Hi, newbie landlord here! My tenants and their neighbours had a terrible exchange that escalated to the police being called. The tenants are now scared of living at the property and want to leave, but they’ve only been in the property for two months. Obviously, I don’t want to force them to stay until the 6 months break-clause, but don’t want to be financially hit either. Do you think that expecting two months notice, but not invoking the break-clause is reasonable? Any other suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Samanta oh no thats awful! Poor people.
There is so much anti social behaviour around. Maybe do you know if these horrid neighbourghs are also tenants or own the house? Because maybe they will just leave soon if they are renters anyway. You could speak to their landlord about it.
I think what you offer is very reasonable to your tenants and kind. such a horrid situation for all involved. Best would be if the neighbourhs left!
Jude
Hi Jude,
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the neighbours will not be moving, as they are renting from the council.
It’s all very unpleasant. I used to live in the flat and never had any issues with the neighbours, but I am now worried that they will misbehave with any new tenants too. I had offered to contact the council to enlist an official mediator but my tenants refused.
Sam
Sam - I must say you are being very generous to your tenants. Most landlords I feel would not be so considerate to the tenants. I assume something quite bad must have happened, though I don’t want to pry.
If the tenants have signed a six month fixed term, then they have committed to being there for that period. To be fair to yourself, that’s the shortest possible fixed term already, so letting them out early really is uncalled for.
Good idea trying to get the council involved. Typically they;re useless and good landlrods find themselves on their own. Terrible for tenants and landlords and this country’s housing stock.
One way to solve this would be if you alleged antisocial behaviour of the council tenants and had them convicted. Their landlord (the council/housing association) would then be able to use a section 8 eviction to get them out of there using ground 14.
This would take possibly months, though, and probably escalate any animosity between them and your tenants.
Anyway - good on you for being so kind to your tenants but I hope you also have an eye on your own interests!
Hi Michael, thanks for your message. In a nutshell, the new tenants called the council on the neighbours, who were being very noisy, twice. The neighbours’ reaction was totally out of order and the tenants felt threatened and called the police… I feel better knowing that my request isn’t unreasonable. I have made the huge mistake of renting to someone I knew, so I feel involved on a personal level too. Never again! 
Thank you all for your help!
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Hello, my tenants are now refusing to pay the two-months notice on the grounds that I have withheld information about the troublesome tenants (which I did not, as we never had problems with them before). As I said earlier, the tenants are still within the fixed period. Is it worth taking them to court or will it cause more trouble than it’s worth? The deposit is held in a proper scheme, therefore I presume that we will at least get back one of the two months’ rent from there…
i would advice avoiding court if you can
have you tried taking it up with the council again ?
Sam this is ridiculous behaviour from the tenants!
Have I got this straight? They’re moving out in two months but refusing to pay the rent? Or do you mean they’re moving out now, without any notice, and will not pay any rent?
Hi Michael,
As far as I know - they are actually not confirming anything - they are already in their new place but have not completely vacated ours. Last I heard, they said that the Citizen Advice Bureau had put them in touch with a solicitor and - until they speak to him - they will only pay a daily amount for each day in which they will still use the property. I am completely gobsmacked. They even said that they have an appointment with Trading Standards - no idea why, the contract they signed was the OpenRent standard contract and they deposit is held with DPS. Basically, they insist that I should have disclosed info on the troublesome neighbour who, until they moved in, had never been troublesome at all. I really thought I had been very understanding, but they insist that they are moving out because they feel threatened by the neighbour and that therefore the move should be classified “an emergency”…
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