Removal of ASTs consultation para 3.30

[DPT57]

I believe you can get a ccj against the tenant by using the rental address as the tenant would be expected to arrange mail forwarding. However, you will need to use a tracking service or similar to find a new address for the tenant to enforce it

[DPT57]

Did his employment contract say that he has to live in the flat upstairs or that it would be easier to do the job if he did? If not then I think its probably an AST and you would not be able to use s21 to evict for the reasons you've stated. You could try S8 g16, but its discretionary and you may not...

[DPT57]

If you mean a joint tenancy rather than individual room only tenancies and assuming that the bedrooms are not separately banded and that tenants are not allocated their rooms by the landlord/agent, then its unlikely to be a Council Tax HMO and you should probably appeal since the liability should fall...

[DPT57]

The tenant must sign the inventory before they move-in or it's useless to the landlord. If they subsequently find problems not noted on the report they should record them, preferably in writing and photographs and send a list formally to the landlord requesting a response. This would be used later in...

[DPT57]

I think you're taking the right approach. You need to check whether there are any insurance or mortgage conditions requiring all occupants to be tenants but otherwise you should be fine. Dont accept any rent from her though.

[DPT57]

What does she say about paying her portion of the rent in future?...

[DPT57]

You have his email address so can contact him if you need to. If you need to sue for rent arrears then faced with either paying them all herself or giving you his address, the wife will probably tell you where he lives....

[DPT57]

What about all the other paperwork, (EPC, GSC, How to Rent, Deposit PI, Inventory...)? If you have no evidence that those were given either then I think you should let them go asap and go on a crash course before you look for a replacement.

[DPT57]

No such thing as a lead tenant either. It's an invention of the deposit schemes to make their administration easier...

[DPT57]

I agree with the first part of of your reply, that it is paid before it is accrued. However, s8g8 is currently satisfied when "at least 2 months rent is unpaid", which when rent is payable in advance and the tenant stops paying happens at the start of month 2 when the second months rent is...

[DPT57]

I'm just responding to the survey and noticed that this para proposes that "The landlord can serve a two-week notice seeking possession once the tenant has accrued two months of rent arrears." I was struck by the use of the word accrued. With rent payable in advance, at the moment s8g8 is...

[DPT57]

This regime is very messy. Tenants can't be readily swapped when they wish to leave. They remain liable until their tenancy ends and their tenancy can only end when everyone's ends. Replacements would certainly have a tenancy but it is probably not the same tenancy that everyone else has and may therefore...

[DPT57]

The smell issue should have been picked up during the check-out inspection and dealt with with before refunding any deposit....

[DPT57]

...Or just tell the Agent that the landlord is responsible for the Council Tax if they won't give you access to that room and that you won't be paying it. You can then use that money to store/replace the bed....

[DPT57]

Can you pop round and visit the ex-landlord, (friendly approach of course)?

[DPT57]

Join one of the landlord associations - RLA/NLA etc. Apart from the advice and information, which you will need before you even contemplate going it alone, they have a range of model documents such as tenancy agreements

[DPT57]

Its not necessary to create a new tenancy just to increase the rent. You can agree a rent increase informally with the tenant and if they start paying it then it becomes formal. If they don't then you can issue a s13 notice to demand an increased rent....

[DPT57]

Unless the tenant was given a copy of a new tenancy agreement without your knowledge, then their tenancy is now periodic, but perfectly valid. I am surprised the Agency let you go with the tenant still in place

[DPT57]

If you have contractual periodic tenancy then your notice is specified in the contract

If you are in a fixed term tenancy then you cant issue a valid notice.

If you're in a statutory periodic tenancy, your notice is a minimum 1 month expiring at the end of a rental period....

[DPT57]

If you didn't serve a GSC before he moved in, a s21 will be impossible now