This is a question to the blog clinic from Yasir who is a landlord.
My house has been rented out by an estate agent and now when I visit the property I can see the damage tenants are causing to the property. I want to terminate the contract and already served a 2 months notice. But tenants are not willing to end the contract before term time ends which is in three months time.
Please advise what I can do.
Note : I wouldn’t mind waiting till the end of the fixed term but now my family is here and we need the place.
Answer
I am afraid, if you have given someone a fixed term which still has three months to run, they are entitled to stay there and you cannot force them to leave.
There are only two ways to get back rented property:
- By the tenants moving out voluntarily or
- By getting a court order for possession
The only way, realistically, you can recover possession through the courts during the fixed term (if the tenants are not prepared to leave) is if the tenants are in arrears of rent, and I assume that this does not apply here.
After the fixed term has ended, you will still need to get a court order if the tenants refuse to leave, but you can now also can use the ‘no fault’ section 21 procedure.
Although only if you have complied with the various rules – which include dealing properly with any deposit paid and serving (where relevant) a gas safety certificate, the EPC and the governments ‘How to Rent’ booklet on the tenant.
Assuming you get the procedure right, the process will generally take between three to six months.
I am afraid that the fact that you now have family with you and would like the place back to live in yourself is irrelevant – you should have thought of that before rented it out to tenants.
It is unfortunate that your tenants are causing damage. Hopefully this will be covered by the deposit,and/ or your insurance. If your agents did not carry out all the proper checks you may also be able to bring a claim against them.