LHA tenant rent shortfall

[jeremys]

Tenants moved into my property at the end of December 2010 and the local council for this area pay landlords directly, so with paperwork in the pipeline I expected regular payments from the council.
I received a letter from the council earlier this week stating that they will not be paying any benefits as the tenants have split up but will pay a certain amount. This covers December's rent and part of January's. The remaining tenant is unlikely to be able to pay the full rent on their own. Given that we are only 2 months into the AST, what would be best pracitise to regain possession of the property?

[thesaint]

Tenants moved into my property at the end of December 2010 and the local council for this area pay landlords directly, so with paperwork in the pipeline I expected regular payments from the council.
I received a letter from the council earlier this week stating that they will not be paying any benefits as the tenants have split up but will pay a certain amount. This covers December's rent and part of January's. The remaining tenant is unlikely to be able to pay the full rent on their own. Given that we are only 2 months into the AST, what would be best pracitise to regain possession of the property?

Your best to speak to the tenant remaining, and tell them that if they move out within "x" days/weeks, you will not hold them to the remainder of their contract, and will accept the monies paid as full rent due.

[Snorkerz]

I agree with thesaint, but presuming the tenant does not agree to this (and they don't have to - presurising them would be illegal eviction) then you are going to have to look at section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act.

In all honesty, until the tenant has not paid at least 2 months worth of rent, there is not much you can do, but you can send a notice under grounds 10 & 11 as a warning shot.

This page gives a basic run-down of what you need to know. http://tenancyanswers.ucoz.com/index..._contract/0-36

[P.Pilcher]

You should also send them a section 21 notice which will take effect on the day after the fixed period of their AST ends. This means that, as the requisite two months notice will have been given by this time, you can use section s1 to evict them if your section 8 actions fail for some reason.

P.P.