worst case scenario you ocld end up selling them th eproperty in five years time for the value it was when you moved in

Hope it doesnt come to that

Good luck and regards

Vince

[Anonymous]

Thanks Vince

We have had some good news. Our tenants have left the apartment on the day I stated they had to leave and left all their furniture !!!!

They finally answered my phone call and told me they were going to stay with friends and would leave the furniture.

I have had the locks changed today but the apartment is filthy and I am having to pay for it to be cleaned.
Even after allowing for the deposit we are still way out of pocket and it will cost us more in lawyers fees to try and reclaim our unpaid rent.

We will not make the same mistake again and have been recommended a very good agent to manage the property.

Regards
JB

[Anonymous]

Great news JB.

One thing you may want to try is to rent out part of the house – they can still have fuill use of it but you maintain a key and reserve the right to use the room set aside for you at anytime. Of course you dont excercise this right unless they dont pay – but then they arent tennants as far as I am aware – they are lodgers. Different story.

I found this out when I went to rent my house out – i have split it into two apartments but there is an interconnecting door and the electricity is all from the same supply. When I spoke to my lawyer about it he told me that he couldnt do a normal contract (it was only a winter let) because it was only part of the house and would have to be adapted so that effectively they were nothing more than paying guests.

The tennants didnt like that idea (and I quickly became suspicious as to their motives as the rental included all bills – so what possible problem could they have) so bade them farewell.

And the government wonders why so many houses stand empty – recent estimates put it somewhere between 1 and 3 Million empty properties.

THe government could fuel another property boom by changing the rental law in the favour of the landlord – but apparently this government is happy that the property market is in slow down

[Anonymous]

Hello can someone explain the point above about having to sell the house at the price you bought it for? I was told tenants must get first chance to buy if you are selling but thats all. Is this wrong? I am due to complete on a house that now I will not be moving to- do you suggest that I try to cover the morgage and hope for some holiday lets? advice needed thanks 😕

[Anonymous]

Hi Mags

what I was told by my solicitor when I was going to the courts to get my tenants out was that if the contract was indeed extended they would have first refusal if I decided to sell – however they also had some right depending on ircumstances – to buy the house at the value on the day they moved in – I oculd be wrong on this (my Spanish at that time was not so brilliant so may have misunderstood it) but I got the shock of my life when he told me.

Vince

[Anonymous]

I did read somewhere that the housing minister had even sugguested to double the IBI for empty properties. Not dealing with realities of life means that

1) Young people cant buy

2) Cant rent at a sensible price

3) If there was enough property to rent as sugguested around 3 million the rent will come down this along with a fair and transparent legal system would offer a fair minded people to be honest in their dealings with the landlord.

4)Housing provided by the private sector will stimulate the related market i.e. mortgages, furniture, electronics etc.

What else do you expect from a socialist government, if you can rip off the wealthy northern europeans !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as percieved by all aspects of life on the costas..

[Anonymous]

You are right Vince.

[Author]

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