Is there any way to evict tenant before their contract is up?

[WhatABigYikes]

I have two tenants in a flat I'm renting out. They are 6 months into a 12 month contract. There is no break clause. Due to something very unfortunate in my personal life, it would be very very helpful to sell the property ASAP. I wondered if I could ask the tenants nicely if they don't mind looking for somewhere to move - is that allowed? Am I being ridiculous? This was the first time I've rented out my flat and they are the first tenants I have. They are a couple.
Many thanks in advance

I think it's you who had difficulty understanding my previous response to you. I reproduce it for your convenience, and shan't reply again:

Happy to agree to differ -and as for “mumsnet of all places” - honestly, there’s a lot of great information on here

Clearly something unexpected has happened to OP - bereavement, illness, divorce, job loss. So she is seeking advice on how to deal with that financially. She has heard what she needs to from the thread - that no, this can’t be done contractually but there may be ways to discuss the contract with the tenants that help her. Not sure how you don’t think MN has been useful here.

Anyway, we are poles apart, so I shan’t respond to you further.

Took us 10 months to evict a tenant who only paid one months rent. All done legally.

@WhatABigYikeseven if you put it on the market today and they allowed viewings , it would probably be six months before it was all done.

You should really use some of your rental income on getting legal advice.

God, cant someone even ask a question/ muse out load on here now?

And fuck the people who are soon to be out of a home through no fault of their own?

Mumsnet - SH tenants should give up Lifetime tenancies and go into the private sector.

Also Mumsnet - "i needs to evict my tenants early because I've had a change in circumstances'.' Poor you, see if they'll leave on their own'.

Fucksake. Rents are high. Landlords are taking people‘s actual money, benefiting from it and entering into legal obligations. These are people’s homes. The stakes are high. It’s not some kind of game. People need to grow up and realise that renting out property is a serious business that affects other people’s lives. Grow up and take it seriously.

@ARichtGoodDram The reference would simply be stating the truth: the tenant hindered the sale by refusing viewings. We didn’t take a tenant at one point who had refused viewings in their previous flat. The landlord is entitled to sell. If the tenant isn’t happy to accept reasonable viewings and has refused them before then any onward landlord can refuse to have them as tenants. Everyone in that situation it simply exercising their own rights.

The advice you have been given regarding formally evicting your tenants is correct. You have no legal basis to end the tenancy at this stage.
There is no reason whatsoever why you cannot have a civil conversation with them to let them know that you will be taking steps to end the tenancy when legally allowed. ( section 21 might have been abolished by then, but a new ground is expected to enable the tenancy to be ended if you wish to sell).
The tenants may have had their own change in circumstances and welcome the chance to leave early ( they may not, and that will be the end of the matter as they are legally entitled to stay).
At very least they will know that their tenancy will be brought to an end when possible, and be able to plan for this. Even though it’s a one year contract they may well have been hoping to make it their long term home, and need to know this cannot be the case.
You are allowed to offer financial incentives, and it would be unreasonable not to as the tenants will have the expense and disruption of moving early, but it can only ever be an offer which they can accept or reject without further question.

Stating they refused viewings wouldn't be an "awful" reference. It would be petty, but not awful.

Any decent landlord would easily be able to read between the lines if that was the sole negative on a reference and know the tenant was dealing with an absolute amateur landlord.

If you allow amateur landlords decision on what is reasonable with regard to viewings in the middle of a fixed period to influence your decisions on tenants then more fool you. I never do on the basis that they are clueless amateurs whose judgement should hold no weight.

@ARichtGoodDramI think it would be foolish of a tenant to risk a poor reference by being an arse about viewings. This country has a huge problem with housing stock including suitable rentals. You can try and insult me but I am landlord and I have refused tenants for this reason. If the tenants are willing to roll the dice and think they can find a professional landlord and a property they want to rent then so be it. It’s a huge risk on their part.

I’ve been a tenant and I’ve never refused viewings. I asked they were done mostly while we were at work. It’s really not that big a deal.

Are you going to pay for their removal costs, their deposit for new place and any other fees they need to pay? Including Royal Mail redirection etc? So easily best part of £5000 each tenant?

You can't contract out of the legislation so this is most likely an illegal contract term. You can't just write what you like to get around the law 😂

Fortunately, I said none of those things, so you don’t need to worry.

PPs seemed to object to OP seeking advice on an advice forum. That was odd to me.

OP hasn’t actually done anything about this with her tenants, she sought advice first, which she was right to do. And now she probably won’t do anything about it, so that’s a good outcome, no?

Its hard enough getting them out after 12 months if they don't want to go never mind after 6!
Of course you can ask but I doubt they will do it and there is a risk that if they know you want them out after 12 they won't be as likely to look after things/pay rent on time

Hello everyone. I appreciate what everyone is saying here. It is not my intention to cause my tenants any stress or difficulties or forcibly remove them.

I understand I've incorrectly used the word "evict". I didn't mean it in the legal sense. I just wanted to know if there are instances this could happen in mutual agreement/amicably.

The flat was let out fully furnished and with good quality appliances etc.

It is true I am new to this and I was apprehensive of going down the renting route and the flat was empty for a year as I had people telling me renting out a property can be more faff than it's worth. In the end I decided to give it a go and obviously now feel like I made the wrong decision and it's just sod's law I need to sell it now of all times.

And I won't be asking the tenants to leave, but I will let them know I won't renew the contract when it comes to the end and will explain it's because I need to sell the flat.

And FWIW MN is generally very helpful to me and I do value others' lived experiences and IMO I feel like there is a wealth of knowledge here.

I was making a more general point.

Maybe your tenants would be interested in buying from you OP.

Oh I see. We all have to do due diligence and thorough research before we do anything. I didn’t realise . I do apologise.

Well tbh, and this isn't aimed at the OP who is seeking advice, but yes it is generally prudent to do due diligence and thorough research before entering a legal agreement.

I agree @ohmondew ( great username!) In principle. but I think posters should cut OP some slack in that she was asking a question, probably realising she was in too deep. We’ve all been there .. done something and then realised we should have thought it through? But someone posters seem to be delighting in pointing out their intellectual superiority

What a stupid comment. Generally when people are going into business they should make sure they are fully aware of the law and their legal responsibilities!

If it was a general point, why did you quote me?

The suggestion about the tenants buying from the OP is a useful one (and FYI has already been made) - another good reason to post for advice and suggestions.

I understand you feel strongly about this. I don’t . I think the OP was just genuinely asking for thoughts. And I really do not care if you think my comments are stupid

While I agree completely all too often people don't approach being a Landlord in the same way that they would any other business decision.
Its especially the case when people have inherited a property or similar.

While I agree completely all too often people don't approach being a Landlord in the same way that they would any other business decision.
It's especially the case when people have inherited a property or similar.

It's way too common that people don't approach it in a businesslike manner. You see "rent out your house for a while" thrown about on here often when people are debating moving in with partners and the likes.

Which is outrageous when you think about it - if you're getting into the business of housing people then you should be taking it extremely seriously and know what you're doing.

It doesn't help that councils have such limited staff now - when I first became a landlord my local council had a housing officer who put on a course. It was only two evenings, but it gave a really good education in what was expected of you legally, busted some myths, and also then gave a point of contact for tenants and landlords if they weren't 100% sure of something. The course wasn't expensive either, it was just enough to cover the costs (the council viewed that as worthwhile as it saved them time and money when situations went wrong).