Tenants Leaving Agreement Early

prudryden

Good luck! On the surface, it sounds as if you are dealing with schemers, so take anything they say with a pinch of salt. Try to mitigate your loses by finding new tenants but, legally, you are entitled to the 12mo rent . The legal costs are the same whether the action is for £495 or £5,940 (12mo) and the time involved is not all consuming. You may win and still not get anything, but you never know unless you try.

leespot

Thanks prudryden. I'm expecting to hear back from them tomorrow sometime, will post then with their response. Fingers crossed they will be OK and at least pay this months rent.

pinkshoes

I think your tenants need to understand that as they signed a 12 month AST, they're legally obliged to pay it, or could be taken to court for the remaining amount.

This is where you can play good cop, and state that instead of charging them for the full 12 months, they only have to pay until new tenants can be found, plus the cost of getting the new tenants in (credit checks etc...).

If they're getting a council house, then personally I'd phone the council and make sure the council are aware of this situation, and point out that their new tenants have a contract with you too.

RobertoMoir

So they had trouble with the old landlord and they now have trouble with their current landlord.

I always figure that if you have trouble with one part of your life then maybe it's the fault of the people in that one situation but if you have trouble everywhere you go then maybe, just maybe, it's you.

I'd be very wary of any sob stories these people tell you because there does seem to be a bit of a theme here.

leespot

Hi Roberto,

You're right. I did see proof that their previous landlord hiked the rent up (rentbook etc) but when he game them notice they basically wanted to move into my house before it was ready - I told them no, and they had to wait. (an extra 2 weeks until work was done) You can pick up the rest of the story from the various posts I've made if you need to. But yeah, in a nutshell, they pestered for a 12mth AST, got one, and then 3 weeks into it, they want to leave. I'm hoping to hear something back from them today.

leespot

Hi Pinkshoes,
It is local housing association as far as I am aware, about 3 roads away. New build. They haven't given a reason for moving, and I suppose they don't have to but it would be nice to know. I've pretty much asked them for another months rent to take me through to January. Depending how they reply, depends on how I move forward!

RobertoMoir

leespot wrote: »

Hi Pinkshoes,
It is local housing association as far as I am aware, about 3 roads away. New build. They haven't given a reason for moving, and I suppose they don't have to but it would be nice to know. I've pretty much asked them for another months rent to take me through to January. Depending how they reply, depends on how I move forward!

It seems like a fair compromise to me. As PoppySarah says, you might in theory be entitled to ask for more but there's a big difference between theory and what you'll actually end up with in the real world. Of course, if they don't see it that way and you keep records of your attempt to sort things out amicably, at least you'll have a very good defence against any suggestions that you've been unreasonable here.

leespot

Update to the ongoing saga!

I received a call from one of my tenants today. They had received the letter (I sent the one that is in this post) which I sent via recorded delivery, just to keep things above board and cover myself basically.

He accused me of reducing his wife to tears with the letter. I explained that reducing his wife to tears certainly wasn't my intention. I was sending the letter to let them know what my request / intentions were.

I tried to explain to him that it wasn't as straight forward as giving a months notice, less than a month into a new agreement. I also asked how long his new agreement was for, but he told me it was none of my business. I was only asking as an example, and would have gone on to say that they wouldn't just be able to leave their new agreement a month into it for no good reason.

He still hasn't had his solicitor look at the agreement after saying he would - his words "we're moving out on Friday, so lets just see what happens after the dust settles".

Again, I did say thats not really how things are going, and that I was being more than fair only asking for one more months rent. (when in reality I could be a really horrible person and press for the amount of outstanding rent in total) He flipped his lid and told me not to make him angry as I was already treading a fine line after upsetting his wife (it was his wife that decided to move!). Not sure what he means exactly, but I would assume its a variation of a threat. We'll see.

He also mentioned again that if (not when) they paid any money, that they couldn't afford to do it in one go. I also said that they could pay me over a period of time to be agreed if they wanted to - he just said we'll see (likes saying that!). I thought giving them the option to pay the amount in instalments was a fair suggestion?

I'm not holding out much hope on this, they are refusing to give me a forwarding address (although they are moving about 3 roads away so shouldn't be too difficult). I did say to them that if I can find another tennant to move in before the end of December, then I would not take any further action. He wasn't even happy with that!

Soot2006

"we're moving out on Friday, so lets just see what happens after the dust settles".

Can you afford to take them to court, even if they end up having nothing to give if you win (although I have a niggling feeling they have more than enough to give. They just don't want to). They need a dose of reality. The world doesn't revolve around *them*!! What a rude, unpleasant man, by the sounds of it!

leespot

Hi Soot2006 - Sure I can afford to take them to court, I can afford the mortage payments on the house easily enough too. I've been really fair with these people, and just feels like they're taking the pi$$. He even said on the phone that they couldn't pay me an extra month as they had to pay a deposit on the new house (extra kick in the teeth considering that they were too poor to give me a deposit!). I only wished I did get a deposit as I don't think they would have done what they have with their £500 at risk!

What I'm doing is more out of principle - they can't go around treating people this way and not expect to upset somebody one day!