Joint tenancy – weakest tenant must stand alone?
Hello, As a landlord I have always believed it safe to allow one tenant on a weaker income as they are joint and separately liable. Sadly for many this is no longer true. Both tenants must be strong enough to pick up the rent alone.
I received notice for the end of a tenancy and agreed to an end for both tenants. However, only one tenant moved out. The other refuses to budge, pay or communicate.
Even though an assured shorthold contract specifies the property must be left vacant, in court I found the tenant with all the cash walked free.
Personally, I am leaving the market, but I feel so sad, as surely this will prevent so many landlords renting to families or artists or young people starting careers….. if a partner’s income can not be relied upon.
At a possession hearing, the judge entirely ignored the contract and allowed hearsay to determine the case.
I was shocked as I spoke to five different specialist law firms who unanimously advised that until the property was vacant both tenants were liable.
But no, the legal verdict from the judge… “What’s he supposed to do about her?”
Waiting for my case, I was lucky to get to the court room, the duty solicitors were dismissing landlords themselves….
It feels like a witch hunt, and I don’t believe there is much protection for landlords…my conclusion….a contract is not worth the paper it is written on…
I can’t wait to sell up and move on to pastures greener…no more property letting for me…I hope this helps others avoid trouble.
Thank you,
SLBP
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Member Since March 2023 - Comments: 51
5:35 PM, 12th March 2025, About 1 year ago
Reply to the comment left by Julz H at 12/03/2025 – 12:21
I presume this was some time ago as now the landlord would not now hold the deposit nor can he return it to you or withhold it from you . You need to apply to whatever authorised deposit protection scheme is holding it and you they will adjudicate if you and the landlord are in dispute.
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 31
8:46 AM, 14th March 2025, About 1 year ago
I am going to suggest a few things that might have happened here, but there isn’t enough detail to say for sure.
First, what kind of case were you bringing? Eviction or seeking payment or both? But basically the judge is right. The tenancy ended and after that point neither tenant has any requirement to pay.
When the tenant who left gave notice, it ended the tenancy for everyone (assuming it was valid notice). So from that point the tenant that left owes you nothing. At that point you were allowed to change the locks, the remaining tenant had no right to be there.
The third thing is that if you then accepted further money from the remaining tenant, then you entered into a brand new tenancy with that tenant which was nothing to do with the tenant that left. This would give you a tenant with no written contract and if you didn’t realise this is what was happening then you probably didn’t provide all the required documentation needed at the start of the tenancy.
I hope you all manage to find an amicable way forward, but this sounds like the law was applied correctly.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3508 - Articles: 5
9:45 AM, 14th March 2025, About 1 year ago
going forward the guarantor part of the RRB is going to come into play a lot more with joint tenancies, especially where the two tenants are NOT related.
This is going to mean a lot more referencing/time and consideration of joint (not related) tenancies. It might be better in some cases to only have the one tenant on the AST with the other listed only as a PO.
At least then if for example the T leaves and PO stays the T remains totally liable for PO/rent arrears/damage etc in totality until the tenancy is formally ended AND OP removed from the property (with or without a guarantor)
Is this a better way to go even now when signing up joint tenants, if the RRB applies from day 1 to all tenancies????