Tenants have left property before end of one year tenancy, no notice

JackAubrey

Hello  My tenants have left my rented property - the first I heard about it was a council tax bill landed in my inbox. They returned keys to the agent, who of course did not inform me until four days later!   My questions:

1.  Am I right in thinking they remain responsible for council tax and all bills until the end of the one year tenancy that was agreed?

2. T\hey provide a deposit of one month rent.This will cover some, but they also leave some damage at the property according to the checkout report. The agent is suggesting I claim on my Rent Loss insurance, and leave the deposit untouched to set against damage a the property. Is that right?

Many thanks for any clarification!

anselld

1.  Correct.  You can send the Council a copy of the tenancy and explain that the Tenants remain liable.  Same for utilities.

     However, check what the Agent may have agreed with regard to terminating the tenancy.  The fact they have completed a checkout report suggests they have accepted the Tenancy has ended.

2.   Depends on the terms of your policy.  They are normally quite prescriptive about how non-payment of rent must be handled and if you or the Agent have not followed the due process then kiss goodbye to any claim.

FlorayG

It depends whether they just left or if the agent let them terminate the tenancy. I would have thought the agent would not be allowed to do that without your agreement. If they just upped and scarpered then yes they are still responsible for all the bills including council tax; plus, you have to make all reasonable efforts to contact them and determine for sure if they are coming back or not before you can occupy the property and re-advertise it ( assuming they scarpered)

Flugelhorn

FlorayG said:

It depends whether they just left or if the agent let them terminate the tenancy. I would have thought the agent would not be allowed to do that without your agreement. If they just upped and scarpered then yes they are still responsible for all the bills including council tax; plus, you have to make all reasonable efforts to contact them and determine for sure if they are coming back or not before you can occupy the property and re-advertise it ( assuming they scarpered)

presume if they handed ion the keys then they don't intend to come back

Markmywords

what has estate agents said on this and why did they not inform you asap?

FlorayG

Flugelhorn said:

FlorayG said:

It depends whether they just left or if the agent let them terminate the tenancy. I would have thought the agent would not be allowed to do that without your agreement. If they just upped and scarpered then yes they are still responsible for all the bills including council tax; plus, you have to make all reasonable efforts to contact them and determine for sure if they are coming back or not before you can occupy the property and re-advertise it ( assuming they scarpered)

presume if they handed ion the keys then they don't intend to come back

You would certainly think so but unless they have formally ended the tenancy I think the law may say otherwise. Good luck chasing them for rent and utilities though OP

Bookworm105

FlorayG said:

Flugelhorn said:

FlorayG said:

It depends whether they just left or if the agent let them terminate the tenancy. I would have thought the agent would not be allowed to do that without your agreement. If they just upped and scarpered then yes they are still responsible for all the bills including council tax; plus, you have to make all reasonable efforts to contact them and determine for sure if they are coming back or not before you can occupy the property and re-advertise it ( assuming they scarpered)

presume if they handed ion the keys then they don't intend to come back

You would certainly think so but unless they have formally ended the tenancy I think the law may say otherwise. Good luck chasing them for rent and utilities though OP

indeed, priority here has to be for OP to establish if his agent has acted in a way that surrender of the tenancy has been accepted by "operation of the law" ("implied" surrender)
- were the keys dropped through a letter box or were they physically accepted by a real person?
- has the agent said or done anything on receipt of the keys?

Shelter Legal England - Surrender of a tenancy - Shelter England

utilities remain the liability of the customer (tenant) until the tenancy has legally ended as the tenancy agreement should have that set out in black and white. It's the utility company's problem to debt recover until then 

using the deposit to cover unpaid rent rather than damages risks having to sue for both unpaid rent and a balance of damage. Much easier to have a legal case for unpaid rent only as then you are not into arguing what comprises "damage"

Grumpy_chap

JackAubrey said:

 leave the deposit untouched to set against damage a the property. 

Yes, that is what you need to do.  The deposit is for exposure to damage (beyond wear & tear) and not unpaid rent.  If the deposit is withheld for any reason other than damage (which needs to be quantified and evidenced) the deposit scheme will usually require that the deposit is returned to the former tenant.

dinosaur66

as long as tenancy agreement says tenants responsible for paying utilities up to there leaving then landlord is not responsible

TDS as grumpy chap has pointed out is what you will use to claim for damage caused or whatever scheme your letting agent is with / i only know them.

 

if it were me i would do the touch up work / clean / have open weekend / and you have your choice of who you wish /

but i am retired and have the time.

i would guess rent in your area has increased £50 to £100 a month as well

JackAubrey

Hello All

Thankyou for your helpful comments. 

I am not sure how the keys were deposited with the agentnand I will follow up with this.

The agent has been shifty in all my dealings with them and I can't wait to get rid of them. It's meant to be a profesional company, the biggest lettings agency in the country, (begins with CON) but my experience has been terrible.

Bookworm105

JackAubrey said:

The agent has been shifty in all my dealings with them and I can't wait to get rid of them. It's meant to be a profesional company, the biggest lettings agency in the country, (begins with CON) but my experience has been terrible.

LOL. the cynic in me would see that as a stepping stone for high turnover staff to get some experience from a low start point before they fail to meet their income targets and go elsewhere with less sales pressure and possibly a different ethos towards customer service