UK Landlord Forum / Life

My tenant has left the property. Anything she could carry has been taken. Larger furniture left behind. She has not paid rent or told me she was leaving. 4 weeks .She will not answer my calls or texts. I have only found this out by talking to her parent who is filling me in with the ongoing events.and gave me permission to check inside the property for maintenance etc.   I have decided that I would not renew her tenancy ( she has been there 4 years. Current written tennancy was for 1 year as had previously had problems with behaviour and complaints from neighbours) . Basically have served section 21 letter to property and  photos sent to he phone via sms and messenger. (As no forwarding address and police don't want to know) do I have to get a notice of possession from court in order to give her a period of time to remove belongings?  I want to sell the house .I have offered tenant Being a landlord is too stressful. Any advice appreciated.

Has she handed back the keys,or left them with her parents? If you could get them to say in writing that she does not intend moving back that could be helpful to you. You do need to give her a period of time to remove the furniture.I don't think there is set period,it seems to be a grey area. Given the circumstances it does not sound as if she will ever wish to return there,but you need to follow the usual S21 procedure.Getting some co-operation from the family would be my priority.

Thank you. She still has the keys. Iv tried suggesting she surrender the property but no response. The family said the social are looking for somewhere for her so I don't u derstand why she won't cooperate. Il try the parents again to try and talk her round . If she continues with the silence can I just take possession after 2 months. Iv given her the notice ? I'm going to tell her I intend to change the locks so she needs to make arrangements for her property to be taken ?

You can't just retake possession - that's a criminal offence for a start.
If the tenant won't give notice or surrender, the only risk free option is to go to court, get a possession order and wait for the bailiffs to return the property to you.
If she'd still within the 1 year of the current tenancy agreement, you can't do any of that until the 12 months is up (by which time your s21 might have timed out).

You can go a different route if rent is owed.

And that will simply increase the money the tenant owes to you.
You might want to point out to her parents that she's about to have a ccj to add to her other issues.

For the avoidance of doubt, the parents aren't able to give you "permission" to do anything.