UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I am a new landlord and renting rooms in my BTL property. I have already applied and paid fees for HMO 9 weeks ago (Last week of December) but council have not come back to me. I believe its still in process. However before applying for HMO I changed doors to fire doors, installed smoke alarms in common areas and all the bed rooms, got electric inspection report and gas safety certificate.

In November last year a couple with 18 month old kid moved in one of the rooms. The lady had issues with their mother-in-law and they moved out from their house and started living in my house. They paid me deposit which was put in to DPS within 30 days. I gave copy of DPS to tenant which also mention minimum term is 6 months. Due to my inexperience I did not make any formal contract but asked tenant to sing a list of rules and regulations. One of the rule is minimum 6 month stay and after which one month notice required before they can move out.

My tenant gave me notice 2 weeks ago as his mother is sick (?) and they want to go back and live with her to take care of her. They still have 3 months to go. I strongly believe that they are lying as renting a room is costing them and they want to go back to mother's house to save rent. As a goodwill gesture I asked them to give me one month time to find new tenant and also informed them that I will try my best to find new tenant and once I find new tenants I will terminate the contract from the date new tenant moves in. Today the tenant applied to DPS for refund of deposit. I received e mail from DPS for my permission to pay him back which I refused. They have paid me rent till end of this week and they want to move out this week end.

My question to forum is

1. where do I stand? Do I have right to deduct money from deposit for the notice period?
2. Can I force them to live in until contract finishes?
3. There is damp on the walls and they have ripped off wall paper (I can probably ignore this but will cost me £100 for new wall paper and paint)

thanks

I'm sure you'll get more informed advice than mine but as I see it you've several problems here.  The main one being no formal signed contract, if you had one then technically the six month can be expected to be paid for although you'd probably have difficulty collecting.
You can't hold them to anything without a proper contract so what can you hold them to.
The damp on the walls is a whole other issue which obviously needs addressing as to the cause.
Quite frankly i'd be glad they're moving on at least you don't have a sitting tenant issue now so next time make sure you're contracts are done correctly.

AST stands for assured short hold tenancy and there is usually an agreement that you sign and they sign and that you are both bound by.  They are old contracts that are backed up by law and legislation.  Getting them to sing a list of made up by you of rules and regulations will probably get you nowhere in a legal sense.

Can you force them to live there until the contract finishes?  Only if you screw the doors shut and stand guard 24/7.  You can't force anyone to stay anywhere regardless of what contracts are in place.  And it doesn't sound like you have a contract TO finish.

Take this as a lesson learnt.  Allow them to leave when they want, re advertise the room, get new tenants, do everything properly next time and chalk it down to experience.

Thanks for your advise. I have learnt my lesson. I have asked the tenant to move this week. Where can I get format of AST?

Join on of the letting associations RLA or similar.  The costs are tax deductible, they'll provide the docs and support in the future when you need it,

http://www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/tenancy-agreement/?loc=GB&pid=googleppc-reslse_gb-tenancyt2_a5-s-ggkey_free%20tenancy%20agreement&s_kwcid=free%20tenancy%20agreement|47412564443&gclid=Cj0KEQiA99qnBRDnrYCkt4ClzZABEiQAvqPaLONxwB-kS-TdHi65nmUaK1pB4eFrOkiI4cFR_SD2onwaAiY08P8HAQ#.VPbYKPmsW74

Google free AST?

Quote from: landlord78 on March 04, 2015, 08:39:25 AM
Thanks for your advise. I have learnt my lesson. I have asked the tenant to move this week. Where can I get format of AST?

Let them go, let them go, can't hold them back any more... let them go, let them go, turned their back and slammed the door!