UK Landlord Forum / Life

I have a tenant who is on a short assured tenancy, now rolling every 2 months. On 26th March I gave her notice to quit via my letting agent. On Wednesday I received an email from my agent saying that she had applied for housing through the council but they cant house her for another week or so, and they told her to stay in the property. My agent says this has 'become the norm'.

My issue is the council have no idea what my plans were for the property, I could of even wanted to move back in today but because of there advice, this would not be possible. Are the council legally allowed to do this?

Of course. It's standard practice.

Quote from: Hippogriff on May 27, 2016, 06:31:21 PM
Of course. It's standard practice.

How can it be standard practice? I just cant get me head around the idea the council is using my property to house someone without my permission. What worries me is the tenancy agreement is now finished, what rights do I have to still ask for rent?  I appreciate the tenant can choose to stay themselves and I would then need to evict them. I have been told to hold off doing this for a couple of weeks, is there a time limit to do it?

The Council has this standard practice because once they leave your property they become the Council's problem. The Council will often advise a Tenant to stay until bailiffs turn up. This increases the time that the Tenant is not the Council's responsibility. The tenancy agreement has not ended, it doesn't work like that... everything continues just as it did before, but with no fixed term.