Question

Landlord Wants Tenant to Leave (England) | Preventing Controlling and Recovering Rent Arrears (England) | What to Do if Tenancy Is to Continue (England)

Removal of Tenant in HMO

8 May 2016 | 4 comments

Have a tenant who has not paid this months rent due on the 1st May for advance rent of May. Now had a couple of complaints about the tenant regarding smoking and noise. Spoke to him twice on the matter and he agreed to comply. This seems not the case as had another complaint today. Would like to cease his tenancy. He is due to renew on the 10th May if I do not renew do I still need the 2 months notice period and which is the best way to proceed on this matter.
Once I know my options I will firstly just ask him to leave and see what happens.
Thanks
Paul

Answer

4 Comments

  1. guildy

    You always need to give at least 2 months notice. Be careful with how you ask him to leave as there is a special procedure to follow (i.e. notice then court order).

    Once the fixed term ends, the tenancy will just roll on as a periodic tenancy so they will continue to be a tenant throughout the process (right up until the bailiff if that were necessary).

    Please see our possession notice wizard which will determine the appropriate notice that you need. Although not particularly beneficial to you, if the tenancy was granted before 1 October 2015, I would probably wait now until 11 May before serving notice. This is because there are two notices, one for fixed term and one for periodic. It could get confusing if you serve the fixed term one now but if it didn’t arrive in the post until the tenancy was periodic, there could be an argument as to which one you should have served. By waiting until the tenancy is periodic, this argument goes away. If the tenancy started on or after 1 October, this doesn’t matter anymore as the rules have been changed for these newer tenancies.

    If the tenant becomes 2 months arrears on 2 June, go back to the wizard as another notice becomes available (section 8) which only needs to be 18 days long before you can commence court proceedings.

    If you’re in doubt over anything, don’t hesitate to ask.

  2. Paul Herlihy

    I usually get the tenant to resign a new tenancy on the expiry of old 6 month AST. Is it best to get this signed as issuing a section 21 still.
    Thanks
    Paul

    • guildy

      No you mustn’t renew if you are wanting possession. Personally, I don’t think there is ever need to do renewals anyway. You can just leave the tenancy at the end of the term and it will automatically roll on periodically. The periods will be the same as the rent (so if a monthly rent, it will continue as a monthly periodic tenancy). No further action is necessary.

      See here for options at end of tenancy

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