Joint tenancy, the couple have split up, the person who has left wants to end her contract and wants her deposit back, which she paid, as the partner was not around when the tenancy started. she also has a guarantor, which she wants taken off.
She sent me an email to say she left 3 weeks ago and there is no reconciliation with her partner.
The partner wants to stay on, but has not found a suitable guarantor yet.
Which is the best way forward from here? Have the remaining tenant provide a works reference and a suitable guarantor? And do I make sure the remaining tenant can provide the reference and guarantor before ending the contract with the original tenant.
Both tenants on the tenancy are liable despite her leaving , and so is the guarantor.
Only option I think is for them to give notice and for the partner to apply in their name only?
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Both tenants will remain liable for the tenancy.
Are the tenants in a fixed term contract or are they on a periodic tenancy?
If this is now a periodic tenancy then she can serve a valid notice to end the tenancy for both tenants. They both then have to leave. If the tenancy is still in the fixed term then she has to suck it up until that changes. Either way, she remains equally liable for the rent until the tenancy ends.
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She is now on a periodic tenancy. As the fixed term ended 2 weeks ago.
David above is right. She will have to give notice.
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Her notice must be valid or you cant accept it against the other tenants wishes. She can serve it whenever she wants and when it expires, the tenancy is over for both. You will need to tell the other tenant that they only have until it expires to find somewhere else and move and after that they will be a tresspasser if they remain. Its not like a landlords notice.
Thank you for your help, will see if the remaining tenant can provide a guarantor, if not I will ask the original tenant who left to provide a NTQ. The remaining tenant is not responding to me at the moment, I feel he cannot provide one as I asked him he needed a guarantor and work references to create a new tenancy agreement.
Thank you for the info Samantha, just waiting on the remaining tenant to provide details of a guarantor to move forward,
A guarantor should really only be a last resort. Can the partner actually afford the whole rent? You need to fully re credit check the partner.
Thank you. Yes will be checking whether he will be able to afford the rent. He has got back go me and is waiting on a family member forhis guarantor.
If the remaining tenant isnt answering your questiins hes obviously a waste of space and you dont want anyone like that to remain . All the lady who has left has to do is give a surrender of tenancy which you formally accept . That ends the tenancy for both of them. Its been established in court that it only needs one person out of a joint tenancy to do this to end it for all of the tenants .
Your problem is whether the remaining tenant accepts it and moves out of whether he reguses to leave and you have to go through tge courts to get possession of your property then employ Bailiffs to boot him out . That can take over a year . It might be cheaper to offer him a thousand quid to leave then change the locks after he has gone
Either way the outgoing tenant needs to provide a ntq. If the remaining tenant doesnt leave then the outgoing tenant is still liable & the guarantor is also still liable so you need to tell them this.
Be very careful about keeping the partner on as a tenant just because its convenient if they dont meet the usual criteria. If they are not cooperating to end the joint tenancy properly then it doesnt bode well for future communications. If you keep the partner on, under a new tenancy then they should provide their own deposit.
Thats not the case. A valid NtQ from an individual tenant ends the tenancy and ends their liability. Any joint tenant remaining is a tresspasser and provided they are treated as such, individually liable for mesne profits (daily occupation charge) at a rate of double the rent.
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How can this be a joint tenancy when you said the male partner wasn’t present at the beginning of the tenancy? Did you make alterations during the fixed term? If you did, then they are both jointly responsible up until their fixed time is over and official notice has been served. She is still liable and I would not end the contract early or give her back her deposit. Her personal issues are not your concern.
When the original tenant left from the breakdown of the relationship, she asked if she could have her partner move in, I accepted and I started a new tenancy with him as well.
Now that she has left and he wants to stay on.
He says he has a guarantor, he just needs to confirm the details, and he is currently going through referencing.
Until he passes the reference and has an assured guarantor who will be referenced. Then I will start a new tenancy and will end the contract with the original tenant who has left.