Non-paying tenants : what options do I have as a landlord?

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I know what some friends of mine did a few years ago when they couldn't get rid of a non-payer. However seeing who you're dealing with, I'd just cut my losses. Nothing you can do. Good luck

@ncfacebook26

Welcome to the expat.com forum and good luck resolving your tenant situation.

I have been, a couple of times, in a similar one, and it is no fun at all. Unfortunately, I think you summarized the situation pretty well.

Spain, in particular, has a problem with "ocupas" and it can be a major headache. Your only hope is that your tenants, as foreigners, don't know about this!

If you really needed your flat back in 2 months, then you probably need to start making other plans. The only blessing is if you own the flat outright. If you've got a big mortgage, you'll need to be ready for substantial financial pain.

The formal process is as your lawyer describes, and it will be slow and expensive. And you may be saddled with property/contents damages and bills for their further time there, plus, of course, potentially months or years of unpaid rent. The overall cost can be enormous.

I'm not sure that a lawyer letter (that isn't part of the formal eviction process) helped.

I think a lot depends on what kind of people they are, and how well you know them. If they've been in your flat for a couple of years and always paid rent on time, and treated the flat well, then it suggests they're pretty reasonable. If they recently moved in, then it might have been their plan all along.

Personally, I would try to talk to them, and see what they want, and see whether friendly dialogue is possible. That they're maintaining that the contract is automatically renewing suggests that they want to renew and want to stay.

At this point, you probably have to assume there are no good options.

One of the main ones is to begin a formal eviction process.

You can also choose the leave things as they are, and see what happens. As they say, hope is not a strategy. But, occasionally, it works out.

If they do want to renew (as they seem to), and are willing to re-start the rent payments, then I suppose this is an option too. You simply accept that they won this round, and you let them renew for another year or two. With whatever extra conditions makes them happy (longer notice period, slightly reduced rent).

Or perhaps it was the 2 months notice that upset them. It's a family, it's not easy to move. If they're Ukrainians escaping the SMO, perhaps they have limited funds/options. In which case, perhaps they wanted 3 or 4 months notice (or a renewal). So you could give them more time to leave.

Or, you can bribe them. You can give them a sob story about how you're dying of cancer, and have to move back to your flat for your last days. And you know it's really a bad time for them, but you're happy to help with their expenses for moving and their next rent. And would 1,000 euros cover it? (And work your way up from there.)

Or, you can attempt to sneakily sell as a tenanted, income-producing apartment. Some folks have done this, but it's likely to be only possible through Ebay or similar where there's less due diligence, but also below-market prices. And there's always the possibility that the new owner is litigous and goes after you for lack of disclosure.

Whatever happens, even though this is really unfair, you gotta stay cool, calm and collected. If you try talking with the tenants you have to be polite and charming. It still might not help... but any aggravation, abuse, shouting will make thing go downhill fast, and can even land you in additional trouble.

@obrienrory

I would be happy if you share the experience your friends had and how they dealt with it. Everything is valuable! Thank you in advance!

@gwynj

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! Actually it's the student, the girl with Ukrainian passport lives there most of the time, the contract is on her name. I wrote  "the family" because I put in the contract that her mother and stepfather are allowed to stay in the flat as well, but they actually live un Crimea (Russian territory) where they own several  hotels on the beach. They are really wealthy people and know "the business",  plus "good advisors" from the immigrant community  have taught them how to use the  Spanish system. I haven't mentioned one thing. When I sent them contract extension , they replied they will do it only if I reduce the rental price by 250 euros! My lawyer says they have no right to demand it, I think it's a pure provocation. I gave them a good price already , therefore,  now they have realised that they cannot find a better deal and want to play their games .  Some foreigners come to Spain and quickly learn how to abuse the system. But the problem is the law itself which doesn't provide an adequate protection to the landlord  , so the scammers will continue to flourish .

@ncfacebook26

In my post I have not mentioned a few important things : 1. Initially, when I sent my tenants rental contract extension , they rejected to sign it demanding that I decrease the price by 250 euros. My lawyer says it's not a legit demand, on the contrary, as a landlord , I have a right to increase the price by 3 percent to compensate for the inflation. After I sent the tenants this  letter from my lawyer, they told me that they will stay without the contract and and stop paying rent. 2. My tenants are not some poor Ukrainian refugee family who has nowhere to go. These people are rich and savvy, they own several beach  hotels in Crimea peninsula (Russian territory) . They play with the Spanish system not because they are needy , but because they can . 3. As I know, it's only the daughter, a student  girl with Ukrainian passport who lives in the apartment , the parents just come to visit .  So it's actually not that hard to move. They don't want to move because my flat is in a great location and the rental price is cheap , but they are trying to bargain and use the system because they are allowed to do it. Spanish rental law gives no protection to the landlords against non-paying tenants. And I think  it will only get worse .

@ncfacebook26

Well, I did cover the lower rent option. :-) The rich just keep getting richer.

I agree with what you say that's it's not right, and they shouldn't do it... but they can, and in this case, they are. They laugh in the face of your puny lawyer letters. :-)

The good news is that they have money and can afford the rent... and she's a student, so my guess is she's got another year or two to finish her studies, and then she will likely move on.

I think they've given clear signals that they're happy to be ruthless aholes and pay you nothing... but they've given equally clear signals that they want to stay, and they want to renew the contract, just at a lower rent.

