Does an evicted tennant have to pay a full months rent when evicted mid term?

goonarmy

The "eviction is the removal of a tennant by a landlord" bit.
For arguements sake notice has been served mid term say the 15th and the term runs for one calendar month from the first.

so mostly B but partly A too.(confusingly)

franklee

The "eviction" potentially has three stages depending on how long the tenant stays:

1. Expiry of S21 notice period.

2. Expiry of possession order.

3. Bailiffs arrive on the doorstep.

A tenant may consider leaving at the first two of these, by the third they will be removed. Any one of the three could happen mid rental period so the tenant will need to know how much rent they will owe.

If the tenant pays a full rental period it's clear they will not be entitled to a refund (unless they have negotiated that with the LL).

So the question remains unanswered for each of the three stages: if the tenant pays pro-rata upfront can they be chased for the rent till the end of the rental period?

I do not think that's been definitely answered as there are answers going both ways on the two threads. The answers range from:

the tenant always owes the whole period

to

when the LL is asking the tenant to leave they cannot make them pay for the time after they were asked (or in bailiffs case forced) to leave.

I realise the practical approach is to negotiate with the LL but I fear that once a tenant overstays the S21 notice period a LL may miffed and not be amenable to negotiation. There is still a wide expectation that a tenant should leave when the S21 notice expires whereas the better read on here know that's just the first step towards getting the tenant out.

The safe bet for a tenant overstaying the S21 is to serve their own notice of one whole period to expire at the end of the period. However if the dates fall awkwardly it may be the tenant's notice doesn't expire in time. I'd be serving it anyway to put a end date to rent owed. Then I'd pay the last month pro-rata up to the possession order/bailiff's date or if that's not yet known I'd pay weekly until dates are known. Having read both threads I've still no idea if the LL can then charge for rent from the possession order/bailiff's date till the end of the period.

silvercar

If the eviction date is when the bailiffs literally throw tenant and possessions out on the street, it would be hard to argue that the tenant should pay rent for any time beyond that date.

If tenant has an eviction order from the court or has agreed a date they are moving out with the landlord, then they can communicate. Tenant will presumably want to notify landlord that they are leaving to avoid landlord going to court and tenant risk incuring legal costs.

If tenant has been served with notice from landlord and no legal action yet taken place, then tenant can say they have paid rent to end of month so will leave then unless landlord agrees to refund portion of rent or the other way round ie tenant offer to pay rent owed up to date of leaving mid month.

silvercar

franklee wrote: »

Having read both threads I've still no idea if the LL can then charge for rent from the possession order/bailiff's date till the end of the period.

Could it depend on whether there was a breach of tenancy? I tenant and landlord enter a one year contract that tenant breaches by keeping pets/ disturbing the neighbourhood/ growing cannabis etc so landlord goes to court and secures eviction, could the landlord expect rent to be paid until the property is re-let on the grounds of the original contract?

Only asking, not suggesting this is the case here.

jjlandlord

Guys, you do realise that the legal position re. right to apportionment has been answered long ago, in the previous thread, right?

franklee

jjlandlord wrote: »

Guys, you do realise that the legal position re. right to apportionment has been answered long ago, in the previous thread, right?

Just read it through and can't see that can you give link or post number. As far as I can see that there is no right to a refund was answered.

I suppose yet another option is for the tenant to leave at the end of the rental period that falls before the baliff's visit. If the tenant hasn't served notice can the LL still chase for the next rental period's rent?

franklee

silvercar wrote: »

Could it depend on whether there was a breach of tenancy? I tenant and landlord enter a one year contract that tenant breaches by keeping pets/ disturbing the neighbourhood/ growing cannabis etc so landlord goes to court and secures eviction, could the landlord expect rent to be paid until the property is re-let on the grounds of the original contract?

Only asking, not suggesting this is the case here.

Good question.

I've been thinking the tenant is on a periodic tenancy and free to serve notice. If the tenant is bound by a fixed term he cannot do that so has to wait it out if he cannot negoiate a surrender with the LL. So I'm not clear when his liability to pay rent ends.