UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, there is a long story and a lot of stress gone into this tenancy, i have learned a lot about how not to do it!!! i was naive and gullable and after 4 months of excuses off the tenant about why she had not paid the top up to her housing benefit which had turned out to be more than i thought as she had been overpaid housing benefit...i found out she hadnt put bills into her name even though she claimed she had already done this, all sorted with the utility companies now though, and next time im ringing to tell them all myself!!

The situation now is:-

My tenant is on housing benefit, I served a section 21 on 27th feb giving until 28th April to leave or go to court.

I found out today that she is moving out and has keys to another property, this property is apparently a council property where they pay the rent however she has not told me she's leaving.

What can i do now?

One throught is to check with housing benefits if she has given a new address and confirmed a new tennancy start date, if she has can I change the locks?

I could put a note through the door but she usually ignores these

Also I did not stupidly do an itinary, but I do have information of what I left on text, what can I do if she takes anything that's mine?

Any guidance is very much appreciated, thank you

You don't mention a deposit?

This would be your usual tool to combat thiefery....

You just have to talk to her.....

Legally she lives in that house till April, if you get it before its a bonus.....

Hi thanks for your response, she was supposed to pay a deposit, she text to confirm she had put it in and I stupidly believed her, then she advised the council had a scheme that would pay it for her, but I've never had it, and it's my own fault for not checking it was in before I gave her the keys.

She is actually moving things out today, I went there to ask when I could have the keys, however her father was there and was getting quite agressive, so I have left

Housing benefit confirmed that she has advised she told them she has a new tennancy since the 20th march, if she has a new tennancy once her things are out can I take possession back ?

The safest thing to do is to leave the property vacant (it's hers) until 28th April.
All council tax and utility bills will be in her name until then as well.

If she doesn't want that to be the case, you should search this forum for a deed of surrender that you can both sign
which returns the property to your possession ahead of the contracted date.

If you repossess while the notice is served otherwise you are acting illegally and are at risk.
It might be that the tenant doesn't care and nothing bad happens.

But this forum is full of stories where that hasn't happened (obviously no one posts when it goes well)

Thank you for this I will search for a deed of surrender, but I doubt she will sign it, I had thought that she couldn't have 2 tenancies in her name, and hoped that by her confirming with housing benefit that she had moved out on the 20th march, so they are now paying someone else for her new tenancy that I was covered, as she clearly has a new place and sounded to me as though she had ended her tenancy by telling housing benefit she has left the house, does that not hold any sway? She said that she will be moving her things out of the attic tomorrow and that she will post keys through a neighbours door, but I doubt this will actually happen.

Unfortunately, the law isn't on your side.

You are an evil grasping landlord that society can barely tolerate.
Your tenant is a delicate and vulnerable person who needs massive amounts of protection.

Until the 28th April, that property is hers.

You cannot enter that property without her permission and can't rent it to anyone else before then.
If you do that, you are breaking the law and could be in quite serious trouble.
You probably won't, but all the risks are yours.

On the plus side, She still has to pay rent, council tax and utility bills until that point.
If she doesn't, you can take action (via what used to be the small claims court) to recover the lost rent.
The council can chase her for the council tax and the utility companies for their costs.

She'd be better off signing the deed of surrender to stop all that happening.
If she doesn't, there's not much you can do to help her.

Thank you very much, , yes the system does seem to be unfairly weighted in favor of the tenant, i understand there may be some dodgy landlords out there, but just looking at the stories on this site it seems to be the landlords that are for the most part suffering!!!

I have tried  to find a deed of surrender on this site but can't seem to locate one, does anyone know where it is? I did look on the Internet for one but I don't understand it, it seems to be saying that she can leave the property in any state she wants or take things and I can take no action, is that correct? It looks like its written in another language, I would love to go to my solicitor if I could afford him, but after paying over 200 for the section 21 letter and 75 for a process server I'm a tad financially embarrassed!! 

I doubt I will get her to understand the implications if she dosnt sign one, I don't think she's worried as she dosnt seem to be too keen on paying bills

Also is there any point taking this to the small claims court as she is on benefits so I will never see a penny, she technically owes 128 a month since October, plus as she has advised housing benefits she has moved they stopped paying me from 20th march, so it's then 450 a month for her, I doubt she will pay any of the utility bills, but I know where she has moved to so I will be giving them her address. 

If by any chance she does put the keys through the neighbours door tomorrow, can I enter then?

Also what if she has cleared all her possessions out, does that change anything?

If not and I have to wait until 29th April, what happens if she has damaged the property, or left anything?

Am I ok to take possession on 29th as this is what my section 21 stated as the date to leave by?

Hi,

Having read through the previous posts I had a little scoot around the net and came across this:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?116775

I get the impression that a deed of surrender is particularly useful when attempting to evict troublesome tenants as it releases them from all responsibility and clauses of the AST or in perfect tenant situations where a change in living arrangements happen.

This includes rental owed, condition of property etc.

I recall a fellow landlord being advised by a solicitor to offer a "payout" to aid the eviction of a tenant as it would be less costly and much quicker than utilising the courts for a possession order.  I would presume something like a deed of surrender would have been used in that instance. e.g. tenant accepts £500 in return for possession within 7 days....

There are only 4 weeks left on the S21 so I would be inclined to regain access, clean, redecorate/fix as necessary and take the month to take viewings and carefully select the next (less problematic) tenant.

You would have lost some/most of the rent anyway and a decent tenant is well worth a months lost rent.

