Deciding to purchase property to rent out or renting out your own space is a huge decision and one of the most important things to consider when taking on this responsibility is the type of tenant you wish to take on.

The perfect tenant is the Holy Grail of property and unfortunately you are very unlikely to find them so you need to be prepared for what you can do when you find yourself having to deal with a problem tenant.

There of course a number of reasons why tenants might begin to cause problems, the obvious being unpaid rent or bills, causing damage to the property or excessive noise levels.
Our first and probably the hardest solution is to establish what exactly the problem is and find out WHY the tenant is causing that problem. Unpaid bills may be due to personal problems such as the loss of a job or relationship/family worries and so it is important to be sympathetic until you know exactly why the problem has occurred in the first place. Remember that it might be hard for a tenant to confide in you that they are in trouble.

If your tenant still refuses to communicate with you then the problem will escalate and so you need to start a course of action and we would recommend written communication in all circumstances. A polite letter is your first move and it is then up to the tenant to respond. If for example, they are causing neighbours problems with excessive music and fail to improve after a gentle warning you should do your best to keep records of complaints and specific incidents.

For something such as noise, the correct route to deal with this is through the Environmental Health Agency NOT the police or any other department of the council. The EHA will keep note of these incidences and inform your tenants that their noise making equipment could be removed if they persist. This is a pretty serious threat and is likely to help in the long run.

You are legally within your right to evict a tenant with appropriate notice as long as you serve the correct notices in the proper manner. Always treat tenants with respect no matter what happens, keeping a professional head is an absolute must especially if a tenant does not agree with your reasons for wanting to evict them. Know your contracts inside out so if a tenant breaches them you can step in at the right time.