A situation that hasn’t happened….yet!

motorman99

Hello and thanks for all help
what happens if the following situation occurs please?
never happened in 30 years of being a landlord but…

house rented on AST to 4 unrelated individuals, on a joint and several basis, however it is NOT classed as an HMO

 At the end of the AST, as planned, 3 of the individuals move out, rent all up to date, deposits returned.

the 4th however, has nowhere to go and kinda ‘squats’ offering to pay their 1/4 share of rent

but a new AST has already been signed by 4 more individuals for the following year on the same basis.

who gets to live there?

TIA 

bob 

Voyager2002

Since it is on a "joint and several" tenancy, deposits should not be returned until all four tenants have moved out. 

silvercar

The 4th needs to pay all the rent, if living there alone. The tenancy hasn’t ended because the property hasn’t been vacated. The group of 4 have mounting arrears if only one is paying a quarter of the rent. Serve a section 21, plus a section 8 due to rent arrears. Keep the deposits of the other 3 until the 4th person leaves.

heroic

I agree with what’s been said above – because it’s a joint and several tenancy, it doesn’t officially end until the property is vacated. If one tenant stays put, the tenancy continues and technically all four remain liable for rent until it’s resolved.

You’d need to serve notice (section 21) and, if they don’t leave and arrears build up, also a section 8. Definitely hold off on returning any deposits until the tenancy has ended properly and everyone has moved out – otherwise you’ll be out of pocket if you need to recover rent.

It’s a tricky one but you’re covered legally as long as you follow the right notice procedure.

owls1867

All tenants remain liable for the rent / obligations of the tenancy until they all vacate as they are signed into 1 contract and therefore everyone remains responsible. 

You might want to position in to the outgoing tenants to see if they can put a bit of peer pressure on the sitting tenant to leave. 

Falling that - as mentioned above, it would be eviction by the way of S21 and/or S8 (depending on rent arrears). 

motorman99

heroic said:

I agree with what’s been said above – because it’s a joint and several tenancy, it doesn’t officially end until the property is vacated. If one tenant stays put, the tenancy continues and technically all four remain liable for rent until it’s resolved.

You’d need to serve notice (section 21) and, if they don’t leave and arrears build up, also a section 8. Definitely hold off on returning any deposits until the tenancy has ended properly and everyone has moved out – otherwise you’ll be out of pocket if you need to recover rent.

It’s a tricky one but you’re covered legally as long as you follow the right notice procedure.

It’s only theoretical…..never happened yet in 30 years of renting to mainly students…..just covering bases in case it ever does 

thank you