I'd personally just suck it up, and offer them a contract renewal to whenver she's due to finish at university. I'd haggle over the initial rent reduction (e.g. 150 less is better than 250 less), but I'd sneak in some specific increases to the contract for year 2 and year 3. You don't say how big the rent is, but I doubt even rich Russians have the cheek to ask for a 50% rent reduction, so it's more likely in the 10-15% region.

If she's happy and treats the apartment well, and moves out when studying time is done, I'd feel I'd lost the battle but won the war.

Clearly, the alternative is likely to be much more expensive and unpleasant.

Giving in to extortion is painful. But, as Marcellus Wallace said: "you might feel a slight sting. That's pride f**kin' with you. F**k pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps." :-)

@ncfacebook26

If you recall Pulp Fiction, Butch ignored Marcellus. So you might ignore me. If you want to play hardball, then you have to start the formal eviction process. Then you're calling their bluff, and showing you'd rather spend a couple of grand to throw them out, rather than reduce the rent. As they have money, there's a non-zero probability that they come back and say they were just kidding about the 250 reduction. (But also with a non-zero probability that they've figured out this process will take longer than her remaining study time, and with free rent until then.)

@gwynj

Thank you for your reply , I understand the point.  Their current rent for my 3 bedroom flat downtown is only 800, plus I pay for wifi and  building maintenance -monthly gastos and obras - around 150 .  They demand a reduction of 250 which is over one third of the price. In the best case scenario my  revenues will be 400 euros per month for a flat which in my neighborhood costs around 1200 .  In the worst case scenario due to impunity the temants can always demand further reduction or completely  stop paying. Because they can. Under given rental law in Spain any scenario is possible and immigrants quickly discover the niche .. In any case, thank you very much again for your thoughts! You confirmed my sensations about this situation.

@gwynj

Do you know what is considered to be a leave notice from the tenants in Spain? I got a Whatsapp message from the tenants where they say they left my flat today (same day notice, total violation of the contract plus they lived last month on deposit). Our contract expires december 11, in 1 month. However, they reject to return the keys and gave me an ultimatum: if I don't return 300 euros left from deposit for electricity bills and pay them for some unauthorised repairs which they claim they did,  I wil have to get them out of the flat via courts.

I am abroad and cannot come right away, but they threaten me and pose demands.

My question is: can I enter my flat now opening with my keys or changing lock after this notice or they need to sign a formal document RESOLUCIÓN CONTRATO DE ALQUILER since they left before expiration of the contract? If they reject to pay next mont's rent and sign RESOLUCIÓN CONTRATO DE ALQUILER, will I be able to enter the flat after our contract expires on December 22?

Can a Whatsapp message be actually considered as a leave notice in Spain giving the right to the landlord to enter the flat?

It is very confusing, I will try to post this question for open discussion, but I thought perhaps you dealth with leave notice before.

By the way, I also live now in Bansko

A new update to my story: yesterday I have managed to get the tenants sign resolucion de contrato , a formal document sent to me by my lawyer, where they state that they left the property. Although instead of 2 months stipulated by the rental contract, the tenants gave me same-day notice ,  which is a violation, they reject to return the keys until I transfer them  300 deposit plus some repair expenses they claim as well as the document stating that I accept the conditions they left it in, without me actually seeing and inspecting it.   They give me 3 days to do it, otherwise they threaten to keep my place and  make me go to the courts to evict them!  I wonder if having their signed resolucion de contrato on hand I have a right to enter my property and change the locks .  I wrote to my lawyer, but sometimes she is busy and it takes a very long time to respond. I ask for advise from community members who perhaps have experienced similar situations and know the rules of the game because often the tenants invent their own rules.

@ncfacebook26

Congrats, it's good news! They are leaving ( or have left), and you don't need to spend a couple of years (and a lot of money) going through the courts to evict them. You can clean the place up, and find a great new tenant, at a higher rent. It's nice when these stories have a happy ending. :-)

I'm a soft touch, so I'd probably be so relieved that I'd pay them the 300 just to be shot of them. :-) But you are, evidently, a much tougher cookie than I.

I don't know the exact legalities, but if someone sends me a message that they've left, I'd be straight over to see how bad the place is. If I can get in with my keys (i.e. they didn't change the locks), then I'd change the locks immediately and get new keys that way, rather than pay 300 euros. Even if they changed the locks (i.e. my keys don't work), if it looks/sounds like they've gone, I'd get a locksmith ASAP. Possession is 9/10 of the law, or whatever it says. :-)

Congrats on your new Bulgaria pad. I think it's a good swap, as your Spanish place probably pays for your Bansko life.

This is a common problem everywhere, not just Spain. As a landlord of 3 apartments, I've learned that the ONLY "power" I really have have is to ONLY rent to qualified, dependable tenants with good references. This has meant that I rent my apartments for under market. But after 30 years of being a landlord, I only had to hire a lawyer once, and that disagreement was resolved at almost no cost.

Meanwhile, even after I gave this same advice to a neighbor, he rented his unit for full market to a foreign national and has already spent way too much on an attorney and lost rent - and it's still not resolved.

I would be tempted to do whatever it took to get them out.  Some repairs etc is better than having an albatross around your neck.

@Phil722 And Just a note: conduct prospective tenant visits as an 'open house.' Ask attendees who wish to rent to fill out a form asking the usual info (employment, previous landlord, etc). Go thru the applicants. Research them, run a credit check (as the law allows). Check social media. If you've priced the unit below market, you'll hopefully get 5-10 applicants. Never rent to lawyers or law students. Never rent to a group of unaffiliated roomates. Look for stable, nice, dependable tenants. Then choose your top candidate(s) and speak with them about how long they wish to stay.