Hi all
Hoping someone may be able to advise me.
One of my tenants started their contract on the 1st of September 2024. By the 1st of December, he wasn’t able to pay the rent. As per his contract, after 14 days of no payment, he had breached the terms of the contract and he therefore needed to leave the premises. Because he didn’t pass referencing, I asked for a month in advance so if there were any issues, I always had this month as security as well as the deposit.
With this month in advance, it mean his December rent was covered but he had to leave at the end of December. Luckily, he has left with minor issues (carpet stains etc) but I feel I am entitled to keep his deposit as he has left his 12 month contract after 4 months, there was no notice and now I am left with an empty room at a very difficult time of year to fill it. I paid agency fees etc to find this tenant and now I will have to do the same again, after 4 months, to find another tenant.
Am I in a position to claim to keep the deposit?
I have the general contract that openrent supply us with. I added a 6 month break clause (after 4 months we could give 2 months notice to end tenancy)
Would appreciate any advice.
Thank you
As long as he left voluntarily and you did not evict him, then you can retain the deposit due to the breach of contract to cover the costs of sourcing a replacements tenant. You can only retain ‘actual costs’ that you incur.
Red Flag: You used an agent, the prospective tenant failed referencing yet you took them anyway with just 1 month rent in advance. If the agent recommended this, it was bad advice… find a new agent.
Also, agents should not be using Openrent in this way. All sounds a bit dodgy to me.
Do you mean that in addition to the security deposit, you also held an extra months rent which was distinct from his payments in September and October? If so, was this extra rent stated in the contract as being the payment for a specific month, not just something vague like “the last month of the tenancy”? If not, then youve likely breached the deposit and tenant fees act regulations and he could potentially claim a 3x penalty against you.
When you say he “needed to leave”, what do you mean, because legally he didnt? If he could evidence that you illegally evicted him then he’d have another claim against you.
With these things in mind, I’d suggest you consider carefully whether to attempt to enforce your rights through the courts as it could backfire. I’d also suggest you look at some landlord training before re-letting.
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