Tenant signed 6m contract, moved out after 4

jmt

Hello all,

A bit of advice please.

I have a property that I have owned for 8 years and my current tenant moved in on 10th December 2008 after signing a 6 month contract.

After meeting her in February, she seemed really nice and said she was enjoying living in the property. A few weeks later we had a phone call from her to say she wanted to know if she could give me a month's notice to move out (she is 22 and had just moved out from home but did not like living on her own).

My letting agent said ususally IF she was prepared to pay the finders fee and allow advertising as soon as suitable person could be found who passed the security checks it would be OK so this I what I told her. She informed both myself and my letting agent that she did not want any viewings whilst she was in occupation and would move out back to her mums.

She finally moved out at the beginning of April (I thought I had found a tenant privately, but this fell through) and it is currently on the market. Because I told my tenant that I had hopefully found a tenant (no finders fee) I told her that I would be happy to refund her rent from the date the new tenant moved in until 9th June as I did not think it was fair to have double rent for a month or so.

Because I was away from 2nd-20th April I have not been available to do the check out and I posted my set of keys to my letting agent so that he could do viewings (I had an email to confirm my tenant had move her stuff out).

Now today my tenant has been to my letting agents office to hand in her keys. He has signed for them on a 'safe keeping only' basis, but she also left a letter addressed to them which she asked them to read after she left.

The letter states that she has moved out due to an infestation of woodlice (she has never mentioned it to me - my property is 1st floor loft apartment with double height space and beams) and that she is fuming that I sent my set of keys to my letting agent (my letting agent told me he had a cupboard containg over 200 sets of keys and this was normal). It also states that as far as she is concerned the contract finishes today and not 9th June and that she has cancelled the standing order and will not pay me the last rent that is due on 10th May.

1. My agent said that a clause in the contract stipulates that it is the tenant who is responsible for an 'infestation' if there is one and she should have notified me.

2. I see it that a 6 month contract is a 6 month contract and I should be paid for 6 months - no get outs.

3. I hold a bond at the DPS that more than covers the rent that is outstanding. Should I ask for a deduction from the bond to pay the rent, or do I repay bond in full and then issue on-line court papers.

4. I have not had anything in writing from my tenant (by post), correspondance has all been by phone and email.

Your comments would be most appreciated

clutton_2

you will need as much written evidence as possible if you take this to the DPS for arbitration - and even then they are likely to order the deposit be returned to the tenant - sounds like your tenant is bound to lie about what happened. you will need witness statements to back up your side of the story.

if i were you - i would not agree to use DPS arbitration service - which means she will have to take you to court to get her deposit back.

if she does not - then eventually i think you will get the deposit by default - but this will take several months whichever course of action you take

jmt

Hi, thank you clutton.

Are emails considered as evidence as she only uses a hotmail account?

I'm not really bothered about how long it takes to get the money I just feel that if you sign something you should honour it and this is what she is not doing.

I notified her yesterday that I need to do an inspection on Saturday and intend to take a camera and an independent person with me as I do not want to fall foul of the DPS rules in refunding her within 10 days.

The contract also states that under the section deposit 'The deposit is held as security for the performance of the tenant's obligations under the agreement and to compensate the landlord for any breach of those conditions'. Surely the failure to pay a months rent is a breach?

N79

jmt wrote: »

Hi, thank you clutton.

Are emails considered as evidence as she only uses a hotmail account?

Yes - but if she denies sending them in court (ie perjures herself) then it will down to whether the judge believes you or her.

jmt wrote: »

Surely the failure to pay a months rent is a breach?

Absolutely - you are entitled to receive 6 months of rent. Reading your thread you are not persuing anything you are not legally entitled to.

clutton_2

the tenant will say that you agreed that she could move out early - and the DPS will believe her.

You will have to provide some evidence to show that you did not agree - eg a letter to her refusing her request for an early leaving date.

shelovestobuystuff

According to the first post the tenant gave 1 months notice in feb or one week after you meeting her in feb.You agreed to accept one months notice after speaking to your agent about the situation.The tenant agreed to pay a finders fee but as you thought you had found a tenant you told her no finders fee payable.She moved out after a month,start of April ,as agreed.
If the house is left in a good condition you have to give her the deposit back and you cannot revert to the original agreement after making a new one which supercedes it,despite your new tenant not working out.Thats not the old tenants fault.Just find a new tenant.

shelovestobuystuff

clutton wrote: »

the tenant will say that you agreed that she could move out early - and the DPS will believe her.

