Evicting tenant

[strawberryblue]

Legal Eviction -

I wanted some advice please from a property lawyer etc or anyone who has anything valuable they can add would be so grateful! Stressful situation

Tenanted property- tenant has lease till Sept 2024.

There is a small amount of damp/mould in property (second storey flat), contractor has been round recommended vents etc in the meantime tenant has been to the council (environmental health).

Tenant weekly has many many many issues with flat over the last year which coincided with a small rent increase (which have all been resolved if deemed to be an actual problem by external contractors). Lone adult
Tenant.

The situation now is becoming really stressful with daily emails and alot of money being pumped into the flat so decision has been made to sell flat asap.

My questions are-

Can the lease legally break broken with the understanding no rent would be expected from them for a couple of months till they find something new? Or do we have to wait till September? I think tenant would be agreeable to move possibly due to the issues they keep raising but unsure

Can the property be sold on with a full survey to show the small damp/mould issue in the interest of full transparency or should this be fixed prior to sale?

Thank you for reading anything you can add that could help me going forward would be great.

Unless there is a break clause in the tenancy agreement, it is very difficult to break. You can ask the tenant if they would be prepared to move early, but they are not obligated.

You would be able to sell with the issue, but you will get haggled down. I would at least get some quotes so that you can mitigate any negotiation of sale price.

Do you have a break clause in the tenancy agreement? If so, you could use that option to serve notice. If not, then my understanding is that it's more difficult to serve notice before the tenancy ends, but I am not an expert.

Do you have landlord insurance with legal cover? IMO every landlord should have this. If you have legal cover, I would call them and get specific advice. Anything you are told on a forum like this would be unreliable at best.

Are you a member of a professional organisation such as the NRLA?
Are you managing the property yourself? Using a property management agency would mean the tenant contacting them rather than you and take away some of the stress.

You cannot end the tenancy. What you could do is offer the tennant a lump sum to end the tenancy early and move though.

Is the tenancy recent or rolled on from the previous granted tenancy? How long has the tenant been there?

Get a solicitor to write the tenant a letter offering A sum of £ equivalent two months rent payable on exit in exchange for vacating the property at the end of that time. if they don’t accept this, then you’ll just have to wait.

You can serve notice to expire at the end of the current fixed term but also try to negotiate as above with incentives.

As to repairs etc the law says “buyer beware” and not all purchasers will do a detailed survey. But you should be prepared to have a discussion over price if they do

do you manage the tenancy yourself? Is their deposit in the registered scheme?
I think you need to tread very carefully as actually evicting through the courts is a long process and expensive if they decide to stop paying rent (and if the deposit isn’t registered you don’t stand a chance). Try and keep them on side and give them as long as it takes to find somewhere new. I had tenant who just refused to go. Stopped paying rent the lot. It took me 2 court appearances to get her out as she knew all the tricks to keep the bailiff away (no show at court meant a new court date which effectively bought her 4 more months rent free).
I hated being a landlord, I’m glad I’m out of it.

I doubt the OP is still in need of advice 5 months later