UK Landlord Forum / Life

Back in January I issued section 21's to all my tenants as I was selling the house. Everyone moved out except 1 tenant who has his rent paid by the council. I contacted him 2 moths later and found out that a housing association were looking for alternate accommodation for him. So i co-operated as the first sale of the house fell through.

I kept in contact with the housing asociation throughout the second buyers attempt to purchase and this fell through. So at this stage the tenant was still living in the property and the housing association were still searching for accomodation.

The situation im in now - 10 moths later -  is that I have a new buyer who is ready to move in asap. The housing association have a place to re house the tenant - however... the tenant is now in prison until January.

His belongings have been moved out by his girlfriend and he owes me no rent and i owe no deposit.

Can I sell the house without any concern or will i need a court possession order or something else??

Help!

Despite the fact he is in prison, he's still your tenant, believe it or not. It's a crazy law!

I believe you either need to get him to surrender the tenancy (if you can contact him in prison) or serve him notice. You can send notices to him via the prison service and they will pass it on to him...

But honestly, I wouldn't even worry since his possessions have been removed.... I personally would just sell the house. But that's just me!

Thanks for your honest answer propertyfag - I'll do that!

If the tenant will not surrender the lease you will need a possession order.

Quote from: dekesta on October 15, 2014, 06:33:47 PM

Thanks for your honest answer propertyfag - I'll do that!

I think you should do that in my honest opinion, as a landlord you have to protect yourself and your assets. You can demonstrate your prolonged attempt to end this tenancy following the legal framework. There is nothing to say when he gets released he won't be back inside one week later. I had "Rat Boy" as a tenant in the past couple of years without knowing it was him...Google him should you have 5 minutes. All the Agencies and Authorities were on my side when I spoke with them.