Tenant has handed in notice but won't pay rent for April 2025

HobgoblinBT

OP, if your elderly landlord friend is needing advice on something as basic as asking a tenant to pay their rent and is reluctant to take a sensible deposit to protect their own interests, maybe the best advice for the elderly landlord is to sell his property and use the money to generate an income to replace the rental income.  

It will certainly be better for their wellbeing.

RAS

If each tenant had their own contract, it's in HMO territory, I think, did the departing tenant live with anyone other than the remaining tenant?

cs95aam

RAS said:

If each tenant had their own contract, it's in HMO territory, I think, did the departing tenant live with anyone other than the remaining tenant?

His wife and small child. Why do you ask?

_Penny_Dreadful

The tenant has served notice and providing it's valid the tenancy will end 30th April.  Once that happens your relative has a could of options:

1. If there's little in the way of deposit deductions due to damage or cleaning at the end of the tenancy, use the the deposit to partially cover the rent arrears and let the remaining arrears slide.
2. Similar to above but instead of letting a deficit slide send the tenant a letter before action and then file a Money Claim Online.  It might not be worth the hassle though.

housebuyer143

cs95aam said:

RAS said:

If each tenant had their own contract, it's in HMO territory, I think, did the departing tenant live with anyone other than the remaining tenant?

His wife and small child. Why do you ask?

Because if you are in HMO territory you need a license. 3 unrelated sharers are it's a HMO. 
Because it's his family and the other tenant you should be fine but this might not be the case if you are in additional licensing areas and it's something to consider if he rents it out again and doesn't have a licence.

Some councils have sticker rules. My council deem 2 unrelated shares an additional licensing HMO and you need to apply to be able to do this and then install all the required safety measures. I personally think that's deeply unfair as you can't have any friends sharing etc, which actually punishes the tenants and makes renting property harder.

RAS

housebuyer143 said:

cs95aam said:

RAS said:

If each tenant had their own contract, it's in HMO territory, I think, did the departing tenant live with anyone other than the remaining tenant?

His wife and small child. Why do you ask?

Because if you are in HMO territory you need a license. 3 unrelated sharers are it's a HMO. 
Because it's his family and the other tenant you should be fine but this might not be the case if you are in additional licensing areas and it's something to consider if he rents it out again and doesn't have a licence.

Some councils have sticker rules. My council deem 2 unrelated shares an additional licensing HMO and you need to apply to be able to do this and then install all the required safety measures. I personally think that's deeply unfair as you can't have any friends sharing etc, which actually punishes the tenants and makes renting property harder.

Yep, I recall some not too grotty shared houses, anything up to 8 rooms, sometimes occupied by two people and maybe only one bathroom. The rent was cheap, so much so we reduced the 7 bedroom share to five people, made one a second common room and the other a store. Accommodate the occasional BF/GF as well. 

ripplyuk

cs95aam said:

Hello,

I'm asking on behalf of an elderly landlord. His tenant has handed in his notice and has said he will leave at the end of April. He always pays his rent on the 3rd of the month but he didn't for this month. The landlord only noticed a week ago. He asked him about it and the tenant told him that his laptop was damaged and he suffered loss of data several months ago when the plasterboard of the bedroom ceiling fell. The ceiling was repaired. At no point did the tenant complain about the laptop back then. The tenant and landlord have been on very good terms for many years although I think the landlord was far too friendly and lenient with him. A year's agreement was initially signed many years ago but the landlord did not renew it after a year. Perhaps he wasn't aware.

This doesn’t sound like a landlord who is ‘too nice’. It sounds like one who is overwhelmed and can’t cope with managing his responsibilities. Ceilings don’t normally fall down without long-term neglect. If I was the landlord, I’d just be glad no one was injured. I suspect if he tries to claim for the missing rent, the tenant will counterclaim for the laptop damage. 

cs95aam

housebuyer143 said:

cs95aam said:

RAS said:

If each tenant had their own contract, it's in HMO territory, I think, did the departing tenant live with anyone other than the remaining tenant?

His wife and small child. Why do you ask?

Because if you are in HMO territory you need a license. 3 unrelated sharers are it's a HMO. 
Because it's his family and the other tenant you should be fine but this might not be the case if you are in additional licensing areas and it's something to consider if he rents it out again and doesn't have a licence.

Some councils have sticker rules. My council deem 2 unrelated shares an additional licensing HMO and you need to apply to be able to do this and then install all the required safety measures. I personally think that's deeply unfair as you can't have any friends sharing etc, which actually punishes the tenants and makes renting property harder.

The landlord has a HMO license. However going forward he says he will keep one family. 

cs95aam

ripplyuk said:

cs95aam said:

Hello,

I'm asking on behalf of an elderly landlord. His tenant has handed in his notice and has said he will leave at the end of April. He always pays his rent on the 3rd of the month but he didn't for this month. The landlord only noticed a week ago. He asked him about it and the tenant told him that his laptop was damaged and he suffered loss of data several months ago when the plasterboard of the bedroom ceiling fell. The ceiling was repaired. At no point did the tenant complain about the laptop back then. The tenant and landlord have been on very good terms for many years although I think the landlord was far too friendly and lenient with him. A year's agreement was initially signed many years ago but the landlord did not renew it after a year. Perhaps he wasn't aware.

This doesn’t sound like a landlord who is ‘too nice’. It sounds like one who is overwhelmed and can’t cope with managing his responsibilities. Ceilings don’t normally fall down without long-term neglect. If I was the landlord, I’d just be glad no one was injured. I suspect if he tries to claim for the missing rent, the tenant will counterclaim for the laptop damage. 

There may be an element of that yes but given until very recently a 3 bedroom house in London was let out in total for £1200 and the departing tenant was only paying £800 of that rent it was a very good deal. He recently raised the rent and the landlord believes that’s when the tenant started to become awkward.

cs95aam

_Penny_Dreadful said:

The tenant has served notice and providing it's valid the tenancy will end 30th April.  Once that happens your relative has a could of options:

1. If there's little in the way of deposit deductions due to damage or cleaning at the end of the tenancy, use the the deposit to partially cover the rent arrears and let the remaining arrears slide.
2. Similar to above but instead of letting a deficit slide send the tenant a letter before action and then file a Money Claim Online.  It might not be worth the hassle though.

Are you sure we will be able to claim the deposit back from the DPS? 

Also, how much does the money claim cost?