Tenants Disappeared - advice please..

cprmoran

Hi,

I have been renting out a house to a couple, and the neighbours (friends when I lived in the house) rang me to advise me they hadn't seen the tenants for a week or two, and that some windows were open on the first floor. I tried ringing the tenants - no answer (repeatedly). I called to the house, and when I looked in the front window, there was a stack of furniture, sofas, lawnmowers, and various other random goods, to the ceiling - very strange, and concerning!

After repeated phone calls & visits, no sign of tenants, so I called the police, and with them present, entered the property. It is like the Marie Celeste - the tenants clothes are mostly gone, but the bath and sink were still full of water. shaving gear. etc., as if they left in a real hurry. But all their other goods were piled in the living room as if ready to be moved, but they had been scared off? It's very weird, and the police certainly share the view that the tenants are gone, in suspicious circumstances. I have provided the police with all the contact details the tenants provided to me to do credit checks, etc, but they have advised that the chanes of finding them are remote.

This leaves me with a difficult situation - they owe me a months rent (which I accept is gone now!) - but having checked out the legal situation, it seems I cannot change locks, re-let or dispose of their property in an effort to recover my losses, without issuing a Notice to Quit, etc.

However, without being able to contact the tenants, how do i terminate the tenancy, or move on in terms of being able to re-let the property legally?

Help!

Any advice or experience would be great - thanks...

G_M

I started a reply - then decided my knowledge/experience is a bit out of date. Go to landlordzone for some real experts and post the same query.

clutton_2

how long have they been tenants ?

you could try putting a notice inside the window for everyone to read that says

"To Anyone Who Has Legal Access To This Property

The locks have been changed for security reasons

anyone with a legal need to enter these premises please contact xxxxxx phone numer immediately

name xxxxxx

date xxxxxx ""

This notice means you are not denying the tenant access, especially since you have a record of the police visit also.

what a mystery .. have you called local hospitals >?

frank.hopper

"what a mystery .. have you called local hospitals >? "



what a mystery ... check out the nearest beaches for a pile of clothes!

Blackpool_Saver

I hope they are ok.
I am sorry you have a difficult situation on your hands.

Jowo_2

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal/abandonment.htm

When a tenant abandons a property part-way through his tenancy the landlord needs to be very cautious because:

• The tenant is legally entitled to return and take up residence again.
• The landlord has a responsibility to his tenant to safeguard any belongings left in the property
• If the landlord takes over the property or re-lets and the tenant returns he could be in serious trouble for (1) the civil offence of breaching existing tenancy contract, and (2) a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

iscrimger

Check the tenancy agreement, I'm sure mine has a small statement which states the landlord/agency has the right to enter property 10 days after unsuccessfully managing to contact the tenant. If I intend to vacate the property for a long period of time (14 days or more) I must inform them in writing.

cprmoran

Well, the saga continues! I took the decision to change the locks (after seeking advice), and lo and behold the tenants turned up in the middle of the night and broke back in. The neighbours called the police, who obviously had the address on file already from me calling them, and they turned up en-mass to hold and question the tenants - the upshot is that they admitted they were intending to do a bunk, and had only comeback to empty the house of all their stuff, and were intending to do a runner on the rent. As it is a civil matter the police were powerless to do anything to stop them, so there was no option but to let them go (but the police did advise them that they were effectively terminating the tenancy as far as they were concerned!).

Well, off they went into the night, and I can kiss goodbye to the rent, but I have got a forwarding address to serve a notice to quit to, and it seems the abandonment element of tenacy law now comes into play, so i should be able to follow the legal process and move onto fiding another tenant.

All fun and games!

Ulfar

I would have loved to see the tenants faces when the police turned up.

Fire_Fox

iscrimger wrote: »

Check the tenancy agreement, I'm sure mine has a small statement which states the landlord/agency has the right to enter property 10 days after unsuccessfully managing to contact the tenant. If I intend to vacate the property for a long period of time (14 days or more) I must inform them in writing.

Tenancy agreement clauses cannot override statutory rights to 'quiet enjoyment' etc.

property.advert

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Tenancy agreement clauses cannot override statutory rights to 'quiet enjoyment' etc.

No, but having a much larger deposit can lessen the pain !

No wonder deposits of 2 or 3 months rent plus a month up front are becoming the norm now.