Would like to ask tenant to leave but now we have a change in regulations?

[cheeseandbranston]

I have a small renter. I have only put the rent up by £50 in the past 4 years because I had (wrongly) assumed the tenant was a good one, because she rarely asks for anything, is polite and pays on time.

however, I asked to walk through the property a month ago, and it was shocking. She had painted everything herself and down a very bad job, the garden was full of junk as was the garage, she has a pet that we never discussed and the carpets are all ripped up by the pet.

i didn’t say much at the time because my visit obviously made her super anxious - she covered all the floors with sheets and claimed she had just carpeted them when it was obvious that it was because she didn’t want me to see them. And she tried to stop me going outside claiming the rain had made the garden and garage dangerous.

I could see she was close to tears as I left.

i felt sorry for and after texted saying that I hoped the walk through didn’t make her too anxious and I wouldn’t need to do it again for another year - I didn’t want her to be frightened.

BUT, it has made me realise, I don’t want to rent my house any more. I took a couple of months to think about it, and the damage will be costly to put right, and I don’t want my own property at risk like this.

I had planned to tell her in January because I don’t want to make Christmas difficult for them. (Her boyfriend and teenager live there too)

but yesterday I saw renting rights are changing and you can no longer simply give a tenant notice?

does anyone have any advice please? Not just opinion, but actual knowledge of what I need to do?

thank you.

Every four months? God thats borderline harrasment.

" The landlord cannot dictate that."

Even less so now with all the law changes?

Yep, and many tenants would walk after the first couple of "inspections", landlords who own properties outright and treat it like a hobby can be a bit more cheeky I suppose, landlords with big mortgage debts need to be careful the way the economy is going.

you cant say your selling under the new rules & then not sell. Youd be fined. The new rules are extremely strict (& rightfully so.)

What happens if you can"t sell, do the new rules force you to drop the price? That would be way over the top, they should just make notice periods mandatory six months and have very strict rules about the tenant leaving at that point.

Everyone is saying why not use a lettings agent. However they too can make the most dreadful mistakes and it all falls back on the landlord. Just as it did with Rachel Reeves.

I was renting some years ago and the agents made some dreadful errors sufficient for me to have commenced legal action. I kept quiet about it. Eventually the LL decided she wanted to sell quickly in order to go abroad. I used the mistakes the agent had made as leverage to get a great discount on the selling price on a private sale. The agent lost the commission on the sale because I insisted it be done privately. I enjoyed getting back at those reptiles. Nothing like revenge.

if you evict on the grounds of intending to sell you can re-let for 12 months. So you aren’t forced to sell, it’s just long enough to deter landlords using it as an excuse.

Ok, makes sense.

I realised there was a typo in what I said below - should have been can’t relet for 12 months. Basically you can take it off the market it and rent it out again but not until 12 months after you ended the previous tenancy.

It was originally going to be 6 months but it changed to 12 during the development of the legislation because it was felt 6 months wouldn’t be sufficient disincentive from misuse. .

If somewhere doesn’t sell, why on earth does the government want the property removed from being rented? That way will ensure even fewer rental properties! It’s illiterate economically.

Whilst I have sympathy for you that your tenant hasn’t looked after the place, ultimately that could have been avoided with an agent on board, who would regularly inspect etc. I’m an agent and thankfully no longer deal with rentals, but you’ve cut corners and now paying the price. An agent would also serve the notice and be able to advise on the matters you’re now turning to MN for.
Also, I actually find it baffling that you’ve made a point of in your words ‘not frightening her’ (I assume that means you didn’t want to worry her about being evicted) by saying you won’t inspect for 12 months, and now you’re wanting to do just that! Why text her that?! You said in an additional post you were ‘shocked’ at the condition. You would have been better to have said ‘you’re considering all options since the visit’ rather than essentially lying to her. Absolutely baffling.

Governments are only interested in getting rid of landlords
If that leaves millions homeless they will just blame it on the Landlords

If they returned btl to how it used to be before the meddling then we wouldn’t have this crisis. Supply would be greater than demand and only the nicest and best value for money would be rented and those who charge too much or want to rent out badly renovated or not very nice places would give up when they found the income wasn’t there

This thread got long and i can't remember if i posted.

Although RR is now law, you can still issue a s21 until the implementation date, which I was expecting to be published last week, but they are being slow bums.

Most likely date will be May 26. Possible date could be Feb/March if they don't care about LLs getting prepared.

So, you don't have to kick her out before xmas.

S21s issued and expiring before the implementation date will still be valid. Keep an eye on the independent landlord - suzanne smith's website. She will update as soon as dates are published.

She might have MH problems and she will find it easier to get a rental in Jan or even better Feb than now til xmas. There are just more around come Feb. Now til xmas is pretty much tumbleweed. At least in terms of quality imo.

I think that if this tenant will struggle to get another privately rented place then the only way they are going to get housed is by you taking the eviction process through the courts and getting bailiffs to remove them

You have to go through the process. I would get some advice from a free 1/2 hour with a solicitor/rental agents and going on line and finding out about which documents to issue and the timeline you have to follow to make sure you get the right paperwork issued at the right time and in the right order

Unfortunately the courts are backed so it isn’t going to be a quick process and talk about kicking her out before Christmas I doubt will happen, at least not this Christmas

It might sound heartless but eviction is the only way councils become responsible for housing someone. Anything less and they wash their hands of you as they say that leaving before the landlords bailiffs arrive to kick you out is making yourself intentionally homeless and they aren’t then responsible for you. You are on your own.

The whole thing is messed up.

That's an extreme reaction to someone getting a pet and redecorating. She hasn't deliberately burnt the place down.

When talking about junk in the garden/garage, is it actual rubbish or just stuff? I've got stuff in my shed I need to get rid of (charity shop/tip) but it's not the kind of stuff that'll attract pests. It's because I don't drive so need help getting rid of it. The stuff going to the tip isn't enough to justify getting a skip either, although this sounds like it might be.

I don’t think you understand how much work can be caused by someone badly painting walls, doors etc. In terms of time it isn’t just a light sanding and wipe down to prep for painting. If the paint work is badly painted it could mean taking the whole thing back to bare wood to get an even surface.
To get a professional in the time alone would run into 4 figures just to prep the woodwork

If there is wallpaper to be removed then that is another PITA to get rid of without damaging the walls underneath.

i think also you really don’t understand that getting a pet when the tenancy agreement says no pets . It is just asking to get kicked out.
Imagine if this house was a flat where the lease stated no pets. Op could lose the entire property if the freeholder sued her for not abiding by the lease agreement.

If you sign a contract it means you abide by the cintract

The problem is though, who is checking?

And given the housing shortage do people really want a house empty for 12 months. You intend to sell. Sale falls through so you decide to let. But have to wait.

The housing market is all over the place. In some areas selling is very tricky.

I don't think 12 months is THAT long to keep a property on the market before giving up. I think it is enough to deter landlords who might be thinking "I'll test the market and if not I can just relet at a higher rent"

Well yes as with much of this, enforcement is the problem.

12 months of paying a mortgage, utilities and (often double) council tax is expensive. Many landlords are accidental, or simply don't have large reserves. Especially those who want to sell because letting has become increasingly unprofitable.

If you wanted to sell because you didn’t want to let it out any longer, then logically you wouldn’t want to re-let it?

Not coming in until May. Get started on selling up!

https://www.netrent.co.uk/2025/09/15/uk-rental-market-cools-as-supply-rises-and-tenant-demand-falls/

Some will just want out quickly, they may have to cut prices to exit though because buyers are paying a lot more for their mortgage debt now?