Student Let Gone Wrong – Advice Required

Student Let Gone Wrong – Advice Required

9:21 AM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago 52

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I have a foreign student and his partner who started living in my property in September. He is a student at the local university and is repeating his first year, for which he attended a different university in a different part of the country.

I made all the necessary checks before admitting him as a tenant and everything was going fine until last week. He said that his previous university had not transferred the fees to his present university and the present university in unwilling to take him on, and his visa is going to be cancelled. He said they have agreed to take him on as a student from September 2014. As a result of this, he is now saying that he will be going back to his country (Saudi Arabia) but will be returning to the UK in summer next year. He also said he will leave some of his belonging in the property and that he has a cousin in the UK who will make sure I get the usual rent in full every month, until he returns in the summer next year. Student Let Gone Wrong - Advice Required

I have never come across this situation and was wondering if any of you have? What things would I need to clarify with him before he and his partner leave the country?

Finally, I do have a short term 12 month tenancy agreement with him. Do you think it is just best to terminate the agreement and let the property out to someone else?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Manjinder


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Comments

Mary Latham

16:00 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Industry Observer " at "18/11/2013 - 15:25":

OP -Original Post.

It's more fundamental than that. A person who is not in the UK legally has no right to a tenancy nor the protection of the law that relates to tenants.

When the Immigration Act is in force landlords will have to take action to get them deported and I quite certain that this will not mean a landlord serving Notice before he reports them or even afterwards.

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Industry Observer

16:36 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Mary can you please quote the specific legislation that states this as such a reference would be useful - and also supporting authorities which cut across rights to a home in Human Rights legislation etc.

Industry Observer

16:40 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Mary

You wrote "If a person has no legal right to be in the UK, UK law does not protect him"

Is that the same as saying that UK Laws do not apply to him? If you are you saying that then PFEA 1977 does not apply and there is no need to get a Court Order to evict. Far as I am aware a LL ALWAYS needs a Court Order to lawfully exclude a tenant

Mary Latham

17:13 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Industry Observer " at "18/11/2013 - 16:36":

I am not suggesting that a landlord can simply throw out a tenant when he realises that he has no legal right to be in the UK, that would of course breach Human Rights legislation. What I am saying is that the landlord can report the tenant to the authorities and he will be deported, rather than the landlord needing to go through Possession proceedings.

In this case the person is leaving the UK because he has no legal right to remain and at the point that he is no longer in the UK the landlord has legal possession of his property. His Human Rights would not be breached because he is not being deprived of a home, he is being deprived of the right to be in the UK.

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My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is available on Amazon title. Property For Rent – Investing in the UK: Will You Survive the Mayhem? http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

Industry Observer

17:18 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Now that I can understand and even agree with Mary!!

PFEA s1(2) allows the LL to possess anyway if he can satisfy the Court, if challenged, that his belief the tenant had left the property permanently was reasonably founded.

I guess even the dopiest of Judges would agree that not being able to stay in the UK or get back in later is a fair indication you are not occupying!!

The danger in this case I think lies in those lurking in the background and offering to help i.e. the cousin.

Well spotted on partner leaving too as usual I missed something. Still at least I now know that op doesn't just stand for some medical intervention!!

Mary Latham

17:31 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

All of this will need to be made very clear to landlords when the Immigration Act is in place otherwise landlords will not know what they can and cannot do to remove an Illegal Immigrant from the property and avoid the huge fines. We can't have landlords working for the Border Agencies AND facing legal action for Illegal Eviction. That really would be a landlord sandwich!!

The cousin might be a problem if he moves into the property before the tenants move out Hmmmmmm. My brain is hurting now and I cannot think what the landlord would need to do to remove him nor even what his status would be?

Follow me on Twitter@landlordtweets
My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is available on Amazon title. Property For Rent – Investing in the UK: Will You Survive the Mayhem? http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

17:42 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mary Latham" at "18/11/2013 - 17:31":

Surely the cousin would be a trespasser, possibly even a squatter? He would certainly have no more rights than an unauthorised lodger of a tenant would have, possibly less in my opinion.
.

Mary Latham

17:45 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "18/11/2013 - 17:42":

Unless he had been given a sub-tenancy!!

Follow me on Twitter@landlordtweets

My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is here >>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

17:55 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mary Latham" at "18/11/2013 - 17:45":

I wish you hadn't said that, now my brain hurts too!!!
.

Industry Observer

19:02 PM, 18th November 2013, About 10 years ago

Mary

If the cousin is granted a tenancy by the departing tenant it will be an AST and even if the agreement between Manjinder and the tenant prohibits sub-letting the tenancy as between the sub-tenant and tenant will be legitimate.

As we have all been saying, a right can of worms and it is the potential issues caused by those in the background that could be the real problem. Having said that unless I again missed it in the OP (feels like OAP at the moment - original agonising post!! - there was no hint that the cousin intended to move in, only ensure the rent was paid!!

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