UK Landlord Forum / Life

I'm after a bit of advice.

Long story short have a tenant in my property who has been in arrears a few times and has been quite disruptive to the other flats. She has a dog which she hasn't requested to have and has refused access despite correct notice being provided.

Section 21 was served for the tenant to move out at the end of the agreement and the tenant has remained in place after the deadline.

Currently going through a possession order to get the property back but today I received a maintenance request stating they have no running water.

We have no agreement in place do I legally have to do anything? They currently owe £2000 and are refusing to vacate.

You do have an agreement in place. When the lease ends it automatically becomes a periodic tenancy, with the same requirements for both parties. Whether this is a genuine water problem or a stalling tactic you do need to have it urgently checked. It might be worth contacting the water company to see if there is anything going on locally that might have affected the supply. If all running water has stopped that is unusual. 

Quote from: SamF88 on August 13, 2024, 12:55:44 PMCurrently going through a possession order to get the property back but today I received a maintenance request stating they have no running water.

We have no agreement in place do I legally have to do anything?

As noted, you do have an agreement in place and you have all of the same repair obligations as if the tenant was staying forever and up do date with rent.

Leaving them with no water is probably a criminal act.

As others have pointed your the Tenancy became a Statutory Periodic Tenancy by virtue of Section 5 of the Housing Act, all terms remain the same except that it is now a periodic tenancy that runs period to period as defined by the rent interval (usually monthly).

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/5

The more serious matter is the lack of running water, you are ALWAYS required to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation.

The consequences for failure to respond promptly can be very severe.

The first thing you should have done was to call the local water company and determine if there is an outage that they have caused.

Then look for evidence of that on their website or get the water company to email you confirmation of works.

Then inform the Tenant with a copy of the notice from the Water Company.

If there are works, advise the Tenant to contact the water company so that they get prompt updates.

If there are no works then get a suitably qualified contractor to visit the property to determine the cause of the alleged lack of water services.  You are responsible for all pipework on your property, the Water Company is responsible from the street, although this can be more complicated in rural areas.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/11

You don't get to withdraw services if a Tenant does not pay their rent, not only will this affect the rent you can ask for (loss of amenity) but it is deemed as harassment and forced eviction which are both criminal offences.