Tenancy agreement..

[Bucharest]

My Mum and cousin are landlords, this is their second property but the first that they are handling themselves.

The family have been in the house since September and have a 6 mth tenancy agreement. Since the very first month the rent has never been paid in full- £50 missing here, £100 there. Various excuses have been given...(cashcard won't let them withdraw, husband on sick leave and wages been stopped- he is apparently in a managerial position so this seems unlikely in all honesty) Basically the only "full" money my Mum and cousin received was the deposit, and that was paid in dribs and drabs.

They (obviously) don't want to let the tenants stay beyond the 6mths agreement and are about to issue a 2 mth notice letter.
The rental month is from the first, so if i understand correctly, the letter needs to be with the tenants on the 31st (of this month?)

Where do they stand with this? Will the tenants have to go? My Mum and cousin are kind of accepting that the money still outstanding (about a month's rent in total) is just going to have to be written off.

Should the letter be sent RD?

If they're giving notice on arrears grounds, the arrears must exceed 2 months' worth if rent is paid monthly.

If valid, the notice should be sent by recorded next day delivery by tomorrow, Thursday the 30th at the latest, but could be sent today.

You don't need grounds to terminate at the 6-month point, just issue notice 2 months in advance of 7th payment date ie by Jan 1st to end at end of Feb. Because of BH's I'd send Recorded asap

Thank you for replying..
It's not notice for arrears, it's just the end of the 6 mths AST. They are not wanting to renew primarily because of the missing rent, but at the moment just want to cut their losses and start again.
The missing rent is £50 for one month, £100 for another and so on, so doesn't amount to that much, but still annoying, when it's never made up the following month.

I've d/loaded the template for a s21(1)(b) notice, and will get them to get it delivered by Friday,
Thanks again.

They should be able to take what is outstanding from the deposit

Did they register the deposit with the Tenant Deposit Protection Scheme? If they didn't then they should be a bit careful because they are breaking the law.
It might be worth getting the next set of tenants in and managed by a reputable lettings agency, then maybe taking over themselves at a later date when they know a bit more about being a landlord.
Also, take out landlord's insurance which includes rent guarantee insurance and cover for eviction procedures. It might cost about £100 a year, but is well worth it.
Google the Landlord Forum and have a read of the advice there.

Surprised to see this bumped again!

Yes, of course it was registered with a protection scheme, in a bond I believe. The tenants have a copy of everything.

This is the second house they are renting out, the first is with a letting agency. As they didn't have any problems with the first tenant, I think they thought they'd do it themselves this time.

Anyway, after the letter was delivered, the tenants contacted my cousin and promised to pay the outstanding money at £150 a week, which is what they are doing, so hopefully it's all sorted and they will be able to stay on. The missing money should all have been recouped by mid-Feb.

Will ask them if they have the insurance thingy, thanks for the tip.

There's no of course about it Bucharest . Even now, a lot of people managing their own lets fall down on this aspect. I wondered because you said the deposit was paid in dribs and drabs, and also because you talked about just writing the arrears off.
If the tenants are in arrears when they leave then the landlord has a good case for keeping deposit money in lieu. When TDS are asked to release the deposit the landlord can register a claim on the money.