We have a tenancy that was due to end in February, the tenants have moved out and handed in their keys early as they were moving out of the area. We have completed out property inspection and there are quite a few proposed deductions. The tenants have responded to say they hadn’t wanted to give us the impression that they had permanently vacated despite providing a forwarding address and final meter readings and they fully intended collecting the keys back off us to return to address the issues before the tenancy ends in February.
My question is can they collect the keys and return before the tenancy end date or by surrendering the keys have they in fact ended the tenancy.
2 Comments
Not the easiest but as a general rule, keys would be crucial in trying to decide if a tenancy has been surrendered. The fact they gave back keys and didn’t indicate an intention to return meant you were free to accept or reject the offer to surrender early.
If you are claiming rent until February then it might be tricky because that’s an act on your part suggesting you have not accepted their surrender in which case, the tenancy must be continuing until the end.
However, if you said fair enough, accepted the keys and stopped charging the rent, then we see no reason why the tenancy isn’t now at an end.
All of that being said, there’s no reason why the keys couldn’t be given for the purpose of carrying out the work (just like you would with a contractor) or go the the property and let them in and return to lock up at the end of the day perhaps.
The keys were handed in last week after the rent in advance was already paid. So if we aren’t refunding that rent then we have to return the keys