Problem with tenants

[Brum Lady]

We rent out a house, and for the past eleven months have had no problems at all from our tenants. However, their June rent did not get paid into our bank, so I texted to ask if there was a problem. They texted back to say they had sufferent fraudulent activity to their bank account and that it had been frozen, but they would get onto the bank to sort out the payment.

I left it another two weeks, but still no payment. I texted again and received a very short reply the next day to say their bank was sorting it.

Two more weeks past so I sent a longer text asking for assurance of payment of June and also July rent. They replied at length and said sorry, but all would be sorted.

Now we are in the position of them being two months behind with the rent, no response to messages, and we went to the house last night and got no reply,even though windows were open and their dog was barking inside. We put a letter through the door threatening legal action and saying we needed them to speak to us.

Has anybody had this situation? Because they have been good tenants up to now we don't wish to get too heavy handed, but surely it's not too much to expect adults to contact us and tell us what's going on? Where do we go from here?

TIA

[stonekicker]

mmm...could be that one or both have lost their jobs in this current climate or they just don't want to pay. some tennants do just this - pay for a while and then stop, forcing the landlord to be patient. you now have to make a decision. they are clearly in breach of their tenancy and you have every right to give them notic and then go down the court route to evict them if necessay. this can be a long, expensive process and you could still end up with no rent. only you can decide how patient you are going to be. good luck x

[Brum Lady]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Wouldn 't life be great if everything ran smoothly just once in a while?!

We're going to wait till Monday, and then seek some advice from the Letting Agent that found the tenants for us, since he is holding their Bond.