Alternatively this is another example http://www.studenthousing.lon.ac.uk/uploads/media/Surrender.pdf or you could draft your own authorisation/release/receipt....something like...

THIS AGREEMENT OF SURRENDER is made this XX Day of XX Month XXXX
BETWEEN
[name] of [address] (hereinafter called "the Tenant")
of the one part and
[name] of [address] (hereinafter called "the Landlord") of the other part

IN RELATION TO
The AST dated [date] made between [name of landlord] of the first part and [name of tenant] of the second part (hereinafter called "the AST") all those premises situated at [address] (hereinafter called "the Premises") were demised to the Tenant for the term of __ months from (date) at an initial rent of £____ per calendar month subject to the covenants on the part of the tenant and conditions therein contained in the AST.

THIS AGREEMENT OF SURRENDER WITNESSES as follows:-
The Tenant HEREBY ASSIGNS AND SURRENDERS to the Landlord ALL THOSE premises comprised in and demised by the AST.

Upon agreeing this reversion of the AST, beginning from the date above and signed below, the Landlord releases the Tenant from the obligations of the AST.


IN WITNESS whereof the parties hereto have signed this instrument as their deed in the presence of the persons mentioned below on the day and year first before written

SIGNED AND WITNESSED
by the said [name of TENANT] )........................ ........
in the presence of:- )

SIGNED AND WITNESSED
by the said [name of landlord] )........................ ........
in the presence of:- )

Thank you so much for taking the time to look on the net and reply, it looks as though she is not going to oblige me with the deed of surrender, even though i have pointed out that she will be liable for rent and bills until 28th april!!! Then again she probably has no intention on paying them, i unfortunately am not in the financial situation to offer money.

So if she refuses to partake with the deed of surrender, can i do any of the following

As she has moved out am i able to enter the property prior to 28th april to check the condition?

I know im not allowed to change the locks

Can i redecorate or not?

Can i show people round?

Do i get my property back on the 29th april, as the section 21 gives until 28th april

There is a clear disconnect between your legal position and what seems to be the reality which is that the tenant is not interested in the place.
However, there are lots of cases where tenants have taken advantage of a situation like this.
For example, there's money to be made by suing you if you break the rules and the tenant can claim that you caused them some loss (like having to rent somewhere else).
You might simply "get away" with re-taking possession and getting on with things, but no one's going to advise you to do that.

So, yes, you have the right to enter your property having given reasonable notice usually 24hours (probably a bit difficult in this case).
I'd knock and wait a while before you go in - take a witness and check that there's no one there in a really obvious way.

Strictly speaking, you shouldn't decorate. You can carry out repairs; if the place is completely abandoned, you might simply get away with it and you can always stop if the tenant comes back.

Whether you can show people round should be covered by your tenancy agreement, usually there will be clauses allowing you to show people round (and put up notices etc).
There's no legal right to do that.

If the notice ends on the 28th (and they've obviously left the property and its empty) its yours on the 29th.

If your tenant has no intention of paying, it does't mean that they don't have to.
Wait until 29th April to contact the council about council tax and the electricity/water and gas companies to re-acquire the utility services.

You can claim any outstanding sums via what used to be the small claims process online.
If you do think this is worthwhile, I'd wait until you have the place back though, as this tends to infuriate the tenant - who might claim all kinds of stuff in their defence.
You're more likely to damage their credit history than get any actual money though.

Wonderful thank you, I will update the thread once I've checked with my witness no ones in and seen inside

Hi all, just to update the thread, I had a call from one of the neighbours advising that the tenant had not been back to the house since Friday, however she had left the front upstairs window open, so I checked my tenancy agreement which states she should ensure the property is secured ie windows doors, and went round, I knocked twice and waited no answer so I popped in to shut the window. I wasn't in there long as I just needed to secure the property, but I did notice she had left a fish tank with fish in it!!! And a pair of boots, not sure if there's anything else because I just wanted to be in and out, can I check what do I do with anything she has left behind after the 29th April when I can gain possession?

Is anyone able to give some advise on what I can legally do if after the 28th April there is anything left in the property I noticed when I was closing the window that the tenant had left a fish tank with fish in it and a pair of boots... But taken the toilet seat!! Go figure!!

Contact them to remind them to clear the property and to return it to it's original condition. (probably pointless but reasonable)

On the 29th April, it will be in your posession again.

Clear the stuff into one area, text/call to give them one more week to clear else it will be skipped.

Begin restoring/repairing/redecorating.

After a week, skip it all. 

Show to new tenants...

Not sure what was confusing...there are many similar threads on here that I feel you should really look through to give you some idea of the types of situations you may find yourself in and the best ways to resolve/recover.  Common sense rules.

Thank you, I think I'm just being a bit paranoid!!

I have read the other threads which are very informative

Hi all, can i check please, my section 21 gave until the 28th april, i know the tenant hasn't been back to the property as there is a pole of mail when I've come in today to clean and change the locks, however she just turned up in a van, which is a bit much as she only has a freezer here and a few bags, she didnt come in just drove off, as it the 29th and the place was practically empty, she had left a freezer a few dishes in the dishwasher, a fish tank with fish and a pair of boots in the property.

I have text her to say if shes left anything and wants to collect it then if she can come today that would be great.

I an definitely ok to be taking possession back today aren't i? She moved into other housing benefit accommodation and ended her tenancy here with the housing benefits section and my section 21 date was 28th april, so i thought from midnight tonight its mine.?

Yep, fill your boot.