UK Landlord Forum / Life

My tenant in 4 months behind is his rent and I have been going through the process of eviction. I am almost ready to submit the papers to the court. This will take a further 2 months! However through the letter box I can see that there are no bedcovers, pillows or duvet on the bed and no sign of personal belongings. I also know that the front door has not been opened for a week as I jammed a small piece of paper in the door hinge and it was still there.

So I opened the door with my key to "check on the safety of the tenant." It turns out that he was not there but has removed all of his personal belongings. The flat is ok, just needs a clean. I have no way of contacting the tenant as he has disconnected his mobile. He did not post keys through the door.

As he didn't leave keys he has not officially surrendered the property. I was thinking of changing the locks and renting the property. Is this legal, am I likely to have problems. What would you do. I don't think he will be back.

I presume that as he has removed all belongings then I can presume he has surrendered the property.

Well there's technically and then there's realistically.   Personally, and this is just me but i'd go in and take a batch of photographs gather all evidence of it being vacated and take the flat back.
It's not realistic to sit and wait out the due process, the flat has clearly been abandoned.
Of course there's the possibility the tenant comes back but not likely, this has happened to me several times and i've never known a tenant come back.

Many thanks GLS. That's what I was thinking. First time it's happened to me.  Hopefully they won't come back. It does seem crazy that I am supposed to wait another 2 months when it is clearly empty/abandoned.

Quote from: DocBrown on April 19, 2015, 09:54:26 PMAs he didn't leave keys he has not officially surrendered the property. I was thinking of changing the locks and renting the property. Is this legal, am I likely to have problems. What would you do. I don't think he will be back.

It seems, to me, that you are pretty on the ball and you understand the intricacies of this. You're just using us as a sounding-board, which is fine. The key (no pun intended) point for me would be the fact that the keys have not been returned and, therefore - just as you say, the property has not been surrendered. The next decision and action you take is a calculated risk.

For me, I'd be wary of a trap and I would never risk an accusation of illegal eviction vs. two months of rent.

However, your ex-Tenant might not be that savvy or calculating and you might feel comfortable now going back in. Only you will know the subtle state of affairs. No keys and no means of contact just worries me, if the keys had been posted through the letterbox or you had a text message... happy days.

I'm a more circumspect Landlord, I do things by the book.

Another thing, get off to Screwfix or wherever and get yourself a new lock.  Not with the purpose of keeping that tenant out but he's got the keys and it has been known for an ex tenant to pass the keys on to others or squatters (dirty word). 
Text your tenant even though he's off line but if needed you can show that you've been trying to contact him.

Thanks HIPPOGRIFF I'm not as sure now about taking the flat back. I've just look at the last contact I had from the tenant in Feb where he said he had no money and would not be able to pay anything and asked me to give  him his notice. I've since done that but does that text from him give any weight to my assumption that he has abandoned the property after he received his notice that he asked for.

I've sent him a text GLS for my records.

Couple of things.

Apply to get the deposit back to cover the rent arrears, state on there the tenancy end date.

Speak to the council, get the property back in your name from the same date.

Change the locks. I have found that with Double glazed units, you can change the barrel in minutes.

Also another tip get two locks keyed alike, then you get two locks, front and back and 6 keys. This actually works out allot cheaper than having extra keys cut.

Another thing you can do is Send a surrender of Tenancy addressed to the tenant at the address, if they have a direction on the address they may get it that way... when it arrives at your address, keep the envelope and notice to prove you tried this.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yale-Keyed-Alike-Anti-Bump-Euro-Cylinder-uPVC-Door-Lock-Pair-of-Barrels-Same-Key/120505055150?_trksid=p2060778.c100276.m3476&_trkparms=ao%3D1%26asc%3D30120%26meid%3Dc4d7dcd2c3874530b6ed84343f65c17d%26pid%3D100276%26

BOBOFF - I didn't actually register the deposit. The tenant didn't have it when he signed and promised to pay it up in weekly instalments within the first month. I changed the lease to state this and also said in the lease that I would register the deposit once fully paid. I only received 1/4 of the deposit and then received no further rent. So nothing was registered.

He seemed genuine but never again  will I allow the deposit to be paid up.

Flip!

From the DPS website - "Do you accept partial submission of deposits?" - "Yes, if your tenant(s) pay for their deposit in instalments, you can secure it with us in instalments. Once the initial payment is made and a deposit is secured with us, you will be able to add each instalment as a new 'increment' against the deposit."

In future decide what you're doing re. the deposit.  If you take one even in instalments you have to register it.  Otherwise don't take one.
You'd better hope that this tenant has truly moved on or you've got trouble.
If I was asked by a tenant to give them notice I would decline as such but manipulate so it is their notice to you, that way your only talking about one month as opposed to two months if it's their notice to you.  Having said that your conversation with your tenant was back in February but I presume nothing was confirmed in writing.
In the meantime change the locks get yourself another tenant and mitigate your costs.  It could all go pearshaped but hopefully not.
Live and learn, we all do.

GLS -I have he text from the tenant printed out where he asks me to serve him notice.
Yes I'll need to watch that with the deposit in instalments.
Thanks guys.