A joint 6 month tenancy was signed on 1st September and the couple paid 4 months rent up front. Throughout September we received an additional 2 months of rent of which we returned as there was no communication about it, they just sent it over!
On 1st October one of the tenants emailed to request to be removed from the tenancy agreement, today (2nd Oct) the lead tenant advised he had lost his job (which he started last month) and requested the removal of the other tenant - then proceeded to send over 2 months of rent, again without any prior notice or communication.
They are 1 month into a 6 month contract and have transferred the full 6 months worth of rent to us. 1 tenant wants to move out and the other (lead) tenant has lost his job (having only started last month). We have received an unprecedented amount of emails and messages from the lead tenant regarding things in his personal life and things completely unrelated to the property/ his tenancy.
I know they have paid for the full term but where do we stand with this? Can we suggest they surrender the tenancy? Do we have to give the lead tenant the opportunity to find a second tenant?
Any thoughts/ advice would be a great help! Thanks
If you have received 6 months’ worth of rent then I don’t see why you can’t arrange for a deed of surrender which all tenants sign and which is witnessed. This has to be drawn up properly for it to be legally binding so take legal advice if you need to.
You’d need to mutually agree a date at which the tenancy ends. On that day, do the normal checkout, meter reads, handover of keys. Then release the deposit minus any damage (unlikely after a month).
If the lead tenant has no job then it’s unlikely you want him hanging around. Will he agree to a deed of surrender?
If so, keep a paper trail. Write him a receipt for the full amount he’s given you. Rent receipts are just good business sense anyway.
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You can suggest surrender but with no job the lead tenant is unlikely to get alternative rentals so unless he can move in with family is unlikely to accept.
I would say don’t accept the removal of other tenant unless there is an acceptable alternative tenant. Both tenants will remain liable for rent and therefore the one who is leaving will serve notice to end tenancy to you at the end of the initial 6 months. Any joint tenant giving notice ends tenancy for both of them.
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If this is a joint tenancy you cant deal with them individually. They either both go or neither goes. I’d offer them a deed of surrender so they could both leave or suggest they both serve notice, which you would need to accept in writing to make it valid. You would probably need to refund any rent from the day they leave as the tenancy will end at that point.
Thanks for your responses. In your experience is it best to send them a message through OpenRent or reply to the email the tenant sent with the request to leave and ensuring they’re both copied in?
Surely the OP is entitled to some compensation from the monies already paid to cover expenses connected with reletting, no?
Do this as you’ll want to keep a copy of all written correspondence in case this gets messy. As David says, this is a joint tenancy so everyone needs to be on the same page.
To be honest I’d be happy to refund the money if that ensures they leave without any hassle. The communication from the lead tenant has been erratic and chaotic and at this point I’d take the loss for an easy exit.
If theyre entitled to compensation then that has to be decided by the deposit scheme or a court following due process and the opportunity for the tenant to counter the claim. The landlord cant simply retain rent paid for a period when the tenancy no longer exists. In fact, the longer they hold onto the funds, the greater the risk that the tenant can claim its an unprotected deposit and demand a penalty.
Well I wasn’t advising them to hold on to it forever… and it needn’t go to court if there’s agreement between LL and T. This is why I asked if the T will agree to a deed of surrender. Not heard back from OP about this yet.
The LL has the money for the first six months anyway so there’s no rush. Plenty of time for them to find a replacement or come to an agreement or for the lead T to find alternative accommodation or even a new job.
There would need to be a specific agreement in the deed of surrender that £x would be retained as compensation and £y would be refunded. It would need careful wording as the default presumption of a deed of surrender is that its a clean slate with neither party owing anything.
You say there’s no rush, but the issue is that rent is only rent when its due. The contract in this case doesn’t seem to have a clause requiring multiple months of rent in advance and therefore what is the status of the extra funds the tenant has paid? The Housing Act 2004 and Tenant Fees Act tells us that any funds held by the landlord thats not rent is a deposit. I think these funds should be refunded ASAP.
yeah that’s a fair point and the OP did initially return the first overpayment. Yes, that’s pretty much what I had in mind re the deed.
