2 lad renting. The lead tenant has asked about leaving, I’ve asked for it in writing, he’s gone quiet and not paid his half of rent. Neither were great at paying on time, I often had messages that it was a 5 week month etc.
Remaining tenant wants to stay & 10 days after rent was due, has finally settled his debt. For 3 weeks I’ve been trying to see bank statements to prove he can manage rent on his own but he keeps changing the date as he’s working.
Is it best to a) cancel contract & evict both, giving the remaining tenant time to prove he can afford rent & reapply when advertised. (And hopefully get back arrears paid as the notice will go against Lead tenant getting another property). Or b) For ease -keep same contract but take off lead tenant, alter contract to 6 months just in case tenant2 can’t afford rent on his own? (Still keeping half the deposit from lead tenant to go towards arrears).
Background - I’d like tenant 2 to stay as the house is clean and tidy, he’s a worker, not well educated, got a dog and the other tenant went off with his girlfriend so he deserves a break! But, I do rely on the rent to live off as I have another operation due and don’t get paid myself when ill!!
If tenant 2 late paying their share at moment seems unlikely they will be able to pay tenant 1’s share too. And tenant 1 still in arrears - why tolerate it?
Check the referencing/income from when first began tenancy to get an idea - if the rent was more than 30% of tenant 2’s gross income then, likely to be true now unless they have had a big pay increase.
You arent a charity. While it is admirable to think of tenant 2, you are running a business and the kind thing is to have tenants who can afford their rent both for you and them. It does nobody any good to get into rent arrears and have debts they cant afford.
Give them a week to get up to date with rent arrears on threat of eviction. Then get a valid s21 in anyway while you still can. It’s the kindest thing to do. If tenant 2 in the meantime shows they can actually afford it you can issue a new tenancy in their name.
Ps if one leaves best to end current tenancy anyway deal with deposit and have new agreement anyway tho you do need to re-serve the epc, ‘how to rent’ etc. Its still much neater to get issues with deposit on current tenancy sorted now esp as you may be using it to cover rent arrears
You should have seen bank statements as part of the application process. If you need them now, give him until COB Friday to send the last three months to you via email/whatsapp etc. Tell him if he doesn’t do this, you’ll assume he can’t afford rent and will issue S21 (while you can!)
Is this a joint tenancy? If so you cant just divide them up. There is only one tenancy and its all of them. If the tenancy is now rolling periodic, any one tenant serving notice ends it for everyone. If its still in the fixed/initial term, they can’t serve notice at all unless theres a break clause, in which case they all have to sign it.
@David122 or they can all sign a joint surrender of the tenancy if the LL agrees to that. Better for LL to have people living in a place who both want to be there and can afford it as more likely they will take care of place and pay rent.
@David122 not wanting to leave isnt the same as being able to afford to stay and cover both shares of the rent though. Just making @Rozie aware of the potential option of joint surrender in case theres no break clause etc which your reply reminded me of
Sorry - only just seen! I mentioned that because I don’t believe he is trying it on, and I feel sorry for him and feel he needs a chance. I wasn’t being offensive to him.
