Can I terminate my tenant's tenancy early for having an unauthorised pet?

Jenniefour

higgledypiggledy_pop wrote: »

But others have pointed out to me that some areas of the tenancy have not been done by the book, so if the tenants were to get nasty it could go very (even more) wrong for me... I don't want to risk rocking the boat, even though I agree that I do have the right...

OP - moneyistooshorttomention is right. The fact that you're a keyholder for your relatives is a private agreement between yourself and said relatives. Be confident, don't let all this pressure you into behaving differently when you're around doing other things for your relatives. Be your usual polite self and say "hello", give them a smile. This might actually be helpful in this situation.

WorkingTowardsDebtFree

OP - you've got quite a few problems going on here!

Firstly - and most importantly - you've made accusations, and you've named a person / company. If there's anything that would turn out to be untrue - or even just unprovable - you could land yourself in hot legal water for libel. I am not calling you a liar, or saying you're not being honest - but claims such as those you've made are down to you to prove.

Really you should have sought legal advice over that than post about them in a way to identify the third party on a forum (and I apologise if you have taken a legal route, but I would have expected you to have been advised not to talk about the case online had you spoken to a solicitor or lawyer).

I guess you may be worried about certain legal requirements not being followed -- and you could be on the hook for those. However, if you are you wouldn't "not be on the hook" for ignoring it either. In fact, it could potentially look worse on you for identifying a third party online rather than only trying to get it sorted through legal channels?

I understand your anxieties about your tenants - but from the sounds of things this is your problem and you're working yourself up and giving yourself additional stresses over the situation.

You of course have a legal right to contact the tenants and ask for an inspection, and you also have been provided access to your family member's adjacent flat and the access to the communal areas that comes with that access.

However, so far:

- A neighbour has been spying - regardless of you saying that it wasn't at your request, because of everything else that has happened a perception is build up here.

- Your sister has turned up also on what appears to be a spying mission and tried several covert attempts to gain access to the property. Yes, your tenants may not have realised - but the motive was there.

- You gave notice about visiting, because you wanted to inspect the property. However you didn't inform your tenants of your motive. Essentially then you were also performing a spying mission on your tenants. You even tried to act covertly whilst in their home, but seemed scuppered about a few things. If you want to visit, as you did, you give notice but you visit as a visitor. If you want to inspect, then you give notice that you're inspecting and visit as the landlord inspecting.

- You now want to go on another spying mission visiting the communal parts of the property and your families adjacent property to see if you can find anything more on your tenants. Whilst you have permission to be there, and a legal right to be there - your motives are to spy on your tenants. You're even going to ensure that they are out to do so. That is not allowing quiet enjoyment to your tenants which they have a legal right to. So whilst you may have a legal right to physically be in the location you want to be in, you don't have a legal right to do what you're wanting to do.

With all of the things above combined, you're not allowing your tenants quiet enjoyment. Further to that, you may actually be causing harassment or be perceived to be stalking. Your intentions and your motives may well be to protect your property - but the perception can be very different to someone's stated intentions.

The best thing that you can do is speak to a solicitor about all of your issues - your legal obligations that may not be in order, and what you should do as a landlord.

I would personally suggest that you should stay away from your tenants and your property other than to have a chat with them and sounding them out about leaving at the end of the tenancy fixed term - just explaining that you'd like to move back in and don't want to let it out anymore. This gives them plenty of time to plan, and you'll probably find that they have no problems with that and are grateful for as much notice time as possible. If you want them out as much as you make out, you may also want to consider offering to be flexible on mutually ending the agreement if they choose to leave before the fixed term is up (but you can't compel them to do that, of course).

If there's any damage to the property after the tenancy ends, you could normally look at claiming it back from their deposit with their agreement or of course with a tenancy deposit scheme adjudication. If their deposit didn't cover those costs, then you can look at claiming it back from them and taking it through the courts if they refuse to pay. However all of this is made rather more complicated by you not protecting the deposit? So you may need to just chalk it up to life experience.

One thing for certain that isn't going to help your situation though is continued antagonisation of the situation - if your tenants realise what's going on (maybe they might read this forum, maybe a light bulb will go on) then your already difficult situation could get a lot, lot worse. What you or your associates may think are clever ruses are anything but, and you don't want to get to the straw that breaks the camel's back.

