Tenants splitting up - advice from landlords

[caoixr]

I had a question for landlords in case they had any advice being in a similar situation- my tenants are a couple who are both named on a joint tenancy contract with a baby. The contract is now on a periodic tenancy - it has gone beyond the initial fixed term. He is working and she is not.

They have decided to split up. He is moving out and she wants to stay with the baby until she finds another place to rent that she can afford as the current property will be too expensive.

She will finance it in the meantime using universal credit and child benefit but wants the tenancy changed in the meantime to be in just her name to get more UC.

Anyone been in a similar situation? How did it play out for you? Any advice? Thanks.

You need to process her as though she were a new tenant, do all the checks and if she passes, she's an eligible tenant.

They should write to confirm they are ending their current tenancy and then you can issue a new one in her name

You would need to issue her with a new shorthold tenancy agreement.

My landlady kindly changed the tenancy into my name only as soon as XH moved out, he had let her know he was happy to leave me in situ. If she hadn’t then I would not have been able to claim my rent as part of my UC claim (once separated the claim had to be solely mine) and would probably have been forced to move. Being able to stay put made the transition much easier for DD who was 2. We are still there 6 years on .

Thanks for the input all. I think treating it cleanly like a brand new tenancy might be the best path to follow.