UK Landlord Forum / Life

Quite a sad story but I'll keep it brief!

A young couple with young children moved into my house last Feb on a 12 month contract. Mr is the named tenant and Miss is the named occupant.
I decided later in the year that I'd like to sell my property once the contract ended and so I gave my tenants written notice in December.
I have then received no rent payment in December or January.
It has now come to light that Mr was arrested for domestic abuse and no longer lives in my property it is just Miss and the children and she is unable to pay the rent or receive benefit. She is going to court to appeal the benefit decision.
That's keeping it brief.
She has her name on the council housing list and she is a priority due to receiving notice from me.
Do I :-
Await the rest of the notice period (end of feb) even though she isn't the named tenant?
Ask her to leave immediately based on the fact there are 2 missed rent payments.
Or ask her to leave immediately as the tenancy is no longer valid due to being in her ex partner's name who no longer resides there?

Don't know what the legalities are here and which channel will be the simplest?

Quote from: Hallybar on January 24, 2019, 06:35:53 PM
Ask her to leave immediately based on the fact there are 2 missed rent payments.
Or ask her to leave immediately as the tenancy is no longer valid due to being in her ex partner's name who no longer resides there?

She's a residential occupier that's not excluded such as having a lived in landlord. The only way you can legally evict her is through an order of the court, and having that order executed by a County Court bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officer. You can ask, she can freely and quite legally ignore you.

Is she married to Mr? If she is, then the tenancy is still assured by virtue of her occupation. So you'll need to wait for I assume s21 notice to expire and then go to court on that basis. Alternatively, you can serve a s8 notice on the basis of the arrears, and then go to court under the s8. However, if you're sure that your paperworks are all in order, stick with the s21 that you have already given.

If she's not married to Mr, and the dwelling is no longer consider to be his only or principal home, then the tenancy is no longer assured (but is still otherwise perfectly valid and ongoing) and you can end it by serving a valid notice to quit. In fact, you would have to since any s8 or s21 in such circumstances will have no effect. However, you'd still have to go to court to evict. You can't physically exclude her from the property even if the tenancy has been ended by a notice to quit.

If you're unsure of their marital status, serve a notice to quit just in case. And then when you go to court, you have it as a backup in case she argues that the s21/s8 notice you have served is not valid. Notices are addressed to the tenant, so Mr. Just send a copy to her as occupier so she can't argue she weren't aware of it.

I'm pretty sure they aren't married. Thank you for your advice really appreciate it.