Tenant due to leave

Hi All

I'm hoping I can get some advise from people who might have been in my position.

I have a one year fixed term lease with my tenant that is up on the 1st July, on the 20th May I sent her a notice of termination of the tenancy letter as my brother (who is ill) will be moving into the property on the 1st July.

She waited 2 weeks to contact me and when she did, i advised her over the phone again of the reason why i would not be continuing with the tenancy beyond the one year.

She asked could she hold her last months rent so she could use this as a deposit elsewhere and for me to keep her deopsit in lieu of rent, i agreed to this and put our agreement in writing, i also sent her a reference to help her with finding new accomodation.

I received a call from her yesterday (the tenancy is due to end this day next week) she said she is struggling to find somewhere as she has 2 large dogs and could she have more time.
I politely told her I have given her 6 weeks notice, which is more than required, I have already helped her with the rent/deposit issue, i have given her a written reference and have been more than reasonable over the term of the tenancy, my brother is moving into the property next week as he has to be out of the property he is living in and there is nothing i can do.

She was quite rude and she kept saying she has no where to go and why wont i help her. I repeated i've done all i can and there's no more i can do at this point, the dates are set for next week for her leaving and my brother moving in. She then said "We'll see" and hung up on me.

Now, i know she has the full 24 hours on the 1st to vacate the property, i was hoping for some advise from anyone who has gone through something similar, if she doesn't go next week, besides opening a dispute with the PRTB and waiting to see what happens, is there anything else that i could do or does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

This is where the system fails landlords who have given legitimate notice to tenants and who then find themselves in a situation where the tenant overholds.

The fact that she has 2 large dogs and cannot find alternative accommodation with the dogs is absolutely not your problem.

If she doesn't move out on the 1st, the PRTB is unfortunately your first point of call, I say unfortunately as they are very slow to react.

If I were you, I would go to the property and give her another letter, if you can get your solicitor to write one even better, stating that she is entitled to the full 24 hours on 1st July to move out and that you will be back on the morning of the 2nd July with a locksmith and your brother to secure the property.

Unfortunately for you, if she decides to ignore the letter and overholds, it will be a very lengthy procedure to get her out.

Angrygirl said:

She asked could she hold her last months rent so she could use this as a deposit elsewhere and for me to keep her deopsit in lieu of rent

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Easy for me for say...with hindsight and all of that - but probably shouldn't have done this. Too many tenants do it anyway off their own bat. What's the point in taking a deposit in the first instance when it plays out like this.

Angrygirl said:

i agreed to this and put our agreement in writing

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Why would you put it in writing?

Angrygirl said:

i also sent her a reference to help her with finding new accomodation.

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Should have just provided phone number for references. As you can see, she's just become a problem tenant all of a sudden.

delgirl said:

and that you will be back on the morning of the 2nd July with a locksmith and your brother to secure the property.

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This is illegal! Check the residential tenancies act.

setotoninsid - to answer your questions
I allowed her to keep her last months rent and my hold her deposit as she wasn't going to pay anyway, surely its better not to have a dispute of rent arrears whilst trying to give a tenant notice as well..i put it in writing so she was fully aware she was due no deposit back at the end of the tenancy and there could be no dispute about what she was entitled to. I always follow up a verbal agreement in writing so everyone knows where they stand.

Delgirl - thanks for your comments, its frustrating when you do everything by the book and go over and beyond to help a tenant and it turns out like this

Angrygirl said:

setotoninsid - to answer your questions
I allowed her to keep her last months rent and my hold her deposit as she wasn't going to pay anyway, surely its better not to have a dispute of rent arrears whilst trying to give a tenant notice as well..i put it in writing so she was fully aware she was due no deposit back at the end of the tenancy and there could be no dispute about what she was entitled to. I always follow up a verbal agreement in writing so everyone knows where they stand.

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I hear you. Is it a case then that deposits need to be substantially bigger for future lets? What should happen is a reform of the law -which would simply allow what delgirl suggested in situations like this...but of course, that's never going to happen!

serotoninsid said:

I hear you. Is it a case then that deposits need to be substantially bigger for future lets? What should happen is a reform of the law -which would simply allow what delgirl suggested in situations like this...but of course, that's never going to happen!

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Absolutely, in an ideal world i never would have rented to her, i haven't mentioned the problems i've had over the past year as i'm genuinly not asking her to leave for those reasons and my brother is moving in but after the year i've had with her to be treated like this when i've gone out of my way to help her is more than frustrating.

You live and learn though eh....

I don't think you did anything wrong with the deposit, it's the only way sometimes for things to end amicable and particularly as plenty of tenants don't save for their next deposit.

There is no solution for you legally, you can forget the PRTB, it could take well over a year, but you can begin the process. You must play this by the book.

I imagine your tenant is correct about it being difficult to find a new place, particularly with two large dogs, that rules out about 95% of available accomodation. Did you look on daft yourself?

For now, can your brother move in with you, can he ask his landlord if he can stay on a bit longer?

Hi Bronte

Thats what i was thinking regarding the deposit too.
I've followed the rules from the start with her, as mentioned above i've had issues with her over the past year and as frustrating as it has been i've followed the correct process each and every time, thats another reason why i gave her the reference early, the one thing i will say is her having 2 dogs has not impacted on the property and i stressed that in her reference that the property has not been damaged in anyway due to her having dogs..

Unfortunatly my brother can't move in with me, location wise its not an option.
Also as he is sick, the reason for him moving to my property is that it doesn't have stairs and everything is on the one level for him.

I'm going to send her a letter outlining our discussion yesterday, as she hung up on me i would like to stress that i've followed all the correct processes and fulfilled all my obligations as her landlord and her date for vacating the property stands as 1st July.

It can't do any harm eh...

serotoninsid said:

This is illegal! Check the residential tenancies act.

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Sorry, didn't make myself clear - I didn't say that she should change the locks, I said she should tell the tenant that she will be back on 2nd July to take over the property.

It's illegal to change the locks and lock the tenant out, more's the pity, but she can just tell her that she will be back on 2nd July to check the electricity meter and take back the property.

If the LL doesn't push, she won't move.