Am I visiting my daughter as Mum or Landlord?

Reply to the comment left by Jay James at 02/02/2020 – 17:28
The flatmate has a written AST agreement with me. It expires 30th March 2020

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 02/02/2020 – 17:44
Give her notice now. I would not want this person in my life in any capacity. One thing that’s made crystal clear in all of my rental relationships, is that they can have people “stay over” but it is a single person’s occupancy. It’s totally unfair on all other involved parties, including myself, for it to be otherwise. The contract ends on 30/03/20 anyway but it’s as well to make your position crystal clear so that she is forewarned that any assumption on her part that this relationship will continue beyond that date is incorrect and she needs to start looking for somewhere else to live now.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Shears at 02/02/2020 – 21:29
Thanks Paul

And do, please, get proper legal advice, as advised earlier.

Hi Judith, on the subject of giving your tenant notice, are you fully aware of everything you need to do to end the tenancy legally? Has she given you notice that she intends to leave by 30th March? I only ask because certain things you’ve said make it seem that you expect she will be leaving then, but you don’t mention that she’s given notice, or that you’ve issued her a section 21, giving 2 full month’s notice, plus the extra time to allow for receipt of the notice, (unless you put it into her hands in person). I don’t know whether you’re an experienced landlord, or a new one, so apologies if you’re across all this already.

Reply to the comment left by Kate Mellor at 03/02/2020 – 09:03
Hi Kate. She’s not implied that she wants to go or renew. I know I need to serve the s21 before the end of this month, plus I’d give her a copy of the DPS certificate and a letter explaining the end of tenancy procedure and checkout. Also a list of the utilities etc that are either in her name or joint names so that she can remove her name.

That’s right?

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 03/02/2020 – 09:18

Hi Judith, in order to serve a valid S21 notice, you must have protected the deposit & served the prescribed info within 30 days of receipt; served a current gas safety cert before the tenant moved in; served the government How to Rent guide which was the most up to date at the commencement of the tenancy; served a copy of the EPC & be able to prove these were all served, if not your S21 notice will be invalid. (I’ve assumed the property doesn’t require a license & you haven’t been served an improvement notice in the past six months).
You must now ensure you use prescribed form 6A to give the section 21 notice. You must give AT LEAST two month’s notice. So if you served notice by hand today the end date on the notice can’t be earlier than 4th April (you need to check the extra days required for different methods of service), you should also complete a form N215 certificate of service which you can download online and acts as proof of service in court. You can serve anytime now as you’re outside the first 4 months of the initial tenancy & the notice will remain valid for 6 months from the date of service. That means if she doesn’t leave after the notice expires, you’ll have until the 6 months following service to apply for a possession order.
I’d advise you to take photos of the meter reads when she’s leaving to record it and personally notify the council and utilities of her leaving date, the reads and her forwarding address, in writing, or at least ask for a bill from that date to be sent out so your daughter can agree the split with her.
You don’t need to provide the deposit certificate with the notice, but it’s good practice to provide a letter setting out all the arrangements, such as final inspection, deposit repayment, your expectations in terms of removing unwanted items & cleaning etc.
Don’t release her deposit until she’s paid her share of the bills (unless you think it will facilitate her leaving and you’re prepared to risk getting stuck with a few bills, but that’s a judgement call on your part & a potential negotiation chip).
All the best, I hope it goes smoothly for you!

Reply to the comment left by Kate Mellor at 03/02/2020 – 10:00
Hi Kate
Everything was given as required to her at the start of the tenancy. The How to Rent was emailed and when she renewed last November the revised updated one emailed. All hard copy docs were given to her in a folder.
We had an excellent relationship for the 1st year, to the extent I brought shopping to share, cooked all 3 of us supper etc
Think the boyfriend has been stirring as “he knows things” lol.

Just makes a very uncomfortable situation.

Thank you for your help

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 03/02/2020 – 11:30
That’s a shame. Glad you’ve got everything in order. It’ll make things much simpler for you.

Also note, as a point of technicality (assuming your daughter and her are on a joint tenancy), you’d be giving notice to both. If your daughter remains in residence without a deed of surrender or new tenancy, it could be construed to original (joint) remains active and she could stay/return.