Hello, I’m currently renting with open rent.
Me and my ex are on the periodic tenancy.
We are splitting up so I have served notice on the property as the contract is in both of our names.
The trouble is we both want to rent the property back from the landlord separately.
The landlord wants me to remain and my ex to leave but he believes he has the right to remain there and because of Covid-19 they have to let him stay.
How does the landlord go about this the easiest way possible?
Hi. Your notice ends the joint tenancy so your landlord is free to offer you a new contract in your name only to start after the end of your notice. As you as the tenant has given notice the landlord doesn’t need to give your ex the notice under covid as notice is only required from 1 tenant under a periodic tenancy. However if the ex refuses to leave the landlord can only evict via the courts which could take a long time.
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The eviction ban is still in place and says that a landlord can’t end tenancies in the normal fashion. But here, you as the tenant have given notice, which you are allowed to, so the tenancy ends at the end of the notice period.
But if your ex refuses to leave, then, as @Richard19 said, the only way to evict him is via the courts. I wouldn’t want to go there.
(1) Even in theory, I do not know the precise regulation, maybe your ex is actually right an the eviction ban would still protect him?
(2) In practice, even if (!) the courts could force your ex to leave, this would take so long that you wouldn’t want to wait for it. I believe the situation would be quite stressful for you.
The only reasonable thing to do is to talk to your ex. If the two of you can’t find a reasonable solution and it’s clear that he will simply not leave, I would give up the property and look elsewhere. Sorry but I can’t imagine that the property is so amazing that it would be worth all the trouble.
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Hi Zoe,
In a joint and severally liable tenancy, if any of the tenants serves valid notice, and the notice priod expires, and the tenants move out and stop paying rent, then the tenancy has been terminated.
If a tenant didn’t move out at the end of that notice period, then that would be a complex situation – I’m not sure what the legal status would be then.
If your boyfriend moved out by the end of the notice period, however, for example, because you and the landlord asked him to, and then you signed a new tenancy agreement with the landlord, then you would have a new tenancy not involving your boyfriend.
Sam