To clarity the additional rental amount, upon receipt we had a discussion and asked them to confirm that the money sent over was to cover the 5th & 6th month rent - They agreed for the 5th to be covered and asked for the 6th to be returned which we did immediately.
Yesterday the lead tenant advised that he’d lost his job and proceeded to send back the 6th month rent without any communication with us to do so.
He does not agree to serve notice and has said he will not move out.
Thanks for the details. You’re only in month 2 of the tenancy. Therefore, as David advised, everything except 2 months’ worth of funds should be returned to the tenants. I would do this asap.
Clearly the lead T has funds to sustain himself for the fixed term of the tenancy, but you just can’t accept them in advance as the contract has no terms agreeing to this and it is thus potentially illegal. I’d make this clear to him in writing. Your contract should also have a clause that requires the T to set up a standing order for rent payment. I’d reiterate that clause and expectation.
If the RRB does come in before 1 January, which is highly likely, then all fixed terms will disappear along with your S21 route to service notice at 4 months into a fixed term. If you’re not a member of a landlord association, I’d recommend you buy membership and talk to them about your options if that happens. It’ll be the cheapest form of advice you can get without hiring a specialist solicitor. Even specialist solicitors don’t know exactly what the situation will be when the RRB is made law yet, but you might want to line one up because you will need one if the rent funds dry up.
If one tenant of a joint tenancy won’t serve notice, the other one remains a tenant too, whether living there or not.
Each tenant in a joint tenancy is responsible for 100% of the rent and its a landlords choice who they pursue for arrears. Perhaps the one who doesn’t want to go doesnt realise that you can insist he pays the whole rent and pursue him legally for any arrears. You are also not obliged to allow him to bring in another tenant if you dont want to, (unless your contract says otherwise).
It does not sound like a good idea to agree to the tenant surrendering, especially if affordability of the remaining tenant is in question. Regardless of whether one tenant moves out, both are still liable to you. Better to try and encourage a joint surrender. (BTW, if you have rent insurance, check the small print).
Hi Kerry,
May be the Lead Tenant isn’t very well mentally and has lost control of things given his job loss, random emails & other tenant wanting out…? I’d let him know what’s happened with the over payments and return all over paid rent (and suggest a standing order for monthly payments). If other person wants to leave, You decide if you want the tenancy to end completely or continue. If no, agree to the both leaving by an agreed date, but both are responsible for the rent until new tenants are found (as breaching lease terms - until end of the term or end of min. notice time) or ii) If you’re happy for the Lead Tenant to stay & find an alternative house mate, he continues to pay, but the leaver is on the hook until a a new replacement is found (though I presume both are joint & severally liable)??? Legally, I think you can only keep/demand rent money until a new tenant is found or tenancy term expires???
Hi @Kerry11
That’s a tricky situation for them and you
I’d suggest writing back to them both explaining that “both of them are responsible for the Rent, and for maintaining the property and the bills and providing the deposit was provided to cover damage either of them might cause. And that you agreed the tenancy based on their joint affordability.
So given their changed circumstances it may make sense for them and you to mutually agree to end the tenancy, and you would of course only expect rent for the period of the tenancy (if that’s the case unless you want to withhold part of deposit for incurring re letting fees earlier than otherwise)
I’d emphasise any requests for changes must come from them both as the tenancy is with them both.
If however they wish to continue paying monthly as originally envisaged, then you would be willing to consider that and end the tenancy at 6 months as originally planned.”
(You may not have a choice if they aren’t in breach and your tenancy doesn’t allow you to give them notice yet).
Good luck
Have you considered just sitting down with them both and having a chat face to face? Go with someone by all means. In a delicate situation letters and e mails can be a clumsy tool.
You should know the law but be pragmatic and flexible, losing a months rent occasionally isn’t unheard of. Your objective is to regain possession of your property in good order with minimum stress
(Oh if you are going to serve a section 21 do it soonish. The courts are going to be very busy i think dealing with cases where tenants ignore a section 21)
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