How to deal with the end of a problematic tenancy?

[NTS24]

Please provide advice on the following situation:

I rented out my property to four students for 16 months until March 2024.

Initially, the property was in very good condition, but now it needs extensive renovation.

This includes redoing the bathroom, replacing the kitchen, removing wallpaper, and redecorating due to significant mould growth. The tenants also left their furniture on the grass, which is owned by the local authority.

As a landlord, I've met all legal requirements. It seems the damage was caused by poor ventilation—windows were always closed, and heating wasn't used. There was also a bathroom leak fixed by reapplying silicone.

I tried to claim insurance, but it was denied, citing tenant behaviour as the cause by looking at the photos, which isn't covered.

The deposit barely covers the repair costs, or else I'll have to pursue money claims, which I've never done before and am unsure about its legal complications or costs.

Any thoughts on this?

[AndyOrch]

Welcome to the Forum

I have moved your topic to the appropriate forum  Residential and Commercial lettings/Freehold issues

Please continue to post here.

 

Andy

[Ethel Street]

Student lets typically require them to provide a guarantor, usually their parents.  Do you have guarantors?

Can you confirm they have actually vacated the property and you have now regained possession.

[NTS24]

I accepted them without a guarantor but paid the rent as agreed.

I have regained the property. T

he property is currently empty, and I am struggling with the huge renovation cost, about 14-16K. 

I'm not sure if taking legal action would be worth it or if it would just be an additional hassle and expense.

I have legal coverage for the home, but I'm unsure if it would cover this situation as I have yet to contact them.

[fkofilee]

Its unlikely that recovering the money would be possible from students. Sometimes in the game of property Management, its worth just letting go - You maybe likely to recover this long term. 

Also with the tenancies, did you have an additional term added into the tenancy to make them liable for all costs?

 

Do you have a copy of the tenancy agreement minus personal details we can see? 

[NTS24]

Initially,

the property was let to four foreign students, but they are no longer on student visas.

During midterm, two of them moved out, and two new friends of theirs moved in, one of whom is the lead tenant's British girlfriend.

The lead tenant got married to a her and became a dependent who is now one of the tenants in the AST agreement.

The third tenant found a work permit visa, and the fourth left the country a few months ago.

Recent contract only three. 

Please see the attached AST, which seems that I may be able to claim any costs exceeding the deposit.

All ASTs were signed electronically using the MUDHUT template.

AST-name removed.pdf

[fkofilee]

So technically you could push it via the courts with the clause in the AST (I remember seeing something about this recently) 

However if one has left the country - It might make it hard to recover it all from the others. 

 

How would you look to bring action against all parties involved? Do you know where all of them currently are? 

You can service to last known address but as you know they have moved on - It could be held against you by a judge if it goes all the way. 

 

I think you need to consult a solicitor on this one - Its a complex claim against multiple people rather than a simple Creditor vs Debtor claim we see here. 

[NTS24]

I have insurance that covers legal matters for this property, and I can confirm it with the insurance company.

I also know where the tenants currently live, as all three have moved to the same place.

There's been a lot of mould growing in the property over the past few months.

All the builders who came to look at it think the mould grew because the windows were kept closed, lack of heating.

In the past few months, they haven't used much gas or electricity, as shown by the smart meter I checked.

Recent trace and access report says there's no water leak in the property.

I have lots of photos from when I moved in until now.

But in court, more people usually want to sue the landlord, not the other way around.

[fkofilee]

If you have legal cover and insurance, you can try going ahead with your Insurer. They may be able to refer you to their "Legal Partner" but do your research. 

If you know where 3 of them live, you can attempt to take them to court, but in todays climate, going legal will not get you the result of £15k that you are after. 

 

Others may have their own input - But in reality you are asking for £5k from each of them - Might find it hard to recover that in a timely manner. 

Like I said earlier - Your option maybe to take the hit now and factor it in to future tenancies. 

[NTS24]

I'm unsure about going to court because it takes a lot of time and can be stressful, and there's no guarantee of winning

 I'll still ask legal for advice.

NLRA suggested making a MoneyClaim, but I'm worried it might cause problems and end up spending more if goes wrong. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fkofilee]

Moneyclaim is going to court  

Its how you do a claim  

 

Do you believe that you will be able to cover the full amount from the 3 people youd want to claim against? 

[dx100uk]

Two defendants

• If you are issuing your claim using MCOL it must be: for a fixed amount of money less than £100,000 against no more than two defendants (people or organisations)
• for claims against more than two defendants you should contact the County Court MoneyClaim

money-claim-online-user-guide.pdf

[fkofilee]

You can get around that by doing 3 seperate claims against each for 5k

 

Might be 3 sets of fees though. 

Still would advise that you speak to a Solicitor through your insurance on how to proceed. 

[Ethel Street]

Are they jointly and severally liable for the cost of damage to the property? I can't see any reference to that in the document you uploaded. Tenancy agreements are usually joint and several liability so you could pursue just one of the tenants for the whole amount. Useful if you suspect only one of them has enough assets to pay a judgement.   Shelter Legal England - Joint tenancies - Shelter England

 

Because you permitted two tenants to leave mid-tenancy and two others to move in you may have a dispute in court about how much of the cost can be assigned to each tenant. Proceedings against a tenant who has been there the full period of the tenancy might avoid that problem.

I suspect you may need professional legal advice on this.

[NTS24]

4 minutes ago, Ethel Street said:

Are they jointly and severally liable for the cost of damage to the property? I can't see any reference to that in the document you uploaded. Tenancy agreements are usually joint and several liability so you could pursue just one of the tenants for the whole amount. Useful if you suspect only one of them has enough assets to pay a judgement.   Shelter Legal England - Joint tenancies - Shelter England

 

Because you permitted two tenants to leave mid-tenancy and two others to move in you may have a dispute in court about how much of the cost can be assigned to each tenant. Proceedings against a tenant who has been there the full period of the tenancy might avoid that problem.

I suspect you may need professional legal advice on this.

I have reflected this change by terminating the initial AST and then signing a new one with added names. Everyone is currently working, but not high earners.

[NTS24]

I will speak to a legal expert whether I decide to proceed with the claim or not. There should be a way to protect homeowners when tenants damage the property. One of the repair quotes I received was £23,000 plus VAT from an established company.