Hello, My tenant and her boyfriend broken up so he would like to now be taken off the contract and she wants to be the lead guest. Do you know the best way of doing this? I don’t really want to get a whole new contract drawn up.
Hey Florrie, sorry to hear this - the perils of renting to couples!
What to do re lead tenants and deposits depends on what scheme your deposit is protected with. Which one is it?
If you are an OpenRent Rent Now landlord, then we will have transferred your deposit into your name and it will be secured with DPS. There is no ‘lead tenant’ within the DPS system now. We recommend ending the tenancy by mutual agreement via a deed of surrender, returning the deposit, and then starting a new tenancy with the remaining tenants and a new deposit.
The easiest thing to do, however, would be nothing, and tell the tenants that since they signed the contract, they must honour the terms of the agreement for the length of the fixed term. They are free to change the amounts of rent they individually pay, but if they want to change the agreement, they must wait until after the fixed term. This provides you with the extra security of keeping a tenant on the contract who is liable to pay the rent.
Getting a ‘whole new contract drawn out’ needn’t be a big hassle. If you have already ended the current tenancy, then you can pretty much just use your current contract, but changing the dates and removing the boyfriend’s name.
Hi Sam,
sorry im not sure how to start a new thread however my query is relevant to this. I have two questions.
I am a landlord and have tenants that have gone through referencing. We are just doing the lease when I noticed the account the lead tenant had set up was the English version of her name which is spelt slightly different from the Polish version per her passport. She has amended her account however the lease still has her old spelling. How can this be changed.
Secondly the lead tenant failed the referencing I presume due to her low salary however her boyfriend who was the second tenant can easily be her guarantor. He passed as her guarantor and now the lease states she is the tenant and he is the guarantor not tenant. Should he be listed as a tenant as well as he will be residing t the property for the duration of the lease?
Many thanks for your help. Tammy
I still didn’t get it. How about deposit? If 2 people paid it and now one of them want to be removed from the contract, can somebody just easily change it? And how about put new name in contract? We have 1 year contract till 2020 July.
Hi Evalina, I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking I’m afraid.
Change the deposit? You can return part of the deposit, yes.
Yes you can add new tenants to a contract via a deed of assignment.
Sam