Tenant eviction specialists have been called to help a desperate amateur landlady facing possible repossession. Miss Naomi Koningen was forced to rent out her property after it failed to sell in 18 months on the market. However, after withholding rent and refusing to leave the property, her tenants used loopholes in the system that were learnt when working as a Housing Officer for Lambeth Council, to stay put thereby leaving Miss Koningen now owing her mortgage company over £9000.

In September 2010, after 18 months on the sales market, Miss Naomi Koningen was forced to rent out her lower ground floor, two double bedroom apartment in an old Victorian building in Streatham. Unfortunately from the outset her tenants took it upon themselves only to pay £700 of the £1130 per calendar month as stated in the tenancy agreement, an amount which then declined over the following months until payment stopped altogether. Miss Koningen says “One of the two tenants hadn’t passed the credit check, but desperate to cover the mortgage, I was naïve and took advice that this could just be down to poor credit rating and they could be trusted.”

As she is living in the USA, Miss Koningen sent friends to the property to ask for the rent in order for her to pay her mortgage, at which point considerable damage, including a smashed window and broken furniture which had been left by Miss Koningen, as well as a strong smell of Marijuana was noted at the property.

She said: “The tenants used excuse after excuse including unemployment and broken items to avoid paying rent; they refused to leave and told me they would never pay a penny in rent and there was nothing that I could do without getting a court order.”

Paul Shamplina, of Landlord Action the eviction specialists who acted for the landlord said: “On instruction in January, we issued Section 21 and Section 8 notice to the tenants. The harsh reality is, that some tenants, and especially in this case, are aware that if they leave a property voluntarily, the council will not re-house them. However, if they are evicted, they may be eligible to be re-housed so the tenant has a vested interest to stay put which, in this case, has left Miss Koningen having to borrow money to avoid repossession.”