With the start of the London Olympic Games just a few short weeks away, landlords with buy to let in the London area are frantically marketing their properties in the hope of attracting short-term tenants for the summer, and with some properties advertised at more than £6k per week, the potential for raking in a huge profit is massive. But what about those properties where tenants are already in residence?
Sadly the lure of a quick profit is proving too much to ignore for some unscrupulous private landlords. Instead of treating their existing tenants fairly, these landlords are serving hurried eviction notices telling tenants to pack their bags and get out or face having their rents increased to unaffordable levels.
Can private landlords do this?
Evicting tenants without giving them sufficient notice is illegal, so the answer is a resounding “no”. It is also illegal to harass a tenant in order to provoke them into leaving a property and should a landlord be found guilty of such offences, they face prosecution and a custodial sentence at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
So instead of being seduced by short-term profits, look at the bigger picture and recognise the benefits of keeping reliable long-term tenants who pay their rent on time and don’t trash the place. It might seem like easy money to let your flat or house for the duration of the Olympics, but when the Games are over and everyone has gone home, you may find it impossible to find new tenants as a glut of rental properties comes on to the open market once again.
