Tenants notice to quit by text

Tenants notice to quit by text

5:52 AM, 20th May 2015, About 9 years ago 17

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I am being messed about by a young HB tenant. I said never again to young HB tenants, but this time her mum lives on the same road and was happy to be a guarantor, so i accepted her.

After one year she has missed 6 weeks rent due to a HB issue when she tried to work part time. This money is now lost, but is not my concern now. I have issued a section 21 and this will expire the first week in June.

The tenant has texted me her notice to quit giving 2 weeks notice and this expires on Wednesday. Can this text message be a valid form of surrender ? I have a long text exchange printed out you see.

The tenant does not communicate with me and i have been told she may not be leaving after all. So i am in a bit of limbo. I also have new tenants who want the house as soon as possible.

As I see it if she doesn’t move out I will have to enforce the section 21 in a few weeks time, However, if she does move out I don’t want to be in a situation where i re-rent the house out and then get told she wants to live there still.

This is why the text information is important. Would this be seen as a valid notice by the courts if it ever got that far ?

Also on another matter about the guarantor. If I have to go to court to evict and possibly incur more rental losses what is the realistic possibility of getting money from a mother who is on benefits herself ? Could I get the court to deduct weekly payments to cover my losses and costs ? Currently I am down £275 and I am not bothered by this at all so will let it go. But if this rolls on I may well be looking at loosing a greater amount.

I need to fully understand if I am in a good position to reclaim lost money and what is involved. I have not done this before. If I am in a strong position i will explain the ins and outs of it all to the mother and hopefully she will help her daughter move on with as little fuss as possible, if she understand what potential risk she is exposed to. At the moment she thinks no one can touch her, but I don’t think she has been a guarantor before.

Thanks

Johntext


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

9:31 AM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

Allow her to move out without giving proper notice on the basis that she signs a Tenancy Surrender Agreement on the day of move out.

See >>> http://www.property118.com/surrender-tenancy-agreement/67939/
.

Anthony Endsor

12:27 PM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

Yes I would say always go the legal route and obtain possession officially.
People who have read my posts on here in the past will be well aware of my feelings towards HB tenants after my past dealings with them, and I recently instructed my Letting Agent to reject all future applications from HB tenants.
If you accept the text message as gospel, the tenant could very well land you in trouble. It's not uncommon for HB tenants in particular to even do this deliberately for that sole purpose. I would issue a Section 21 myself in any case. If the tenant actually does leave, treat the property as 'abandoned without notice', as without official written notice, that's exactly what it is.

Ian Narbeth

13:18 PM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Ros ." at "20/05/2015 - 15:41":

I think this is jumping too far ahead. Unless there is a valid notice to quit section 18 of the Distress for Rent Act 1737 will not come into play. Re: Romain's comment, I can find no authority for service by text and so even if longer notice had been given, it is still in my opinion ineffective. The wishes of the parties cannot change the position. Therefore if the tenant decides to stay he has not given notice and can do so.

Even if a text message might be a valid mode of service can you prove the tenant sent it if he denies it, says his phone was nicked, a mate was mucking around with it after a few drinks or some other creative nonsense that appeals to a sympathetic judge? And of course if the landlord has taken the property back (without a court order or a surrender) whilst the tenancy continued he is open to criminal charges.

A deed of surrender signed when the tenant moves out will put the matter beyond doubt but the tenant may not co-operate. Anthony Endsor's fears may be justified in some cases but it is "legal" to have a surrender by agreement and the tenant handing back the keys and not demurring when the landlord says the lease is accepted as surrendered will suffice.

Romain Garcin

13:40 PM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Ian Narbeth" at "21/05/2015 - 13:18":

Of course anyone receiving notice by SMS text would do well to acknowledge and confirm it by another mean. When this is done and if the notice is accepted I can't see that it is invalid as it is in writing.

John

19:05 PM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

She says she is moving out today officially and will post keys. I have asked her to write a note saying she has left.

I have much more than a text. I have a text conversation going back to March 16th. It is a genuine conversation about delayed or non rent payments. Then the moving out conversation. It would be easy to prove this was her i was communicating with. These are all screen shotted and can be printed onto A4 paper.

I will find out tomorrow i suppose. I will not take young people ever again after this and HB is looking very unlikely in the future.

Dr Rosalind Beck

20:50 PM, 21st May 2015, About 9 years ago

We received a brief mention in an email that our tenants were going to move out by the end of January and we used this and the Distress for Rent Act to get double rent awarded from the end of January to middle April, when we actually gained possession. We then got all of this money back via an Attachment of Earnings - achieving that rare feat - getting more out of the tenant than the actual rent owed! Would a text be any less valid than a photocopy of an email?

Colin McNulty

11:25 AM, 26th May 2015, About 9 years ago

I had a very similar situation. The RLA legal helpline informed me that a text would not be considered a valid notice of surrender of tenancy.

However a large landlord in the west Midlands told me that he was in court after an ex-tenant claimed illegal eviction, and he showed the judge his phone with the text from the ex-tenant saying he was leaving, and won his case on that basis.

Make of that what you will.

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