Landlord seeking help

becci747

I have a tenant with who we have had difficulties with rent. We have spent lots of time in discussion with him, he brought himself up to date and we thought things had improved.


This month he has disappeared. Rent has not been paid, he is not answering his phone or responding to emails and postal correspondence. We've walked passed the flat and it looks dead and there is an accumulation of post.


The other night we put notice through his door that we will attend on such a time and date (over 24 hrs notice) for a gas safety check to be carried out so that we can enter the property. That's this weekend.


In an effort to track him down to try and resolve things amicably I googled the phone numbers he has supplied us with to see if he had a business number I could try as he's self employed locally.


The number brought up an advert on gumtree for our flat that he is apparently trying to sub let. This is expressly against the terms of his tenancy agreement. He is still in the fixed term.


I don't know what to do. It appears that he has left and that he is trying to find someone to take it on. I can't contact him and I don't want people who should not be living there moving in as that's a whole extra level of stress. On the other hand I know that I can't simply change the locks.


We go on holiday in a week and I don't know where to begin fixing this and reducing my risk of coming back to randoms in my flat.


I have been unable to get hold of CAB by phone (at work) and would be really grateful for any advice or experience how best to approach this.

BitterAndTwisted

Get someone to answer the ad on Gumtree, meet him and agree to rent the flat. Once the keys are in their hands your tenant has abandoned the property.

Dunno how legal that is, but that's what I'd be doing.

I think you need to join a landlords association tout ruddy suite. Legal advice can be obtained with membership

PasturesNew

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Get someone to answer the ad on Gumtree, meet him and agree to rent the flat. Once the keys are in their hands your tenant has abandoned the property.

If it's near me I'll do it.

Pixie5740

Might be worth phoning Shelter for some advice.

What kind of tenancy agreement is there? Could you issue the tenant with a section 21 notification?

Also, might be worth contacting Gumtree to try and get the advert taken down.

Leon_W

If it were me I would go in as per "safety check" and if it looks like there's no one there I'd change the locks.


Keep a copy of the advert.


It may or may not provoke a response but at least you'll get some answers.

thesaint

Is the tenant still within the fixed term?
If so, when does it end.

The only 100% way is to go to court, but I would treat it as abandoned, change the locks, and wait for him to contact me.

becci747

Thanks everyone. We are going over tonight to have another look. Turns out he also has an agent advertising it! They are removing their advert and I have contacted gumtree. With the offer of financial support from my mum (very embarrassing at 32 years old) I have a meeting with a solicitor tomorrow.

Horseygirl123

thesaint wrote: »

Is the tenant still within the fixed term?
If so, when does it end.

The only 100% way is to go to court, but I would treat it as abandoned, change the locks, and wait for him to contact me.

I'm afraid you can't treat a property as abandoned even though it appears so. We had a similar problem and I was warned by LLs on the Landlordzone not to take matters into my own hands. Tenant was months behind with rent and not answering his phone. We'd issued Section 21 and Section 8 but neighbours told me he wasn't collecting mail. I was assured that this was okay as we had proof of postage so it was his own fault if he didn't see it.

After the two months notice I used findermonkey to trace him, turned up on his doorstep with a Deed of Surrender and told him he either signs it or I take him to court for rent arrears. He signed.

He was a nasty tenant and if I had assumed abandonment he would have been the first one to sue me for illegal possession.

Horseygirl123

Also meant to say, I panicked at first when I was warned it could take months to evict him and contacted a solicitor. They wanted £400 before they'd take the case any further. I surprised myself (with a lot of help) that I was able to sort the whole sorry mess out without their help.

becci747

Thanks everyone. Sorry I have only just come back to this. Luckily Horsey I work as support in the legal field who I have some contacts who have helped me for a nice low flat fee. They have written to my tenant requesting that he surrender the property or the alternative is that we go to court for possession and we sue him for arrears of rent. Fingers crossed it works and he just goes!


Thanks again for all the replies.

thesaint

Horseygirl123 wrote: »

I'm afraid you can't treat a property as abandoned even though it appears so. We had a similar problem and I was warned by LLs on the Landlordzone not to take matters into my own hands..

You can treat the property as abandoned. Whether you should or not "depends".

I have treated many properties as abandoned, and a small proportion I have decided to go to court and get possession.

Not once have I ended up in court for illegal eviction.