Not sure if tenant has left but he seems to have abandoned belongings

[Zane]

Hi All,
I gave a section 21 notice to a tenant in October after neighbours and housemates complained that he was playing loud music at all hours of the day and night and after he refused to keep the noise down. He sent some very abusive messages to me as a result and stopped paying rent for the last 3 months or responding to any attempts to communicate with him. I sent him a section 8 when he missed two months of rent and then applied for a PCOL and got a court hearing for 2nd March. Last week the neighbour texted me to say that this tenant was fighting with someone and smashing up the property so I called the police who said that they couldn't see any damage and that the tenant seemed to be quiet and responsive although they were sure that he was under the influence of cannabis and had mental health issues. A few days ago another tenant who also acts as a manager of the property said that the problem tenant seemed to have not been home for a few days. The next day he told me that the problem tenant's cousin showed up looking for the tenant and had been sent by the tenant's mum who had not heard from him at all. My manager opened up the room for them to check if he was in there, but he was not, so the cousin left him a note and said he was going to report him missing. We have no contact details for said cousin who said he would come back on the weekend to look again, but didn't and we have no way of getting in touch with any other next of kin. Meanwhile, I have texted the tenant to say that he has a court hearing on March 2nd at 2pm and that he seems to have abandoned the property and that he has 21 days to retrieve his belongings. Now I am looking through website after website for advice, but am getting confused about what notices I need to serve and how to proceed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[jpkeates]

I would probably simply wait and see what happens.
The tenancy isn't ended by abandoning the property - and it's also possible that the tenant is in hospital or prison.

You have a backstop of the hearing in March to recover possession legally.
But I'd imagine the situation will become clearer before then.

[ash72]

Don't harass the T, if you have served a valid notice, then proceed to the courts for possession.

[Zane]

Thank you for your replies. The tenant has apparently been found although he still hasn't made an appearance at the property. Some friends or family seem to have been given keysto his room and have tidied up a bit. I'm gathering paperwork for the court hearing. I was a bit confused about how to deliver the section 8 notice at the time and tried a few different methods. I emalied it to him and posted via recorded delivery. However, when I checked the signature on the Royal Mail website, it just said 'C19' which I guess means that the postie didn't seek a signature due to pandemic restrictions. I don't know if I need to present proof of postage to the courts and whether they will accept this document since it doesn't have the tenant's signature or name. In fact, the receipt only has the postcode and the house number which is an HMO, so not sure it is worth anything? I also delivered the notice by hand to the tenant's post tray with a witness who is the co-owner of the property and related to me. Do I need to get the co-owner to fill in a witness statement and will it be valid (she is not a co-landlord, it's only my name on the AST)?

[jpkeates]

Yes, the witness will need to complete a form to confirm service.
Being a relative, they are not a great witness, but they're all you've got.

Never send notices by recorded delivery.
When there's no proof of delivery, for recorded delivery, that's proof of non-delivery.
Covid makes that more confusing.

[nukecad]

Never send notices by recorded delivery.
When there's no proof of delivery, for recorded delivery, that's proof of non-delivery.

Just get free 'Proof of Posting' at the PO counter.

That's enough to show that you sent it, (or rather that you sent something to that address on that date), and as there is nothing to sign the recipient doesn't have the choice to refuse it, which they can do with signed-for/recorded post.

[Zane]

Thank you again for the input.
Is it ok to turn up to court with say 5 copies of the documents serving as evidence or do I have to somehow submit these a few days beforehand on the PCOL website or otherwise?
Here is a list of the potential documents I can take with me. I would appreciate advice on which ones are appropriate and useful:
1. Witness statement of claimant which I found a template for online that basically tells the entire story of what happened.
2. Tenancy agreement
3. Section 8 notice
4. witness statement of witness of service of section 8 by hand to tenant's letter box.
5. Screenshot of email sent to tenant with section 8 notice. I did not submit a covering letter, as such, just a sentence asking the tenant to find the notice attached. Will this be a problem?
6. Schedule of rent payments (this was not served to tenant at the time of section 8 service, but will it be useful to take an up to date one to court which will show 4 months of missed payments by the time of the hearing?)
7. Bank statements showing the payments (often late) made by tenant and the complete lack thereof towards the end (the tenant was sloppy about referencing his payments and they sometimes came from another account holder's name - maybe his mother's- but I guess that's neither here nor there. I was planning to just highlight the payments that I understood to be towards his rent on my statements).
8. AST
9. Text message exchanges between me and tenant where I asked him for rent and warned him about going through courts to reclaim possession and where he either did not respond or sent me very sweary replies. I did not send any formal letters demanding rent, shall I do this now and provide proof?
10. Crime reference numbers given to me by police who had to investigate disturbance.
11. Messages from distressed neighbours about noise coming from the HMO on the day police were called out and other times.

[Zane]

Also, I saw somewhere (can't find the source now) that I have to submit some evidence of how the tenant has been affected by the covid-19 pandemic (presumably to weaken my case). All I know is that he was asked to keep the music down during the day so that NHS workers could sleep after their night shifts, to which his response was that he didn't care about the NHS. Weeks later he claimed to be in hospital with covid. That was months ago and I don't know anything else covid related that has affected him. Has anyone else come across this requirement?

[DPT57]

You just have to reply unknown.

[flyingfreehold]

outrageous really. I have taken possession of premises where tenants have appeared to have abandoned. First thing to do is to take a picture of inside the fridge. People will tell you thats its illegal which isnt true if there is no one living there, but if the tenant re-materialises and demands to be restored to possession it has to be given to avoid a potential damages claim. This is not a risk free strategy

[Zane]

So I've got the picture of the fridge. It's completely empty. Is this still useful, or was the aim to show that it was full of expired food?

[theartfullodger]

So I've got the picture of the fridge. It's completely empty. Is this still useful, or was the aim to show that it was full of expired food?

It's useful, with loads of other snaps (e.g. empty rooms, empty cupboards/drawers), as evidence the tenant has very likely gone. But just on it's own only tells you/anyone else that tenant has run out of refrigerated food.