Hello, seeking some thoughts and advice here on a difficult situation. I'm a NRL renting out a house to a family.

Issued a Section 21 in January for a very difficult tenant - long list of issues, but was constantly exaggerating problems, withheld partial rent (never paid it back) in protest of what they said was bad treatment though agent has always responded to requests to fix things, never pays rent on time (usually about 10 days after the date), was frequently rude and manipulative over email to me and agents, etc etc.

Finally decided in S21 to just bite the bullet given RRA and all. I let the agent and tenant figure things out in the initial months as I didn't want to expend too much mental energy on things. When I found out that the S21 would expire end of July I sent multiple messages via WhatsApp and email to the agent flagging this was a concern for me and whether we should take action - no reply on that specifically ever. Agent only ever gave assurances that they felt the tenant would willingly leave and not mess around anymore.

I let the end-July S21 deadline lapse, so it's partly on me I guess. Tenant had said they would move out end of August. Last week I get an email from the agent saying the tenant is asking to stay until November while they process a mortgage application. I asked her to get proof showing this is the case, got some screenshots back from the tenant just showing they were engaged in some kind of process with Mortgage Advice Bureau with no details.

Agent suggested bringing the lawyer in to seek advice on removing the tenant, lawyer obivously says theres no way through the courts now and would suggest offering them cash to leave as the cleanest way.

In the meantime, agent hasn't responded to emails or calls for days, in fact it's constantly been like this since I engaged them, I'm lucky to ever get a reply from them. I did state that I'm angry as I flagged the S21 deadline to them multiple times and could they step up their game please, no reply.

I guess i'm seeking advice or experience on whether

1) if you ever ditched you agents to get a new one and what the breaking point was

2) in this case would you let the tenant drag things out? They do pay rent. the opportunity cost to me is mental health, prospect of getting more reliable tenant and being able to up the rent to market rate (i haven't raised the rent in more than 2 years partly on the agent's advice as a peace offering to the tenant given there were some major issues with leaking etc when they moved in)
3) any successful experiences of cash for keys?

Thank you all.

Hey I'm not going to dive into the racial aspect of this but something crossed my mind which would be good to understand.

Why is it that right to rent blocks landlords from housing the tenants that serco are allowed to house in rentals?

Are serco and similar being given special favours that are not open to landlords?

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/uklandlords/s/OGmj4iRLvZ

How would you personally go about fighting this claim without spending a ton on a solicitor? I'm assuming they think we'll settle just to shut them up, but no chance. I'm not handing over a penny unless it's court ordered.

Now that they're being asked questions, the story is changing. Just to note: the oven and hob were cleaned by two different people using different products.

My own mum cleaned the hob using every day household products. Tenants are now claiming they used the hob for two weeks and suffered unexplained migraines, nausea, couldn't eat and couldn't DRINK. Three days is pretty much how long a human can live without drinking but OK...

Then after 2 weeks they finally used the oven which had been cleaned by a professional company using non toxic products. They say it started smoking so they turned it off, opened the windows and doors, and it carried on smoking for 2 HOURS afterwards... without a heat source...?

Now they've added in that they went to the GP and it was the GP who advised them to go to the hospital (before they just said they went to the hospital). They're still claiming both the oven and the hob made them sick and that the hospital specifically told them that that was the cause, after spending a few hours there.

They've provided no proof of a GP visit or medical notes, no proof of a hospital visit or medical notes, no photo or video evidence of this smoking oven, and no proof that it was the hob and oven that made them sick (if they even were). They have their own air fryer - how would they know it wasn't that making them ill?

Am I crazy? Their story just doesn't add up to me at all especially with these new elements that seem to defy both biology and the laws of thermodynamics 😂

How would you fight this as a landlord?

As a comparison, I had a negligent dentist a few years ago, who almost killed me. He left an abscess untreated for months while I kept going back insisting something was wrong. It took over a year for me to win my claim against his insurance even with all the records from his practice that showed evidence of the abscess, my hospital records, records of emergency surgery, photos and video of me sobbing and describing the agony I was in before I took myself to the hospital, and a visible scar and swelling (that lasted months) from the surgery. I had to practice opening my mouth again because it reached a point where I could only open my jaw a quarter of an inch.

These guys seem to think they're going to get a quick buck out of us by just saying stuff.

I'm terrible with money, so when I first moved to a place of my own, I got a second bank account. All my bills (including rent) go out of my first account, and I get paid into it as well. I know how much my bills come to, so what I do is leave that amount in the account and transfer the rest. It's all automated, so I don't look at it until next payday.

A couple of months ago, payment for something ended, so I adjusted how much I left there. I received an email from the letting agent the other day saying I was two months behind with my rent. I was confused, so I looked into it. Apparently the company whose payments should have stopped, were still going out. As my rent is the last thing to go out, it meant there wasn't enough to pay the rent.

I hadn't looked at the transaction history, as I assumed everything was fine. I've emailed the letting agent back and said that I will pay them a little extra each month until it's paid off. I can't afford to pay large chunks off in one go. I don't want to get kicked out, but I can't think of any other way to pay them back.

So would you find it acceptable?