UK Landlord Forum / Life

Long standing tenant is charged with starting fire in the rented property... The property is now uninhabitable.  and tenant where abouts not know to me.
What is my position wrt
1. what little remains of her property.
2. Is tenancy ended. If not how does it become terminated. 
3. If she turns up does she have any rights of reclaim or access.
Any knowledge or pointers?
Cheers

Always be wary of advice from a blog (especially my own)
Do your own research

I will answer in the order of your questions ....

1. The tenant's goods (property) still belong to the tenant and pursuant to the Tort (Interference with Goods Act) 1977 you are required to serve a notice to the tenant to collect the goods.  The contents of the notice is prescribed in that act. As is the method to serve (bizarrely in your case this may be a notice at the tenants last known address i.e. the damaged property).  I assume you are not looking to sell anything?  and nothing looks like it is of any value (e.g. jewellery etc) as the act doesn't specify the duration for which the landlord (bailee) needs to hold the goods there is no hard fast rule...some say 14 days but that is arbitrary and in your case I suspect a lesser time is likely enough...I doubt you will see the tenant anytime soon!  If you sell anything then the proceeds net of costs incurred by the bailee belong to the tenant and in the case of sale the notice under the act needs to specify more details.

2. Sadly the tenancy is not ended unless the tenancy agreement explicitly has a clause that deals with uninhabitable property.  The only legal way to end the tenancy is by surrender of the tenancy by the tenant and agreed by the landlord or by possession order through the courts.  The legal position is the land still exists even if the building does not.  You could claim the AST is "frustrated" and therefore ended but legally all that has happened is the tenant may have abandoned the property , but as that is unclear you have the option to get a possession order or risk it and assume the tenant will not reappear.
Depending on the drafting the tenant may be liable for the full rent until the end of the fixed term if the damage was caused by the tenant.

3. Yes she does have rights (a) to her belongings and (b) to access, assuming the property is reinstated and habitable again before the tenancy agreement is terminated (c) if the AST is terminated then to the return of the deposit until you prove otherwise

Hope that helps.

Best of luck

It's odd that the tenant wouldn't inform you of her whereabouts or her next actions, but yes the property inside the house is still hers and you'll need to provide her access if she needs it.