UK Landlord Forum / Life

My tenants lease expires on 12/31/11.  She has decided to move out 2 weeks early & only wants to pay us 2 weeks rent.  We did not ask her to vacate early.  If she doesn't pay us the entire months rent can we deduct the unpaid amount from her security deposit?

Hello Georgia,

Are you American?  Your date format is the wrong way round for this British Forum.  And American law could be very different.  Lets assume you're renting out in England...

If you're in the first fixed period of the tenancy or she's issued notice she's leaving and now leaving earlier than she's said she would then you can take any missing rent money from the deposit.

Just make sure you keep all correspondance to make your submission into your deposit protection scheme as smooth as possible.

Jeremy

If your agreement does not state anything related to covering the outstanding rent from the security deposit then it is mostly not legally right to charge the tenant without her permission. However, i would recommend you to always buy 'rent guarantee insurance' to protect your rental income, legally. You can  buy insurance from here, http://www.rentaltrader.co.uk/ at great prices and choose appropriate cover for yourself.

Hi I am new here.
Really I don't know much about this.
But how much she has to pay.
I think you should consult lawyer...to go further.

Hello RentalTrader,

Very unsublte promotion, levereging your service into a barely related question.  I'll be sure to use someone else for my rent guarantee cover.

Just one question from me: All the rent guarantee covers I've seen don't pay for up to the first month's missed rent.  So will you just confirm your policy pays in full from the first day of missed rent.

As you're suggesting to georgia girl to take one of your policies, if it would not be paying out in these circumstances then you're mis-selling to her and the FAS would be interested in that.

Hello Alex,

Nice to see a new person, hope you enjoy dropping into the board.  Although you're new, I think you can work it out without knowing.  This board is for smaller, often first time landlords.  A landlord asking Georgia's question would not be asking it if they had a portfolio of properties.

So she's likely to own an "average" house of flat.  Going rate monthly would be between say £350 to £1,500, depending on whether in Central London or a town with slow local economy.  So the amount in dispute will be around £200 to £750.

As solicitors fees don't start much lower than a couple of hundred pounds, I really feel her going to one would wipe out her profit.

As long as she's done the tenancy paperwork properly, she'll have enough info to get the money from her deposit holder's dispute resolution service.