In summary:
- Stop causing yourself more and more anguish by working yourself up with the situation.
- Leave your tenants alone.
- Suggest to your tenants that you'd like to move back in at the end of their tenancy, consider being flexible if they find somewhere they'd like to move to before the fixed term ends.
- Speak to a solicitor, and perhaps an accountant, get your legal obligations in order. If you've got everything sorted by choice you'll be in an infinitely better position than if you don't, even if it's still not that great.
- At the end of the tenancy (which will occur when the tenants decide, or when the courts decide) then take back possession of the property.

And if this has all been one big fantastical wind-up then bravo!

Pyxis

If you google that name, you get loads of photos and Facebook entires. Have you tried identifying him from that?
It's a Turkish name, by the way, or so it would seem.

00ec25

Pyxis wrote: »

If you google that name, you get loads of photos and Facebook entires. Have you tried identifying him from that?
It's a Turkish name, by the way, or so it would seem.

if you read the thread (great entertainment value BTW, certainly worthy of a Man Booker) you will see OP has already stated the "agent" was Turkish

I wonder if it is the Turkish equivalent of John Smith

Red-Squirrel_2

higgledypiggledy_pop wrote: »

Half the time I am being mocked for not being interesting and bizarre enough for you, i.e. not having a sufficient number of vampires in my house, then you say that I have try harder to be less 'ridiculous', because apparently being offered dinner by a tenant from a similar background to myself, who may have a reason to be charming, is ridiculous. In reality, perhaps some of YOU are rather more naive than you may think.

If they have a similar background, why are they living in your ancestral home? Have they not got their own ancestral home they could use?

fairy_lights

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

If they have a similar background, why are they living in your ancestral home? Have they not got their own ancestral home they could use?

The tenants are both youngest siblings and as such were expected to join the clergy. Unfortunately a scandal involving the bishops daughter and a case of port put paid to that and so they are now living in reduced circumstances while they wait for their inheritance to come through from a wayward uncle who passed away on a hunting trip in Rhodesia (which has been rather held up due to some unfortunate complications involving the housekeepers youngest son)

moneyistooshorttomention

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

If they have a similar background, why are they living in your ancestral home? Have they not got their own ancestral home they could use?

Err hello.....stuff happens.

People do have bad financial episodes happen (to them or their families) - and get thrown out of the "comfort zone" of their "background" and have to "make shift" with worse circumstances than expected.

One of the saddest things I've come across in life was someone that was "thrown out of their background" (parental loss of money) and bought a one bedroom flat/has a low-level job and hasnt really got the "strength" to cope with it. They tried to commit suicide unsuccessfully at one point and are now just back to "drinking themselves to death" gradually.

bertiewhite

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Err hello.....stuff happens.

People do have bad financial episodes happen (to them or their families) - and get thrown out of the "comfort zone" of their "background" and have to "make shift" with worse circumstances than expected.

One of the saddest things I've come across in life was someone that was "thrown out of their background" (parental loss of money) and bought a one bedroom flat/has a low-level job and hasnt really got the "strength" to cope with it. They tried to commit suicide unsuccessfully at one point and are now just back to "drinking themselves to death" gradually.

ooh, how the other half live, eh? The trials & tribulations of the rich.

ViolaLass wrote: »

So talk to your tenants.

He has - over dinner and wine.

Pyxis

00ec25 wrote: »

if you read the thread (great entertainment value BTW, certainly worthy of a Man Booker) you will see OP has already stated the "agent" was Turkish

I wonder if it is the Turkish equivalent of John Smith

I had read it! I remembered the OP saying the agent was from abroad, just forgot the rest had been mentioned.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Err hello.....stuff happens.

People do have bad financial episodes happen (to them or their families) - and get thrown out of the "comfort zone" of their "background" and have to "make shift" with worse circumstances than expected.

.

Distressed gentlefolk.

The_Earl_of_Streatham

higgledypiggledy_pop wrote: »

They paid all of their rent in advance but I just really don't like dogs in my property, I may have to live there again in the future and I am allergic to dog fur.

So you visited and stayed for a while enjoying their hospitality. During your stay you saw no evidence of the dog and suffered no allergic reaction. You really have no direct evidence that your tenants are in breach of their tenancy agreement, despite having visited with the express intention of finding some.

You, on the other hand, are in breach of very many of your obligations as a landlord. Much as this thread has been a great source of amusement, the advice you need is to stop posting here and sort out your affairs. Nobody here can help you any more; you are engaging for the most part with people who are just pointing and laughing (me included).

If you're working on a stand-up routine, or an after dinner speech then I'm sure we're more than happy to help out. If you really are a landlord, then at this stage you are beyond the help of the combined expertise of the people who post here.