Tenants Are Penalized

Tenants Are Penalized By Their Landlords For These Actions

Living on rent does not give tenant freedom to impose on the property. Each violation of the rent agreement incurs a penalty which can be financial and social.

The UK follows strict rules when it comes to living in the country. Be it, landlords or tenants, both come under equally strong restrictions when it comes to breaching the laws.

When a homeowner rents out a property to a person who is not eligible to stay in the country, he or she becomes a part of an offence. And a person trying to stay illegally in the UK is already an offender.

The government clearly defines tenant-landlord rules. Each aspect of a rental agreement has discussed in detail on various online platforms. Failure to comply with even one of the norms can lead to penalization.

Despite such hard rules, tenants tend to behave irresponsibly and are often forced to pay high charges for their actions. As per various surveys, there is a list of offences that are usually undertaken by a majority of tenants around the country. The top broken rules include:

  1. Delay in paying rent
  2. Covertly keeping a pet
  3. Changing the locks 
  4. Disturbing the neighbors
  5. Smoking without permission
  6. Altering the interiors 
  7. Stealing from the premises
  8. Subletting without notification

Funding for the Penalties

Irresponsible actions have dire repercussions and can lead a non-homeowner to get buried under financial liabilities.

It can get pretty hard for a tenant to accommodate the penalty charges into the monthly budget. And it would get even worse if the landlord files a legal complaint with the authorities for non -repayment of dues.

Living on rent leaves no commercial space to work on one’s credit, and no bank would lend money to a person who does neither owns a property nor has a good credit score. It makes the only viable and affordable option to turn to a direct lender for bad credit loans. These unsecured loans can be availed within 24 hours through online websites and can be slowly repaid over time. 

Let us discuss each prevalent violation in little depth.

1- Delay in paying rent: One out of four tenants tend towards being unpunctual with their rental arrears. Out of the budget expenditure or loss of a job is mostly quoted as the reasons. It is when they continue to stay without paying rent. There are so many times when they vacate the apartment without notification or payment of the rent due.

2- Covertly keeping a pet: Nearly 18% of tenants are pet-owners. And if there is a valid pet prohibition clause in the agreement, the landlord can evict the tenant via the section 21 procedure. Landlords are usually wary about pets due to possible damage to their property.

3- Changing the locks: Tenants have developed this practice of changing the locks of the property without informing or taking the permission of the owner. Even if insecurity drives them to do this, landlords can report this as criminal damage and get them evicted.

4- Disturbing the neighbours: Nuisance created by the tenants in the residing neighbourhood is never appreciated. Multiple complaints to the landlord only shorten the lease of the rental agreement. Neighbours have been known to file complaints with the local authorities against noisy tenants.

5- Smoking without permission: Unsurprisingly, one out of every five tenants is a smoker in the UK. HMO strictly prohibits smoking in shared areas of accommodation, hotel or club bedrooms, and workplaces. Unauthorized smoking in rooms directly makes the tenant an offender of HMO.

6- It is altering the interiors: Section 81 of the Housing Act, 1980, outlaws tenants from making any unauthorized alterations to the rented premises. Despite that, about 17% of tenants find it fit to alter or damage the rented property without consent. 

7- Stealing from premises: Almost one-third of tenants steal things from their landlords. The attributed reasons are personal grudges, forgetting ownership, or assuming it would go unnoticed. The stolen items are most valuable and include things like refrigerators, televisions, sinks, and even fans.  

8- Subletting without notification: The risk of the landlord increases exponentially when a tenant rents the property to someone else. The new tenant could be an illegal migrant, which poses a significant threat to the landlord. Out of all the practices that tenants take up, this one annoys an owner the most. 

Consequences for the Tenants

None of the above actions are accepted calmly by the landlords. Every violation of the rent agreement incurs a penalty for the tenant. The amount of damage to the property added to the penalty charge.

It makes a tenant liable to pay a considerable amount on top of the rental charges s/he is entitled too. With the chip of a bad credit score on the shoulder, no credit check loans are the most popular options among these tenants.

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