Tenant bails out after 3 months of a 12 month AST

G_M

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

Something has obviously changed for them to suddenly decide they cant afford it. Circumstaces that i am not aware of. Its the manipulation i dont like. Reeds Rains will be chasing them, not me. Probably for about £1,000

Reeds Rains are (I believe) a letting agent, not a firm of solicitors.

An Agent can certainly write to the tenant requesting payment of arrears, but cannot take tenants to court - only the landlord, or his appointed legal representative (solicitor) can undertake legal action.

Just so you know......

Crashy_Time

Do you know where the tenant is now living?

PositivelyPerturbed

Won't be hard to track down the pervious tenant - use the same technique as the DWP - check social media

Crashy_Time

PositivelyPerturbed wrote: »

Won't be hard to track down the pervious tenant - use the same technique as the DWP - check social media

Come on. The OP needs to just move on and get a new tenant, they won`t be seeing this one again, in court or anywhere else.
The tenant probably lined another place up before doing this, probably because it is cheaper, or maybe the OP has been lax with repairs or something?

saajan_12

uptomyeyeballs wrote: »

My tenant has bailed out 3 months into a 12 month AST. They have been obstructing work that needs doing inside the property. The tenant already has rent arrears (not huge) and says they can’t afford to continue to pay the rent until a new tenant is found, nor to pay any fees due (my change of tenancy fees). - what fees? what your agent charges you -> Forms part of your damages. If its what you want to charge tenant then this needs to be either pre agreed with the tenant or reflect your actual costs. The bond is held securely as the property is managed by an agent and I have rent insurance. The tenant has just handed back the keys to the agent. - did they sign anything to say the tenancy has ended / they surrendered?

I need to inspect the property after the work is done and to ready the property for the next tenant. - you can only enter and use it as your own if the tenancy has ended. If it hasn't, then you can serve 24hrs notice (or as specified in your contract) and gain access for an inspection, but you can't renovate or get new tenants in. Am I right in thinking I can’t do this until a new tenant signs an AST, effectively releasing the old tenant? - NO, signing a new tenancy doesn't release the old tenant. You need to ensure the old tenancy is properly ended by agreeing a mutual termination or the old tenant signing something to say they have surrendered. Also, if there is any shortfall in coverage of rent by the insurance, can I claim it from the bond?- Yes

Make sure the tenancy is properly ended by agreeing a mutual early termination with the tenant in return of £x or your costs + rent paid.

THEN and only then, get renovations done and sign a new tenancy agreement.

uptomyeyeballs

The tenant has gone back to live with their parents. The issue has now been sorted. Thanks for your input everyone.