Tricky situation with tenant

[BerylStreep]

I was wondering if anyone knowledgeable could give some advice.

My DH is a landlord for a 4 bed property. He has never had any problems and has always got on well with the tenants, left them to it. The annual contract was renewed last month, and 2 of the guys who had been there the year before stayed on, and they advertised for flatmates.

All 4 tenants are named on the tenancy agreement.

One of the longterm tenants contacted DH saying they have a problem with one of the new tenants - her behaviour has been so erratic they think she is on drugs (although no evidence), doesn't appear to be working despite saying to DH she was employed, and has a very volatile relationship with her bf, who stays over, and is up arguing at 4am with him on numerous occasions.

They want DH to give her notice, and they have someone lined up who could take the room.

I'm a bit concerned about the legalities of what they are proposing. I agree the arguing at 4am is unacceptable, but I am inclined to think that this is an issue which the tenants should sort between themselves, rather than DH getting involved.

I have checked the agreement, and it does have a clause about not being a nuisance to neighbours. It is a flat, and I have no doubt that the neighbours will have been disturbed by the arguing, so I suppose technically DH could potentially take action on those grounds. (We get on well with the downstairs neighbours, so could enquire from them if they have heard the arguing.) However I am not sure about giving notice to only one party to the contract. IF he took any action, would he not have to terminate the contract with all the tenants and then sign another contract with the remaining / new tenants?

Whilst I think this is really for the tenants to sort, we don't want to alienate the neighbours, nor do we want the remaining tenants to leave early, especially as 2 of them have been longterm and are pleasant and reliable individuals.

Does anyone have any experience in the legalities of this?

Join the National Landlord's Association and have a look on Landlord Zone. I don't know the legal situation and won't speculate, but this is something your husband should have researched himself given he is renting to unconnected individuals. What does the AST state? This eventuality should be covered in there.

everyone is entitled to enjoy their home and this tenant is making that difficult for the others. in my opinion the tenants were right to bring it to your attention and expect you to do something about it.

perhaps the first thing to do would be to speak to the problem tenant and remind them of the terms and conditions of the lease? Tell them that antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated? That if they breach rules of tenancy again they will be told to leave/evicted?

Imagine your self in the shoes of the other tenants and ask yourself how you would like it dealt with.

this might help:
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Quiet+Enjoyment

Possibly different in England but in Scotland you can't end a tenancy against only 1 person. Your husband would have had to grant individual leases of 1 room for the exclusive use of each individual tenant with the right to use the common parts of the house.

It's a fairly fundamental legal principle in relation to leases that you cannot evict one tenant in a joint tenancy. The wording below is from Shelter England's web-site.

Your landlord cannot evict one joint tenant without evicting all the others. Instead, your landlord may be able to end the tenancy (using the procedures for eviction) and offer a new one to the remaining tenants.

If it is still within the original contractual period he would have to use a section 21 notice to terminate the lease based on her behaviour.

Usually tenants are jointly and severally liable to abide by lease conditions - which mean all of them, not just the rent. So her antisocial behaviour does mean the tenants are breaching the lease.

Qualifier I am only qualified in Scots law and your husband needs specific advice from a qualified English solicitor.

Is the lease as a group or on an individual room basis? If the former it will be much trickier to give notice to one. Are they jointly and severally liable to pay the rent and to whom ? Who did the references, did that include credit and employment checks. The upshot is it may be difficult to force one out especially if rent is paid on time unless they cooperate.

Thanks for your replies.

The tenancy is a joint tenancy, and for the last 15+ years it has always been a group of 4 who know each other. Two of last year's group of four were moving on to other situations, and the two remaining were keen to stay, and so found the other two.

ALassUnparalled that's what I thought would be the position, that you can't ask one to leave and not the rest.

Things have moved on. They all sat down together and discussed that it wasn't working out, and the tenant in question has agreed to leave at the end of the month. There is someone else who can move in, but I think that DH needs to give notice to them all, specifying that the end of the tenancy is by mutual agreement, and then sign a new tenancy from the start of next month. DH spoke to the tenant in question, and she has confirmed that she is content to be released from the contract.

I suppose to keep things right DH would need to draw up something in writing for everyone to sign agreeing that the current tenancy was ending early by mutual agreement?

I suppose to keep things right DH would need to draw up something in writing for everyone to sign agreeing that the current tenancy was ending early by mutual agreement?

Yes absolutely. All of the parties need to agree on this. Your husband can't safely offer the new lease even although 3 of the tenants will be the same until he is sure the old lease has been terminated.