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A new company can help to evict rogue tenants in an affordable and
efficient way, says Mira Bar-Hillel.
It's every landlord's nightmare. A tenant moves in but doesn't pay the
rent. After repeated requests and a variety of excuses, eviction seems
the only way. And, as many will vouch, this can cost thousands of pounds
in legal fees, not to mention the months of lost rent.
It happened to Mark Norcliffe, who let a flat at Shirlock Road, NW3,
a year ago. After six weeks, no rent had been paid. When asked why, the
tenant apologised, said he was going through a messy divorce and
changing his banking arrangements but promised all would be well. A
month later there was still no rent." says Sundaresan.
"At this point I became seriously worried as my livelihood depends on
the income from this flat."
Both Norcliffe and Sundaresan were recommended by lettings agents to
seek help from Landlord Action, a new company founded by Johnathan
Chippeck to give landlords with bad tenants an efficient service at an
affordable pre-set price. In both cases the company has managed to evict
the bad tenants.
The company arose out of Chippeck's own bad experiences. He himself owns
and lets flats, and two years ago came upon his first non-paying
tenants. "I spoke to 20 solicitors. None of them would give me a clear
indication of price or time. I felt helpless and angry.
I had mortgages to pay and no rent coming in. It felt like the whole
system was working against the landlord."
Chippeck ended up with a local firm, paying between £1,500 and £2,500 to
have his evictions carried out. "Throughout [the episode]
I was baffled by the jargon and frightened by the procedures. Since
then, however, I have discovered it doesn't have to be like that."
Shortly afterwards Chippeck met Paul Shamplina, a
solicitor-turned-private investigator and certified bailiff, who had
been evicting bad tenants for years on behalf of large companies at a
fraction of the cost charged by solicitors.
Eight months later, and after consulting a specialist QC, the pair
started Landlord Action. Almost immediately the company was inundated by
frustrated and desperate landlords.
"One guy came to us after he had illegally evicted a non-paying tenant
who called the police and made him let them back in. He was In a
murderous rage, especially since a solicitor asked for £750 without
promising any results.
"That evening we sent someone to the flat and handed the tenant the
proper legal eviction notice. Two weeks later the council offered to
clear all the arrears if we stopped the proceedings."
Landlord Action offers a three-step service. The first is the serving of
the legal notice (by hand delivery and within 48 hours of being
appointed). In many cases, that alone is enough to make the tenant pay
up. This costs the landlord £98 plus VAT.
If the tenant does not pay up within 14 days, step two is the issuing of
court proceedings and an appearance before a judge to obtain
a possession order. This costs £498 plus VAT, including a barrister's
fee. If the tenant ignores the court order and refuses to leave,
Landlord Action arranges for bailiffs to remove him or her. This costs
£152 plus VAT.
In Norcliffe's case, contacting Landlord Action last May resulted in a
five minute court hearing in August, following which the tenant obeyed
the judge's order to leave within 14 days. "I hope I never experience
this situation again," Norcliffe says. "But if I have any future
problems I would not hesitate to use them again as they moved swiftly
and efficiently."
Sundaresan agrees: "I am grateful to Landlord Action for their help and
patience in what was a very stressful".
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