5 students on one contract. Tenancy expires 10am 30th June, new tenants collect keys 7am 1st July. Four of the five already gone and left keys. They say the 5th one will come to the house the 30th to collect his belongings and leave his keys. But he’s not answered his phone or replied to emails for several weeks and it’s likely he won’t turn up at all on the day, may turn up several days later. He’s not said he intends to stay longer and his house group say he’s leaving as per contract. I’m concerned as the new group have to leave their house midnight 30th June which is why I will give them the keys early morning before their house is checked. The new group also work during the day so have little flexibility. In various emails going back many months I emphasized in a number of emails to the current tenants that the locks will be changed if all the keys are not back by 10am 30th. Any advice appreciated.
Question
During the Tenancy (Wales) | Tenant Relations and Dealing With Complaints (Wales) | Wales
Tenant overstaying.
Answer
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1 Comment
Firstly, the tenancy doesn’t end on the last day of the term but instead continues as periodic if anyone remains in occupation (including an intention to return). Think of a fixed term as a “minimum term”, not fixed.
Because of this, changing the locks is risky. That being said, if the one doesn’t intend to return for occupation, that makes it better, and you’re only considering items left at the premises.
If you’re sure there’s no intention to occupy, the items must be kept reasonably safe and follow this procedure.
If there’s any doubt that the one doesn’t intend to leave, a notice would need to be served and a court order obtained, but hopefully, it won’t come to that from what’s described.
An interesting side note not relevant to this is that a tenancy can never end at a specific time in a day: “… the law does not take account of fractions of a day“. A notice that contains a particular time (e.g. 10 am) can be held invalid because they should have the whole day.