Tenant never moved in,but paid upfront....

karlosmaximos

I have a tenant who paid 6months upfront but has not technically moved in. He has some furniture and a washer,fridge but there are no signs of him ever staying there.
His tenancy expires in 2 days and I cant locate him-his phone is disconnected and he doesnt work at the place i knew him from anymore.I've tried facebook but no luck.
Question is this,what do I do now?
He hasnt done anything wrong so i guess I cant remove his stuff,and I presume I cant readvertise it?
I cant issue an eviction notice as he's never lived there.I went last night and let myself in-I had to push the mail away from the door to get past!
Any ideas folks?

fishpond

Is there a chance the tenant is in prison or dead etc?

princeofpounds

You will probably find you can issue an eviction notice to the address.

And if they are not resident there and never have been, then technically there is no tenancy and a section 21 notice may not even be required (although I'd be ultra cautious about pursuing it that way).

If there is so little stuff in there it has obviously been abandoned then the tenancy would be terminated 'by operation of law'.google it to learn more.

Anyway, I'd just treat it like a normal tenancy, serve S21 notice and get possession order from court.

stator

You could always try doing a search of your local paper on google using the following format:

"james blogs" site:localpaper.co.uk

Anyone who is convicted and many people who die end up with their name in the paper one way or another.

Also
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?45497-Evicting-absent-T

karlosmaximos

He was active on facebook in November.
If I serve a section21 wont i have to wait 2months for reposession?
I've searched the local paper,someone with his name appears back in August,but that doesnt tally up with his facebook activity.
Would you put his stuff into storage?-2 sofas,1 tv,xbox,bed,fridge,washer?

Guest101

Issue a s21 and wait 2 months.

I'm baffled why you didn't issue it two months ago, if u suspected he wasn't living there?

Either way-
Do not use abandonment
Do not go into the property
Do not move or remove anything

Regardless of his current state, whether he's alive or not. There is a very valid tenancy in place. Follow the rules to end it

tom9980

I would be taking pictures of those letters built up in the doorway as evidence of abandonment for a start. He still could turn up! So do everything by the book including storing his stuff, but s21 as a starting point.

G_M

Well, it's a moot point whether he ever 'moved in' or not - though critical in determing whether a tenancy exists or not.

He has a key, he has possessions in the property - my guess is a tenancy exists.

So the tenancy can only be ended via either a S21 Notice (which could have been served 2+ months ago) followed by court, or a S8 Notice (followed by court).

You could try S8 ground 10 as soon as the next rent is due/unpaid, but this may fail.

S8 ground 8 is guaranteed, but not for another month when 2 payments will be overdue.

S8 ground 7 if you can establish he is deceased.

Schedule 2 (17 S8 Grounds a LL can use)

karlosmaximos

Guest101 wrote: »

Issue a s21 and wait 2 months.

I'm baffled why you didn't issue it two months ago, if u suspected he wasn't living there

I didnt issue it as he had paid upfront to the 6th January

Guest101

karlosmaximos wrote: »

I didnt issue it as he had paid upfront to the 6th January

Right. But were u aware he hadn't moved in two months ago?

Guest101

tom9980 wrote: »

I would be taking pictures of those letters built up in the doorway as evidence of abandonment for a start. He still could turn up! So do everything by the book including storing his stuff, but s21 as a starting point.

No pictures
No stuff moved / stored

Just s21 and posession hearing.