UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

My tenants asked if they could give early notice (AST finishes 1/2/22) to vacate the property on 1/11/21. I said I would need it in writing, which they did and I gladly accepted (I have had antisocial behaviour problems with them and also they've let other people live in property. It's a joint tenancy and the friendship between the tenants has broken down. The lead tenant is still wanting to leave but the other tenant doesn't want to leave now and is saying they want to retract the notice. I have said no they can't retract the notice and now this 2nd named tenant is saying that they will stay in the property whatever, as they have a legal right to. Both tenants have paid rent up until 1/2/22. I have said I will reimburse the tenants the remainder of the rent money. Can I get a possession order if the 2nd named tenant doesn't move out?  If I can't, any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Is February when the fixed term finish? If so, that "notice" is fairly meaningless.

You may have had an agreement for the future surrender of the tenancy, if it was in writing and containing all the terms, but that would only give you a claim for breach of contract, the tenancy would still continue till Feb. And then a SPT, if any of them stays.

Yes, 1/2/22 is when fixed term finishes. 

So basically I'm stuck with them.  I thought because they've given an early notice to vacate property on 1/11/22 -  I could hold them to that date. So if I went down the breach of contract, can I evict them? If not, I guess I'll have to go down the antisocial behaviour and breach of tenancy agreement route, as I have a feeling that after 1/2/22 the tenant will try and remain in the property and fall into arrears. I have served a section 21 on them just in case.

Normally tenancy law and contract law overlap fairly well. Here, they need to be considered seperately. Generally speaking, an assured tenancy can only be ended by the effluxion of time, surrender, in accordance with a break notice or a tenant's notice to quit, or the execution of a court order for possession. A notice to quit has no effect on a fixed term tenancy, so that's their notice out. You can't have a surrender in the future. Any agreement you attempts is just a simple contract, and the technical details of whether such an agreement is even a valid contract is further complicated by statue. The agreement itself again doesn't effect a surrender or any other method of determining a tenancy, so without both parties taking steps to actually surrender the tenancy per the agreement, the tenancy would still continue.

For normal breach of contract, an option for the wronged party is to sue for a court order to perform, in this example i.e court ordering the tenant to surrender. However, I'm not even sure that's possible due to the statutory limitation on how an assured tenancy can be bought to an end by the landlord. So you're left with a normal possession claims case after section 8 or section 21 notice, and seperate claims for damages for breach of contract. Not sure you have any loss from the breach though....

Thank you so much for your reply, it's been really helpful. I should be able to get them for Breach of contract as they let people live in the property without informing me. Oh the joy of lovely tenants - not!
Would you be able to help me out with a reply to the tenant re the early notice. As he went to the council and said that I was threatening to evict him - I was just holding him to his early notice. How do I word a reply eg should I say 'Your early notice will remain on file and I will proceed with a Section 8 notice' or should I leave that out? I just need to say something to him, so that I don't look like an amateur! At the same time I don't want him to think he's got one over me and that I'm happy for him to stay, as I'm not. Many thanks,