Tenant uncontactable

toni2014

The tenant did not inform me that he had changed the lock, hence why I think one of the reasons as to why he left the key underneath the bin for me.

There has been no contact from the tenant whatsoever since October.

It still remains a mystery as to what is behind the locked bedroom door, another theory could be that he may have sublet the second room other than that it could be that the actual tenant may have put all his belongings in the bedroom and locked the door. If so, it still doesn't make sense as to why their is radio silence on his part.

toni2014

km1500 said:

km1500 said:

I suspect (and it's only my personal opinion) that he's not coming back

the tenant is not coming back

The longer this goes on with the tenant not reaching out and communicating with me I think so too. Given that he's a foreigner, I doubt he'll have the ability to take away all of his large furnishings to place elsewhere.

Either he is genuinely abroad, in prison, or has genuinely abandoned the property found somewhere else or has decided to permanently stay in his home country, I can't think of any other theories.

His last message said he will be abroad a 'few more days' as his father is still sick, I think this may have been a lame excuse as it's gone way over a mere few days without contact from him since October.

swingaloo

Fair enough to secure the house while he is away. Then wait the correct time before taking any kind of legal action to reclaim the property.
But looking in his cupboards, fridge and checking his rooms and clothing is completely out of line. No way do you have the right to do that. 

anselld

The procedure for dealing with abandonment is here …
   https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/22/part/3/enacted

… but it takes another 8 weeks from when you start the process.

SDLT_Geek

anselld said:

The procedure for dealing with abandonment is here …
   https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/22/part/3/enacted

… but it takes another 8 weeks from when you start the process.

Nice thinking, but the abandonment provisions of Part 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 have not been brought into force. 

This is mentioned in a House of Commons briefing paper of 2019 here https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8229/CBP-8229.pdf and Lexis indicates that even now the commencement orders have not been made under section 216 for this part of the Act.

TripleH

@swingaloo, whilst I don't disagree, if we take the situation as the tenant has communicated, it may not be unreasonable to check the fridge for milk or food that has gone bad. The tenant may have left in a rush and isn't thinking right nor knew how long they'd be away for.

An empty fridge is better than a cottage cheese manufacturing hub on your return.

Wife got a phonecall that FIL was ill and she has flown out to him and landed by the time I got home from work. She had no idea how long she was going to be there for when she left. It was fortunate that I was at home. Same happened with my father.

I agree about the other points except that there is implication that there was rent money left for the landlord in a text message.