Landlord Action founder Paul Shamplina has appeared in a television programme which featured cases where rogue tenants owe landlords thousands of pounds in unpaid rent.
The ITV Tonight’s Nightmare Tenants gives a stark warning to landlords about the dangers of letting their properties to unscrupulous tenants.
One of the stories gave details of the largest rent arrears case that Landlord Action has been instructed on and which was worth a staggering £85,000.
Landlord Action was instructed on the case in April this year when rent arrears were standing at £65,000.
After taking on the case, Shamplina successfully obtained a seven-day possession order and an eviction date in early August.
The programme showed Shamplina serving bankruptcy documents on the tenant. He said: “From dealing with nearly 17,000 cases over our 11 years of trading, in the last 18 months we have seen a 47 percent increase in landlords instructing us to carry out an eviction on their tenants who have not been paying the rent.
“This is mainly due to the recession as we have seen more armchair landlords enter the market who do not have the knowledge about buy to let and have, therefore, not carried out their tenant checks properly. This clearly exposes them to these sorts of problems.”
Two further evictions featured in the programme relate to tenants who are claiming Local Housing Allowances.
Shamplina suggests there are deeper lying problems with regards to the current Local Housing Allowance system.
He said: “Our landlords have been upset with the LHA system since its inception in 2008. Their major issue is the fact that landlords are not receiving direct rent payments from the local authority.”
Landlord Action has been heavily campaigning on the LHA front. Shamplina added: “Instead of diverting resources into criticising the current system, we are helping landlords to learn how to make the current system work for them.
“There is no doubt that the system can work if landlords know what they are doing. Our LHA Seminars show landlords how to manage an LHA tenancy effectively.”
Landlord Action’s next LHA Seminar will be held on October 29. See www.LandlordAction.co.uk/LHA for more details.
