I am currently renting my property to two tenants.
Last week I found out that the tenants have sub let one of the rooms to someone without my knowledge. I have not received any rent or deposit from this sublet and frankly this has come as a shock. The tenancy agreement clearly state no subletting, so they have breached the contract.
I have served my original tenants an eviction notice, they have agreed to move out in the two months time that is given to them.
The sub tenant is however reluctant to move out and told me that he has paid rent and deposit to the main tenants and have therefore have tenant rights!
Who serve the sub tenant notice to leave? Am I legally required to give them notice?
What happens if the sub tenant refuse to vacate the property when the main tenants move out?
Do I hold the main tenants deposit until the sub tenant move out? - incase any damage is caused.
The 'sub tenant ’ has no legal right to be in your property . Whatever he has paid your tenant is nothing to do with you . When your two tenants move out you can throw him out as he is trespassing and change the locks .
The sub-tenant doesnt have the same protection as your tenants, because the property was sub-let in breach of the contract. However, in this case your tenants tenancy will continue after they move out because your eviction notice doesn’t end that tenancy, so the sub-tenancy would also continue. You should ask them both to serve a valid notice on you, which will end their tenancy. I dont think the sub-tenant will be a tresspasser at that point, so if you also want them out, you may have to get a court order, although could could apply immediately for that.
To be honest, this is a complex area of the law and I would strongly advise you to have at least an initial conversation with a specialist housing solicitor about your options.
Hi, if my main tenants do move out at the end if their two months period, and the sub tenant does not - doesn’t that make the sub-tenat a trespasser? - as I have no legal contract with them?
Property law is different from your standard contract law as property is treated differently as it’s immoveable. For example, there has been no consideration from the sub-tenant to you but there is still a sub-contract in place between the T and the sub-T. To right the wrongs, you have to terminate the T’s contract first.
See the Shelter website on the subject which gives you a quick overview. Then you can ask more pointed questions from someone who you’ll be paying £300/hour to.
Contracts exist by performance and by consideration. For 4 months the T has been accepting money (consideration) so any court will conclude there is a contract between the T and the sub-T. There is also occupation as the sub-T has been there for 4 months.
Courts are extremely reluctant to interfere with contracts lawfully entered into. That’s your problem. You have to unwind yours with the current T who may decide not to leave and therefore keep the sub-T in place.
Actually, after some further reading, I think that the sub-tenancy would end at the same time as the main tenancy provided that isn’t ended by a surrender. So if the main tenants served notice on the landlord, the sub-tenant would be a trespasser if they didn’t leave the property on its expiry. This would mean that no court order is required to evict the sub-tenants and they could in theory be excluded by changing the locks whilst the tenant is out of the property.
@MH17, you should be aware that there is a risk with this action that the tenant will cause a breach of the peace and the Police may insist on you allowing them back into the property and getting a court order anyway. There is also a risk that something you haven’t mentioned may invalidate this opinion. You should still get a proper legal opinion before acting.
if someone is sub letting i have usually said they need to be on the tenancy agreement for insurance
and safety grounds and to be bound by the contract. If the person is intent on being a squatter and you go the legal route it will cost you a fortune in time and money.
a few times in my life i have physically removed their stuff from a property, changed the locks and told them to move on. If they owe you money they will normally just get on with it. police really dont want to know and if there is any legal action then they have to initiate which is unlikely. You need to have some resolve to go this route though and many dont have the stomach for it.