You will have to provide some evidence to show that you did not agree - eg a letter to her refusing her request for an early leaving date.

But the op agreed to an early leaving date and accepted one months notice to quit which was given back in Feb or within a week of meeting the tenant in Feb.
Just read over and see that the tenant is willing to pay rent up to 22nd April.That sounds like a few weeks more than you are actaully due so more than fair.

jmt

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

But the op agreed to an early leaving date and accepted one months notice to quit which was given back in Feb or within a week of meeting the tenant in Feb.
Just read over and see that the tenant is willing to pay rent up to 22nd April.That sounds like a few weeks more than you are actaully due so more than fair.

The tenant never gave me a months notice, just rang and said she would like to move out and would do so immediately as she did not want to have any viewings whilst she was living there - would I consider it.

This is the correspondance I sent her. I think I clearly states what I will accept.


As at today’s date – 15th March 2009 you have just paid the rent for the period 10th March 2009 to 9th April 2009 and you have two months rent left to pay which is a total of £700. You are also obliged to pay the council tax for the “term of your agreement” as per 4.1.4 on the tenancy agreement.

Your offer of £500 is not really sufficient as I would be out of pocket £200 plus I would end up paying the council tax of approx £150.

If you move out immediately I do appreciate that I could re-advertise my property and I may be lucky to find a new tenant before 10th June. Therefore I would like to make you a counter offer which I consider to be fair.
I think I should be paid the £700 rent due and you should continue to pay the council tax until 9th June. As soon as you move out I shall ask LA to re-advertise my property for £375 pcm (this is what it was advertised at previously and LA thinks I should be able to achieve this in the current market). If I find a new tenant who can move in before 9th June, I will refund you on a pro-rata basis so that I do not profit from the situation.

tbs624

If your Tenant moved out at the beginning of April why has she only just returned the keys to your today on the 24th?

Did you put the full terms of your allowing her to leave early *in writing* to her? If you simply said verbally that you had got a new T and yes she could go then IMO you are likely to struggle with resolving this.

Why did the proposed new T not take up the tenancy?

Why did you and the LA not point out that by refusing to allow viewings whilst she was in occupation the original T was delaying you being able to secure another T to take over the property?

You do seem a little muddled on the technicalities of all this, despite having an LA working on your behalf. You mention that you thought it would be "unfair to get double rent" but the fact is that you may not collect rent from both parties in these circumstances - either the original T has to pay for their original Fixed Term or once the new T has moved in the old T is relieved of their responsibilities for rent so its best not presented as some sort of gallant gesture on your part.

If you are dealing with contracts do everything in writing - follow up any verbal discussion by phone or in person with a letter confirming what was discussed and keep copies.

I would write to your former T and say that you had agreed to her leaving her fixed term provided an appropriate new T could be found and that it is usual for a T to remain responsible for the rent until that happened and to meet any of the LLs reasonable costs involved. Comment specifically on her refusal to allow viewings, tell her that you will continue looking for a new T but that you expect her to meet her contractual obligations in the meantime.

The issue with woodlice is irrelevant. T's have to report issues such as disrepair or infestation to their LL in writing and the LL would then have to respond as appropriate. It does not give a T the right to renege on their contract.

tbs624

Cross posted, so hadn't seen your response above.

So the T has paid you the last instalment of rent 5 days late - did she always pay late?

IMO you cannot ask for the May rent before it becomes due on the 10th of that month.

Your wording, eg. " I think that..." has possibly given the T the belief that it is simply your view that she is required to meet the terms of her contract, rather than her being legally obliged to do so and she may say that you then told her that you had this new T lined up so everything would be alright.

Your next letter should be far more formal.

jmt

Thanks tbs624,

My LA only finds and vets tenants, I manage the maintenace and rent is paid directly to me.

I think to be honest, I was uneasy that she did not like living alone and tried to be helpful, especially with my offer of a refund.

The prospective tenant who decided not to take it was a HB claimant. She was talked out of it because of security of tenancy by her friends.

I did clearly state in my last post and I'm not sure that you managed to read this as our posts almost overlapped.