Hi guys,

I have a tenant who has outstanding arrears of £270. I know this isn't alot at the moment but I'm a little worried that she'll struggle again to pay me at the end of this month too (as she always pays late) thus building up the arrears. The agreed rent is £450 per month.

Her rent is due on 21st of each month but because she gets paid at the end of each month I agreed to let her pay me at the end of the month rather than 21st just to help her out. Even though we agreed this I still find on most occasions that the rent is paid 6-7 days after the end of the month. This month she has only managed to pay me £250 even though she has just been paid! After tax & National Insurance etc she gets approximately £1,000 income.

It's an awkward situation really because she is someone who I work with. She explained that the reason she is behind is because she has recently gotten herself into a mess financially with payday loans. I do believe her and she does sound sincere but at the end of the day she has got herself into this mess, not me.

I really don't want us to fall out over this & would like to help her in some way but I have mentioned that at the end of the day this is a business not a charity which she fully understands and accepts.

She says that she is now off work for 2 weeks and that she will try and get something sorted by asking her ex to help out. She says that he's been giving her money recently for groceries and travel in order to help her out.

To be honest though I'm not hopefull that she'll get anything sorted anytime soon so I was wondering if some sort of repayment plan might work? I guess it's either this or just calling it a day.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I've asked her to give me a call after work to discuss matters further so I guess I'll have to wait and see.


Many thanks,

Joel Herbert

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Ask her how many payday loans she has. It is so easy to take out several loans by going to different ones and also find out if she has written cheques to them or is repaying them with her visa debit card in which case they'll take out the money automatically. You don't say how many months she has left on her AST. Personally I don't think it really matters if she's a friend or not as she clearly can't afford to stay there if her rent is £450 and she's only picking up £1000 a month and she's got other creditors queuing up holding their hand out for money when she gets paid.

I would call it a day with her Joel. You have a lot more at risk than she does and you don't want it to start affecting your cashflow generally which it is already doing because she's in arrears as you have your property portfolio in general to protect and you must protect that at all costs.

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Joel, don't spend so much time analysing the situation.

She obviously can't afford the rent.

Serve a section 21 and ask her to leave.

Probably avoid renting to work colleagues if I was you.

Jon

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Jon Bieri
The Potential2 Group (Lettings, Sales,Quick Sales, Portfolio build,Help for 1st Time Buyers)

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Joel,

I've been down this road, trying to help someone out, accepting excuses, giving them a second chance, then a third etc. etc. By the time I finally came to my senses and removed them I was down £5,200. I then made another mistake by using a recovery company to chase the debt. That was throwing good money after bad, and something I won't do again. I've toughened up a little now, and hopefully won't get caught out again. If I were you I would do as others have suggested and remove her now, before it becomes too financially painful.

Best regards John

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Hi guys,

Thanks for all your feedback it is really appreciated.

To be honest I agree with each and every one of you and think that it is time to call it a day with her.

She is now on a rolling month to month contract as she only signed a 6 months AST back on 21st Feb 2009 so I wouldn't have thought it will be difficult to remove her from the property if she does become stubborn.

To be honest though it was her that said that she would understand if I decided to find another tenant so we are on good terms at the moment.

I think I'll meet her at the property shortly and discuss the situation with her. Hopefully they'll be no bitterness between us when I've asked her to leave.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome unless I'm unable to because she's boiled me in a pan filled with boilng hot water. Have any of you seen that film Fatal Attraction .

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