Updating post from Reddit.
Hi all. I've own a house I've been renting out for the last 10 years or so. I have plans to sell the property. The tenancy is due to finish end of September. The current lead tenant (she's been there for 1 year) recently contacted me and told me that the second tenant wants to leave, but she wants to stay. She asked for a 12 month contract. I said I didn't want to do that because of my plans to sell but could offer a 6 month term. She went off and found a prospective second tenant who would be happy with 6 months.
My dad died in March. He has quite a complicated estate including a property in France. The French inheritance tax will be due next March, before probate is granted in either the UK or France. I need to raise some capital in order to pay that, and following some financial advice I've decided it makes sense to sell the house now rather than in 6 months time.
My question is, is my offer of a 6 month tenancy to the tenant (via email) legally binding in any way? Nothing has been signed, we haven't even started the reference process for the new tenant yet.
Also, if the length of the AST is 12 months, and it ends approx 6 weeks from now, can I serve a Section 21 now? Or do I have to wait to until the 12 months is over, then serve notice? Since the second tenant is leaving, I'm assuming paying full rent will be an issue after they leave.
Up until now my relationship with the lead tenant has been pretty good.
Thanks in advance!
I would serve s21 anyway, but make sure you get it right. It’s a 21 (1) (b) as you are serving within the fixed term, albeit that the date after which you would be entitled to gain possession would be the last day of the first month of the periodic tenancy.
Okay thanks, I'll go belts and braces and get an official notice to quit from the leaving tenant and also serve a S21 too.
Just thinking of terms of serving notice / terminating the tenancy, as I said it's a joint tenancy and one of the tenants wants to leave at the end of the current term (although I haven't yet recieved that from him in formal writing, I was told via the lead tenant who is my point of contact. I have already recieved a referencing request from the leaving tenant so its obviously his desire to leave).
That being the case, do I even need to serve a Section 21? If I can get a notice to quit from one of the tenants, does that terminate the entire tenancy? Below is from openrent;
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In a periodic tenancy with two or more joint tenants, any one tenant can end the tenancy by serving a notice to quit.
The tenant needs to give at least one month’s notice to terminate the tenancy at the end of the next rental period unless the agreement specifies a different notice period.
It’s important to remember that this action will also terminate the tenancy for the remaining joint tenants.
If the remaining tenants choose to stay and continue paying rent, the original tenancy – including its terms – will have been terminated. Therefore, it’ll be in everyone’s interest to reach a new agreement as soon as possible.
Ideally, the landlord and remaining tenant/s should negotiate and sign a new tenancy agreement during the notice period to ensure a smooth transition when the old one ends."
If there’s nothing in writing it would be hard for the tenant to prove an offer had been made, though obviously they won’t be happy if you go back on it and might decide to stay anyway, if this happens you will need to evict them through the courts and this could take months. Also I guess if the second tenant does not move in the first tenant might not be able to pay the rent on her own. I think the first option would be to put your cards on the table with the tenant, tell them you have changed your mind and explain why and say you will give them a few weeks to move before you start formal proceedings. Your next move would depend on how they react - I think most people’s reaction would be to be p*ssed off with you initially but after they have got over the initial shock it’s not very likely that they would want get into a battle to resist eviction proceedings.
Thanks for the advice. Yeah I want to be as cordial as possible as our relationship has been good up until now and I do feel bad for the situation, I should have given it some more thought but I offered the 6 months via email as a bit of a knee jerk reaction really. I have drafted an email and am being pretty apologetic.
There is now 6 weeks until the 12 month term is over, and I think I'd be willing to offer them another fortnight if required at a reduced rate, to help them find another place (not sure how that would work legally).
Did you see my post about legally ending the tenancy? is that correct that I don't need to issue a section 21 since one of the tenants is serving a notice to quit anyway?
They don't strike me as the sort of person who would stay on illegally but then you never know!
If the tenant who wants to remain refuses to go you will need to serve S21. I would recommend you do this anyway as it will show the tenant you are serious and start the clock ticking on possible legal action (you can’t start proceedings until the s21 notice period has expired). You couldn’t use the tenants notice as the basis of possession proceedings.