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Joint Tenancy - relationship breakdown

Started by rgwarwick, September 25, 2018, 12:24:39 PM

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rgwarwick

Hi,

My tenants are going through a very messy break up (Joint tenancy AST until May 2019).

1 of the tenants has apparently left leaving the other (who is not currently working) within the property on their own and unable to afford the rent. I understand that both are still jointly liable however the tenant that has left seems to be un-contactable and having had the gas/electric within her name has left hundreds in unpaid bills - so I can be fairly confident in the fact that she won't be paying anything towards the rent from now onwards.

To add to matters, the remaining tenant contacted me regarding some maintenance issues, I arranged for a contractor to go round to quote for the work and in his words all of the issues are self inflicted as it's a shit hole.

I am absolutely devastated, I was thinking about selling the property next year anyway, as i only ever kept it as a bit of security when moving in with my partner. S

So is there any advice anyone could give me to take possession back of the property by the quickest, most cost effective means possible? If I don't do the repairs (as per the contractors suggestion) will it come back to bite me later on?

Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

KTC

Given the fixed term doesn't end until May 2019, your only immediately option would be section 8. Any rent arrears? Expect a counterclaim for disrepair, hope your contractor would be willing to give a witness statement that the disrepair was tenant inflicted.

If you can stomach it, you can offer money to the remaining tenant to go. But if they have nowhere to go to, that's not likely to work.