Tenant has abandoned property / not paid rent - can I assume the tenancy has ended?

[iPaddy]

New tenant rented room in shared house in April 2014, paid one month's rent and then stopped paying.

Several months of promising to pay, then stopped answering calls / texts / emails.

Hasn't been seen by the other tenants in well over a month - closer to two. Hasn't paid his share of the bills.

Can I assume he has abandoned the property and I can re-let the room? I can't find him to serve notice (unless I can do this by email).

His 6 month contract ends on 7 October. He has left approx. three bin bags worth of possessions (clothes, bed clothes etc.) in the room but nothing of value.

Can anyone advise? Thanks!

hopeful bump?

do you have an agent that can advise?

I looked on the Shelter site; the others are responsible for his share of the rent and bills.

I suppose you should also contact the police to check if he is a missing person or worse.

I think you should make an effort to contact by email and any other routes (did he have references?). Ask him to collect possessions by October 7th. It seems odd he has not taken much, could he be ill, have been arrested, taken a job elsewhere ?

Thanks both.

We manage this property ourselves. He's not missing / ill. He's decamped to his girlfriend's house in the next county. He's avoiding our calls because he knows he owes use 5 month's rent.

His referee was his mum who is also his employer (family business). We are normally more rigorous in checking references but we were soft-hearted when he came to us with a sob story of desperately needing a place to stay.

I need to end his tenancy quickly but don't want to to come back and bite me in the bum.

*owes us

Send his notice to the business address ? You have left it a bit late though as the norm is 2 months'.

ah right - end of sympathy.

Send the notice - but yes, you are a little late. And the rest of the tenants will have to pay his rent if it is a joint tenancy.

BTW is this an HMO? The rules may be different for that although I'm not sure.

So, just to check, even though his current AST ends on 7 October we still need to give 2 months notice?

It's not a HMO or a joint tenancy, we rent the rooms out singly but it's not big enough to be classified as a HMO.

We have told him months ago (verbally and via email) that we would not be renewing the AST but I doubt this would be seen as a section 21 notice to quit because of the way we worded it.

This is what happens when you try to help someone out - and why decent tenants are treated like criminals by landlords. Grrr...

And if we didn't give him two months' notice - just took the risk that he won't be coming back - what would be the consequences?

Hopefully nothing. However, if you don't give him the valid notice there is a chance he could claim you are illegally evicting him. I think he could agree to leave with less notice so give up his tenancy, but definately make sure this is docuented in writing - could you email that suggestion?

Err, if he had a 6 month tenancy and only paid 1 months then I guess you've only got the deposit left.

Why did it take so long? Really, you should have moved after the 2nd month's rent was over 1 month late.

If the tenancy is legal and above board then you could try baliffs for the money.

I would be very careful on whether the house is classified as a HMO or not. You might find the LA classes the place as a HMO once you have 3 or more individual tenants. Then you open yourself up to much more regulation.

Thanks hereandtherex - I have checked and do re-check periodically re HMO classification and deliberately manage my properties so that they are not HMOs. The LA has confirmed this.

It took so long because we were stupid and soft and believed his promises/excuses. One of which was that he had a big CSA claim to pay to his ex-partner for the maintenance of his daughter - tugged at my heartstrings that one, didn't want the little girl to lose out.

We are relatively experienced but he was very plausible. He works for his successful family business so is not short of money, but obviously manages it very badly.

I'm not going to go through bailiffs but I will continue to contact him re non-payment of rent. I've emailed him to tell him that unless I hear from him I will assume he wishes to end his contract.