Tenant AWOL?

Oh dear! I think you need help from a competent agent and solicitor. I comment on your points as follows:
"Despite this, after many calls – the tenant is refusing to answer the calls – I found out that a bunch of keys have been left with the estate agents."
The tenant may have intended to surrender.
"Question is, do I go to the property and now asses the condition? The last time I looked at the property was about 7 months ago at viewing – not sure what condition the property would be in now."
Yes of course you should inspect it.,
Can I legally request a 3rd party to view with me as evidence, should there be any damage – hoping there isn’t. Why should you not be allowed to do this? Your question indicates you need help from someone experienced with lettings. Given that there is no deposit and probably no clear record of the condition of the property at the start, it may be difficult to claim for disrepair.
"Also, the tenancy agreement signed previously states that the tenant cannot leave the contract without the landlord agreeing to this being nulled and up until then, the tenant is obliged to continue paying rent until I find new tenants. Can I take her to court based on this?"
It is an odd tenancy that says this as it is implicit. I suspect it was poorly drafted in the first place.
"I have no other details for the tenant apart from the name and a mobile number – maybe the previous landlord would have this. Can I take legal action?"
So any legal action is going to be difficult. I suggest you message the tenant asking them to confirm they wish to give up the tenancy.
You may have a claim against your solicitor if they exchanged contracts without your authority.

It looks like a good result to me. The tenant has indicated they have left the property, have left you the keys, albeit inside the property, so you are absolutely able to enter the property.
Even if they hadn't said they are leaving, if you give notice you are able to enter the property to inspect.
Although they haven't paid rent for two months, if you had to go down the eviction route it would likely have been a year without rent.
As for the property condition, as the last poster stated, without an inventory or deposit, you don't have any recourse to claim for anything you may decide was willful damage by the tenant.
I think it is best to reclaim the property and move forward with renovating or whatever is necessary and ensure that the next tenancy starts with the correct paperwork and due diligence.
As for taking legal action against your solicitor, they sound incompetent and it is probably worth taking action here or at least reporting them to their professional body.

"She, the tenant sent me a low level English text stating that I now have the keys (?1?) and she will be posting the front door key to the address next week and has moved out of town."

Ian is the expert here, but my question would be if the tenant has messaged in whatever form and stated that she has moved out, keys have been posted or returned then the tenancy has been legally surrendered and you have full legal possession?

Whether or not you can recover any unpaid rent-property damage is another matter and probably not worth pursuing, however I would be raising a formal complaint with your conveyancer-if indeed they are at fault and did a shoddy job.

Legally you have no right to enter the property unless tenant has signed deed of surrender. Although they have said they are leaving and keys are inside, this is legally a bit of a grey area, and if they have left anything inside they will still have the legal right to claim it within a "reasonable" timeframe. Make friends with the neighbours. Ask them to send you a message saying that you smell gas. This will give you a legitimate reason to enter the property without prior notice. Leave a notice inside asking tenant to contact you urgently within 2 weeks, and send same message to tenant by email, whatsapp, sms ....every way you can. Leave it the 2 weeks and if there is nothing inside I would take back possession. Legally you are SUPPOSED to go through court possession order after abandonment, but if there is nothing to come back for, it's pretty safe to take it as abandoned and save the court costs. If youve done everything you can to confirm tenant has left then you should be ok from any comeback.
If there is nothing left except keys, just crash on and be happy theyve left...youve just saved a fortune in court costs and stress therapy.

Reply to the comment left by Raz at 08/02/2023 - 11:59I am not a lawyer. However, I understand that one of the standard legal forms (TA6) is supposed to be signed by all occupiers of a property before exchange so that you, as buyer, can enforce vacant possession on completion. If I didn't get vacant possession, I would ask the conveyancer first to check they followed this procedure. If they did their job properly, then you may be able to take action against the seller for breach of contract. If the conveyencer was incompetent, I would first use the conveyancer's complaints procedure, and if not satisfied either approach the council of licensed conveyancers or, if the conveyancer was a solicitor, the solicitors regulation authority to say my conveyancer was negligent. You can get advice from the legal ombudsman (https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).

Print off the text stating "that I [you] now have the keys (?1?) and she [they] will be posting the front door key to the address next week and has moved out of town.

I would take it that this is her "formal" in writing surrender of the property, collect the keys from the agent - presume you have completed and they can release the keys - enter and change the locks.

Check with the utility suppliers as she may have submitted vacating meter readings etc. If she has then further proof that she has surrendered the property to you.

It would be up to the ex-tenant to take legal action to regain entry.

Hi Ash
Your tenant has left the property.she is Not coming back and has no intention to pay you . Get the keys from estate agent or whatever available. Enter into your property. Change the locks. I think you will see a lot mess . Assess your loss and start to repair it asap . If any solicitor available to chase on no win no fee basis, try your luck, otherwise no use to spend more money on it . This is not only happening with you , 90% of landlords are going through this loophole of Government.

As others have said, when you enter the premises, take someone with you, maybe from the estate agency holding the keys.
I would enter and photograph/videos everything, with a date and time stamp. Worst case is the tenant comes back and makes accusations, regarding house contents and damage.
Change the locks of all external doors and leave something stuck to the door giving a phone number if access is required, photograph it in case the tenant does return and accuses you of locking them out.
Plan for the worst ect....

You should be asking the solicitors who acted for you to evidence what enquiries they made of the purchaser if it was known that there was an existing tenancy on the property.,If you do not receive a satisfactory explanation from them it might be worth instructing a different solicitor to advise on a claim against them. If it was a ‘conveyancing factory’ you may find it difficult to get a satisfactory response from them. If there was a possibility of a tenancy that you alerted them about they should have asked for a copy of the tenancy etc and advised you of the risks of proceeding with the purchase with an existing tenancy.

Hi
Am I correct that you did not sign a contract which provided for vacant possession, but presumably attached a copy of the Tenancy Agreement?
Were you aware that there was a Tenant?
If the answer is Yes to both the above questions, then on the facts as stated your best and cheapest course of action is to collect the keys from the third party (this should protect you), bear the losses and look to the future.
Good luck.