UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi everyone, I'm facing a tough situation with my rental property in Wembley. My tenant hasn't paid rent for the past three months—only a partial payment of £1000 in September. I've already served a Section 21 notice to vacate the property, and Section 8 will be applicable on December 5th.

Back in 2020, there was a guarantor when the tenancy started, but the latest contract doesn't have their signature. Unfortunately, our estate agent misled us, claiming everything was signed.

To make matters worse, the tenant has gone to Sri Lanka and is now subletting to paying guests. She neither vacates the property nor pays the rent.

I'm feeling lost and unsure of my next steps. Any advice on what to do in this situation would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

The guarantor issue is not that important.  They are very hard to enforce,  and in this case probably not genuine anyway. I think this is one for a specialist eviction agency.  Others will know more than I do,  but I think the current " guests"  can be treated as trespassing.

What a horrible situation, I do wish you luck.

The tenancy is no longer assured as the tenant is not resident. You can serve a common law Notice to Quit on your tenant, (both at the address and by email/WhatsApp etc) and when it expires their tenancy will end unless they return to the property and evict their sub-tenant. Provided your tenancy agreement prohibits unauthorised sub-letting, the current occupants will have no rights to remain there once your tenant's tenancy ends and you can exclude them by changing the locks whilst theyre out. I suggest you confirm all this with a housing lawyer to cover yourself.

Thank you. Can you advise a property lawyer? and She has subletted rooms only. She still left her stuff in the house

If she is still able to claim ita her permanent home then the above probably won't work, but at this point you need a specialist. I've used solicitors from both Anthony Gold and JMW in the past.