UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, My (ex) tenant & family moved out from my property last month and now I came to know that the tenant's parents stayed with them for more than a month without my permission. I am not sure whether the tenant is entitled to accommodate their guests more than a month without informing the landlord as I am a new landlord.  I just wanted to know whether I can file a case in a court against my ex tenant? If yes, what would be the penalty I can ask for?

Regards
kg

Hello kg,

It depends upon exactly what your tenancy agreement says.  There are lots of different wordings out there.  Post the clauses on the board if you want to.

Generally speaking ASTs will have clauses designed to protect you against sub-letting by the tenant, but people letting friends, relatives etc stay for a while is normal.  The gray area is what "a while" really means.  The tenant could claim their parents moved in to help deal with a significant family incident (like birth or death of family member) and being there for a month was still appropriate.

One set of my tenants are from Poland.  Their parents come over every once in a while.  It's a long journey for them, so they stay for two the three weeks at a time.  They've got a spare bedroom, so that's cool by me.

Your post does not talk about any damage done to your property.  So if you took them to Court what exactly would you sue them for?  If they've left now and handed the property back in a good condition, what harm have they done to you?

Is this an emotional reaction because you realise you were out of control of a situation or have you suffered financial hardship.  A court is could look favourably on the latter cisrumstances, but not the former.

Is this an emotional reaction because you realise you were out of control of a situation..

-- Yes, you are right. The tenant asked my permission & a non objection letter (NOC) for his parents stay and I have asked him to pay additional amount but he hasn't come back. So I thought of taking him to the court.

Adding to the above: In the contract it is mentioned as 'the property should not be occupied by more than the maximum number of permitted persons'.

Pardon me if I butt in ...

If you haven't raised rent in the last 12 months, you could just raise it now. Why do we as landlords want to control the amount of tenants / pets? Because more of those cause additional wear and tear which we'll then have to accept. If circumstances change which result in additional wear and tear, then I think it's perfectly fair to raise rent and from what I understand, you can legally do so once a year.

If they don't like it, they can give you notice and you play the tenant lottery anew. Taking them to court in my opinion should only be the last resort because it will utterly destroy any relationship left with the tenant.

That's my opinion anyway,

-Armin

Hi Armin, Tenant already moved out from my property...

Oh sorry, I was negligent in reading. I don't think it's worth your while unless you can demonstrate that you have suffered due to the additional people's presence. In my opinion it's just best to move on. Perhaps contemplate how to amend any future AST contracts.

But that's just my 2p.

-Armin