When can I re-let room after tenant has done a runner?

I’m in the same scenario, tenant in an HMO hasn’t been seen since beginning of December and is currently over 5 months in arrears of rent. Some of his possessions are still in the room. My understanding is that have to wait until they are 6 months in arrears of rent then issue a section 8 notice with a months notice . If still doesn’t return by then apply to the courts for a possession order .

Sadly this is a dilemma landlords regularly face with the law being very ‘grey’ in this area.
To be sure of abandonment it is best to document everything with photographs and get signed statements from the fellow tenants confirming he/she hasn’t been seen. You are still required to take reasonable care of the tenants possessions; keep in storage for 3-6 months and make every effort to contact the estranged tenant by writing messaging etc to the alternative address you may hold on the Prescribed Info etc
Even then you as the landlord are always at risk of being accused of illegal eviction without a Possession Order. Even then it is recommended to go all the way to a Bailiffs appointment before emptying the room and changing locks
The problem at present with our almost non functioning civil (no) justice system is that it can take a year + to get to a Possession Order and Bailiffs Appt even after waiting until there are 6 months arrears before being able to serve a 4 wk notice Sec 8, so in total 19 months is not unusual! (If you serve Sec 8 before 6 months arrears 6 months notice before issuing proceedings has to be given!)
Unfortunately it’s a tough call between being accused of illegal eviction and losing £10,000 !

Similar here.
I kept writing to the tenant and copying her separated parents. She complained that copying in her parents (Guarantors) was "unnecessary" but never collected what I saw as stuff that she could not be bothered to remove. I still have some of her possessions. Some I gave away. Others I threw away.
Other tenants have not been quite so bad but remaining tenants usually refuse to identify the owner of possessions left behind.
By definition, there is no point in wasting your time on the dumb and irresponsible. You have to make your own judgement call on how much work you want to put into covering your own back.
These people tend to go in one direction - downwards.
Just mitigate the risk to increase your chances of them not dragging you after them.

Abandonment is a bit of a misnomer. You need to be talking about a surrender of a tenancy as that is the only legal way to end a tenancy outside the tenant giving formal notice, or a bailiff eviction. A surrender can sometimes be less than 100% certain, as in this case.

A landlord has to be able to show with evidence that the tenants actions amounted to an intentional surrender of the tenancy.

My understanding is that you still have to get a possession order through the courts or have a signed letter on file from the tenant that he/she has abandoned the accommodation and will not be returning. Without either of these you risk he/she returning months down the road and then stitching you up for illegal eviction and paying for her to stay in a hotel etc. For the sake of the extra pain of a couple of months, i'd get the possession order find a way to get a signed letter from her/him before re-letting.

Good advice from Alistair above. Its not about the length of time, it's about the quality of the evidence. Google 'evidence of abandment' and make suse you have as much as possible. Sadly the abandonment section of the 2016 Housing Act was never enacted, but it is still wise to follow it to cover yourself if you are claiming Implied Surrender.

Thanks so much for these responses; I really appreciate it. I will be collecting evidence of abandonment and getting a S8 issued I guess. We've tracked her down online but don't have a new address for her.

Thank you - I think I may shell out for some legal advice to make sure I do this properly.

If you want to trace the whereabout of the tenant then I have always found https://www.findukpeople.com/ to provide a positive result provided you give them as much information you have (d.o.b, NI No., previous address, etc.). As long as the tenant has changed the address on the credit card or mobile phone bill it usually shows up on their credit file within a month or two. These guys don't charge if they can't find the person.

Reply to the comment left by at 25/03/2021 - 16:14
If you want to claim abandonment, (implied surrender) then serving any kind of notice to quit on the tenant will undermine the claim as it will imply that you still believe a tenancy is running