Can anyone advise please
I had a meeting tenant moving in last week. Her workplace closed the day before she was due to move in due to Covid. She tested positive and has since become quite poorly with it. That was 6 days ago. She obviously had to stay in her old place but her existing landlady is putting pressure on her to leave as she has sold and wants her out. Obviously I cannot allow her to move in with 3 other housemates when she has Covid. Anyone know what the legal position is please. Any advice much appreciated
As far as I know there is no legal provision that a landlord can rely on to cancel a valid tenancy contract for a covid positive tenant. You may need to seek advice from a solicitor on whether you would have any liability if another resident contracted covid from them. Is she now able to pay the rent? This may be a bigger concern if she doesn’t have another job to walk into.
If you have given her a tenancy agreement then it would be breach of contract if you told her that she can no longer have the tenancy. The tenant could sue you for any loss they experience. This may be nothing if she stays put and the landlord accepts rent. However, if she has already given notice and the landlord evicts her, then she may be able to sue you for her temporary accommodation costs whilst she finds another property. For me, this option would be still be preferable to taking a tenant who I know was now unable to afford the rent.
David 122 Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
I certainly don’t want to cancel her tenancy (which was due to start on 1st July. That same day she tested positive for covid. Im happy for her to take up the tenancy it’s just I don’t want her moving in whilst she is suffering from covid as I feel I have an obligation to my other tenants already living there. I thought when you had covid u had to stay in isolation in your home and certainly not move from place to place
There is a legal term know as contract frustration. If you are a member of the NRLA they can explain this to you in full ( they gave webinars on this last year because of the pandemic; delaying was a problem due to the mandated void periods between tenancy because of COVID ).
In short you can delay the contract for a few weeks with no consequence to rent etc.
Everything can be left in place just the day she moves in. We had a lot of problems last academic year and quoted this to every student.
The term can apply to you and also to the Landlord in whose house she resides. That is she should not be mandated to leave and can quote that as a valid reason
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A_A thank you so much for your reply which is hugely helpful. I will contact NRLA as suggested.