Eviction order and one way ticket to Greece?

I had a problem in an HMO where a tenant was arrested (though the police would not confirm this) and we could not find out where he had been taken, or how long he was likely to be away from the property. To cut a long story short, we changed the locks and placed a notice on the door telling him that there had been a security issue due to his absence and where he could obtain a set of keys to the new locks if and when he returned. We never heard from him again and just went ahead and rented the room out to a new tenant after a couple of weeks.

Reply to the comment left by Cyril Moseley at 02/04/2019 - 13:08
Hi Cyril
I have considered that option and I think I may have been okay doing that, but when I ran it past my legals they painted a doom and gloom picture. I guess I will know better, should I find myself in this situation again.

Hi Steve,
The argument we would have used is that as he had apparently left without giving back the keys we had to change the locks for the security of our other tenants in the same property. All this would have meant for him was the inconvenience of contacting us for replacement keys. This is really the same procedure that would be necessary if a tenant lost their keys, thereby exposing the property to the possibility of unauthorised access. Even this would not stand-up in a single occupier situation though.

What exactly did he say in his message about not having been there fore 7 weeks? Would it be good enough to interpret as "surrender"? Or could you send him a Messenger message something like "Please confirm you have surrendered the property at X so that you are no longer responsible for the bills which have been accumulating". If no response I would put that on his FB page too. And please make sure you give his details to landlordreferencing.co.uk and any other organisations that maintain a database of rogue tenants so that someone else doesn't get hammered by him when he comes back.

I had this situation 3 yrs ago nearly now.

She had no intention of moving back into the property and i had to really force some action from her. I eventually got through to her dad and he said she had no intention of going back.

I had to get rid of all her furniture and she sent me a text saying she had taken everything she needed. I didn't get an official surrender, but i took it that she had.

I wasted weeks dithering about waiting for her to surrender. I think the majority of tenants do not know the ins and outs of tenant law and all they have done is mess the LL about and do not really want to see them again.

I listened to the advice team at the RLA, and it was to get official confirmation if i can. In the end i took the action i needed. The whole house had to be repainted, all carpets replaced as literally covered in piles of dog poo and the rent owed was 2 1/2 months. I still intend on going after her in the small claims, but i knew she was on benefits for a good while so didn't pursue it. Probably not worth doing it, but i do want a CCJ against her as something. You can register a CCJ against this guy on this address.

Hi Steve, I presume you called the police to take a look at your property that appeared to have been broken into, you had not gone in until the police arrived, and your tenant was not at the property, by this time you already had been given a possession order from a court, but because you had not been given back your keys, you were advised not to go in, but how long would you wait for your keys to be returned, 10 years?
But when the police and you both went in, you both saw what was left of the place, a total devastation, lots of mess everywhere, no food in cupboards and so on, the police is your prime witness, you had every right to enter and fix your broken window, to secure your property, even if the tenant was let us say still in occupation but may not have surrendered the property.
However you have the right to use a clause in your tenancy agreement that would allow any landlord a right to enter a property in an emergency, so this break in was indeed an emergency, an insecured place is vulnerable to being torched, druggist going in to smoke a pot, whatever else you can think of, e.g gypsies getting in and ripping off all your copper pipes, and your boiler, so on top of this as you evicted your tenant, you had been granted an eviction order, or possession order whichever is the right term, you deduced from the scene you met and the eviction notice that your tenant had got, indeed this clearly points to the fact that he has abandoned the property, a court is not going to crucify you if your assumption was wrong.
The Police officer who visited the property would have also bore a witness and logged the call, and seen the evidence of abandonment, he would have given you a crime reference number, this is your strongest evidence that the property was abandoned and empty and someone had tried to break in, so why do you fear that you cannot enter your property and change your locks without having to wait for court bailiffs, you don't need to.
Your tenant has definitely evicted your property but couldn't be bothered or he simply did not know the rules of returning keys. Further more he has changed his phone number, makes your case even stronger as you cannot now contact him, so you are not able to contact him, but I would just send him a text message on his old phone or whatever other means you have to contact him, even if it does not reach him you have done your bit. let the message clearly say that you believe he has left the place or abandoned it, without returning keys and you will give him 14 days to claim his belongings before any of his belongings are disposed off and the door locks changed You will then have full possession of your property.

Another thing, if your property is empty or abandoned, your tenants should notify you if they are going away for a length of time exceeding a fortnight or a month depending on your agreement, your insurance is void, if gets torched , you have much greater risk of loss than to risk going in without a tenants approval. You decide, I know which route I would take. I will sure think going in to fix a broken window pane and as well as changing door locks is far more important than a tenant taking advantage of the law and suing a landlord.

Reply to the comment left by Cyril Moseley at 02/04/2019 - 16:06
Hi Cyril
This is one of the scenarios I ran past my legals and I was coming up against a brick wall every time. Once this situation is over, should I ever experience it again, i think I would tackle it from a different angle. Thanks

Reply to the comment left by Heather G. at 02/04/2019 - 18:11
Hi Heather
He told me he had been in hospital for this period, which I didn't know then whether to believe him or not, as he had a history of illness. Each time I contacted via Messenger he would just ignore it. Anyhow thanks for making me aware of the landlordreferencing.co.uk site, I haven't been there yet but will most certainly see if I can put this tenant in the rogue tenants section.

Reply to the comment left by John at 02/04/2019 - 21:53
Hi John
Your experience sounds not too dissimilar to mine, I do feel as if I've been dithering around waiting for this guy to do the right thing. I appreciate my legals were only doing their job and advising me of the law and what could happen. Once this saga is over I hope I will recognise the signs and deal with it more vigorously, the advice I have recently received has been very helpful. I have already found out that the the courts put the CCJ against this guys name 1 month after the court hearing when I was successful with the Repossession Order. The law really does need looking at again though to avoid these silly situations.