Hi, we recently had a tenant leave our property in a poor condition and so redecorated throughout and all new furnishings including carpets and underlay. The new tenants signed the contract and moved in and then began to complain that they could still smell smoke (after 2 nights). They took offense at the suggestion they may use febreze on the remaining odd item and open windows. We are confident the smell is barely detectable now and diminishing daily, however we would be happy to let these people out of the agreement early as we don’t like them. We are after some advice as we have spent a great deal of time and money preparing the place to suit them. What costs can we reasonably charge them? Is it ok to charge them for having to re-advertise? Also how do we notify Openrent to end the agreement - I contacted them and got a bland email saying they are not legally trained!
if they are happy to go and you are happy to let them go . Just do it
Hi Deborah,
Apologies that our emails on these things do have to be quite bland, as we’re really not allowed to give legal advice! I’m happy to give you my personal views here however on some facts which might relate to your situation.
I moved into a flat that had previously been let to students who smoked inside a lot. It smelled of smoke for a week or two, but it definitely went away.
None. The Tenant Fees Act prohibits charging tenants for costs. If you believe you have grounds to sue them for costs that do not relate to them insofar as they are your tenants (and are therefore protected by the Act), then you could do this through the courts. But I would think that this would be not be a successful move.
If you used Rent Now to create the tenancy and it has ended, then you can update this information on your manage tenancies page on the OpenRent site. However, this will not end the tenancy. To end a tenancy you need to either serve a valid notice, activate a break clause or mutually surrender the tenancy agreement.