I have a tennant who will owes me £1500 rent at the end of this month. She didn't pay October's rent of £500, paid £500 in November, we made an arrangement that she could pay the outstanding £500 over 8 months from Jan 2013 to Aug 2013, i.e £540 rent per month Jan to Aug 2013. She didn't pay December's rent. I've texted her about it but she refuses to answer, I've tried phoning her about it but she won't answer the phone, I sent her a letter last week giving her 7 days to respond to me regarding the rent. She hasn't responded. Earlier this week I sent her a text asking her to confirm that she will be paying her rent at the end of this month, she hasn't replied.
I wanted to see if she was still living at the property so I texted her last week to say I would be inspecting it and she responded saying that would be fine, she didn't mention anything about the outstanding rent. I've now sent her a text saying that the lock is faulty and that I need to change the barrel and I would need to see her to give her the new keys, she responded by asking if I could
leave the keys with her neighbour, again no mention about the rent arrears in her reply.
Now to the crunch, can I change the locks and refuse to give her the keys until she pays me some money? Can I change the locks and tell her to come and collect the keys from me, I live 50 miles away,Do I have to hand over the keys to her despite her owing me £1500? Or should I serve her a Section 8 notice, i.e. hand it direct to her when/if I see her. Obviously she's avoiding me and doesn't want to see me, what can/should I do?
This is my first post sorry for the essay.
I wanted to see if she was still living at the property so I texted her last week to say I would be inspecting it and she responded saying that would be fine, she didn't mention anything about the outstanding rent. I've now sent her a text saying that the lock is faulty and that I need to change the barrel and I would need to see her to give her the new keys, she responded by asking if I could
leave the keys with her neighbour, again no mention about the rent arrears in her reply.
Now to the crunch, can I change the locks and refuse to give her the keys until she pays me some money? Can I change the locks and tell her to come and collect the keys from me, I live 50 miles away,Do I have to hand over the keys to her despite her owing me £1500? Or should I serve her a Section 8 notice, i.e. hand it direct to her when/if I see her. Obviously she's avoiding me and doesn't want to see me, what can/should I do?
This is my first post sorry for the essay.