UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,
We have a one bedroom flat that we rented out.
We initially rented it on February 2021 for one year to a student who paid the full rent in advance. ( We let the flat through an Estate Agency)
Then again in February 2022 we asked him if he wants to renew the rent for another year with a full year rent payment in advance and he agreed to. He signed the contract and was supposed to pay the rent to the agency so that the agency transfers it to us.
However, he only transferred the rent for 6 months and then when the agency tried to contact him for the rest of the payment, they could not reach him. His phone number was not reachable anymore and the emails sent out to him were all bouncing back.

We tried to contact him as well however we were not successful. Both the agency and us went to the flat couple of times but no one opened the door. Both the agency and us sent him letters as well but we have not heard anything back from him.

The new tenancy agreement started on 9th February 2022 for a year with six-month break. Either party need to give two months notice.

Now we are wondering what should we do? As he is not responding to any communication we think it would be safer for us to give him notice. But what happens if he doesn't answer to our notice?
Any advise would be appreciated.

Do you know where he's studying? If so, you might try contacting them out of concern for his welfare. I dare say they won't be able to tell you too much but they might be able to give you an indication of whether he's OK (or, more to the point, still around).

No, unfortunately I don't know where he's studying.
Am I legally safe if I give him 24 hours written notice that I intend to inspect the condition of the property and if he doesn't respond just using my own key to enter the property?

I reckon if you've given him plenty of notice and he hasn't responded, it's hardly a massive infringement of his right to quiet enjoyment if you just nip in quickly to check the place is OK. You could always say you thought you could smell burning/hear running water or something.