Tenant left before contract was up

Pod123

Feeling so annoyed this evening.
Had a two bedroom flat let to a tenant who signed a twelve month contract from 28th of February 2018 for twelve months.Found out this evening 24.08.2018 that the tenant has left.
Bin collection was cancelled then found the two keys under the doormat out in front door.
What action should I take to recover the remaining rent i.e of the months that are left of the tenancy?
It is registered and tax is paid on the rental.
Thanks in advance.

Seth Brundle

Be grateful they understayed rather than overstayed!

punisher5112

As above not much you can do.

Have they looked for deposit?

You can use this up for things such as damage, cleaning and having to re advertise.

It would be throwing money to try and get anything which you more then likely wouldn't.


Be glad not trashed and owing rent and still there.

sKeith

Pod123 wrote: »

What action should I take to recover the remaining rent i.e of the months that are left of the tenancy?

Get new tenants asap. shouldn't be to hard.

Seth Brundle

Just to be clear, are you 100% sure that they've left? You dont want to let it to new tenants and then find that the original tenant never actually left.

SureYWouldntYa

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Just to be clear, are you 100% sure that they've left? You dont want to let it to new tenants and then find that the original tenant never actually left.

Not too many tennants will cancel bins and leave their keys under the doormat if they planned on staying

Atlantic Dawn

Is their stuff still in the house?

Pod123

All contents of tenant are gone.
Went through camera and have car reg.
Is it possible to get a forward address from car reg?
Lucky that Esb was Pre pay.
Thanks for posting.

jaffa20

Just get new tenants and move on. i guess they haven't looked for their deposit back anyway.

CollyFlower

It's crazy that the landlord has to just 'let it go' and think themselves lucky, unfortunately that's the way things go.... Contact the RTB and see what they tell you.

Atlantic Dawn

Pod123 wrote: »

Is it possible to get a forward address from car reg?

Not legally, perhaps some dodgy Garda or civil servant might give it over thinking it's all just a bit of craic.

punisher5112

CollyFlower wrote: »

It's crazy that the landlord has to just 'let it go' and think themselves lucky, unfortunately that's the way things go.... Contact the RTB and see what they tell you.

But in all honesty they are extremely lucky ....

Look at all the LL that come on here after property is destroyed, bin bags by the dozens left everywhere, human filth, animal filth just crazy people, grow houses...... Etc etc.

Fol20

As others have said, don’t waste your breadth as it will prove fruitless. It’s part and parcel of any business that some extra work or losses might happen. In your case, it looks like you got off “lucky” for your “difficult” situation. Advertise it as soon as possible and start making money again. Personally if tenants left in the manor they left in, I would also change the locks of the house in case you have some unwanted visitors a year or 2 down the line. Normally people would at least give you a heads up as they don’t really have much to loose. It’s just a precausion but it’s a small price to pay to protect yourself

Pod123

Thanks for all the quick replies.
A lesson learnt,will change locks today and get it back up for rent. Hard to feel cheated just feel if it was the other way round and we broke the contract the tenant would have more rights.I will have to move on.

Homer

Just ask for 2/3 months rent up front. Then these cnuts might think twice about breaking their lease. Landlords market out there so make them play by your rules.

Browney7

If you get new tenants soon will you actually have suffered any monetary loss? Does the deposit cover a few weeks and any damage.

Your main gripe is the short term annoyance of finding someone new

Mrs OBumble

When did you last receive a rent-payment? When is the next one due?

Pod123

Paid in a months advance.That is my gripe to find someone again. Have everything above board tax wise etc. Did not get caught for rent or utility bills.
It’s just you have a signed contract and it gives you no fall back on.

Samuel T. Cogley

Yuo've a duty to mitigate loss, so you need tenants in etc. before you know what your losses are. You cant claim for the rest of the tenancy. At this point chalk it up to the cost of being a LL. Believe me this is the very smallest issue on the scale of things.

Gumbo

Report to the RTB.
Most likely nothing will come from it, but if you don’t, statistics will continue to show that landlords are the enemy here. You need to log it so that the rtb have a record of a tennant walking out.

emeldc

Pod123 wrote: »

Paid in a months advance.That is my gripe to find someone again. Have everything above board tax wise etc. Did not get caught for rent or utility bills.
It’s just you have a signed contract and it gives you no fall back on.

Are you new to this landlord thing by any chance. You can't get caught for utility bills as long as they're in the tenants names. You'll have it let again within a week so forget the other tenant and the rent they might owe because you have zero chance of getting it. Read up on some of the horror stories where a tenant pays no rent for 12-18 months and then thrashes the place when you do eventually get him out. If that were to happen to you, you have no chance of getting anything back either.

PhoenixParker

CollyFlower wrote: »

It's crazy that the landlord has to just 'let it go' and think themselves lucky, unfortunately that's the way things go.... Contact the RTB and see what they tell you.

That's a mischaracterization.

The landlord is entitled to recoup any reasonable costs they've incurred which is pretty standard in contract law.

At the moment it's easy to re-let so costs are basically the cost of re-letting: cleaning, repair, advertising fees, a short but reasonable vacant period.

If the economic climate was worse, the reasonable costs would be higher.

JustJoe7240

Homer wrote: »

Just ask for 2/3 months rent up front. Then these cnuts might think twice about breaking their lease. Landlords market out there so make them play by your rules.

Its attitudes like yours that give people the "fcuk the landlord" attitude in the first place.

Nomis21

All sorts of things happen to people to cause them to break a rental agreement. Someone can lose their job, couples can split up, a better job offer can come up in anthother town or illness. It would have been better if they had let you know but in times of stress people act out of character.

Mrs OBumble

So you're a month up on the rent, and presumably they didn't ask for their deposit back either. So that's two months.

Most likely you'll have it let again in a week.

This is a big WIN for you, of about seven weeks rent. Maybe only six with the cost of advertisiing and cleaning.

When the other option is that the tenant could have stayed, and stopped paying rent.

Grow some gratitude.

Sarn

I think this also highlights how it isn’t worth a LL’s while signing a contract for a tenancy. It effectively ties their hands even more. If a LL breaks the lease they are in trouble, whereas in virtually every case the tenant just walks away.

Pod123

Last rent came in July tenant moved out then in 20th of August.
All work in flat done to spec with certs got for all work done from electric to gas cooker installation.
Not my first time of been LL.
Had dealings with social letting which was a nightmare with that tenant.
I understand circumstances change for people but a phone call to say they can’t stay on the lease is all I would have asked.
I know it will rent out again.
Thanks for all replies.

Gumbo

JustJoe7240 wrote: »

Its attitudes like yours that give people the "fcuk the landlord" attitude in the first place.

And to balance the argument, it’s attitudes like the tenants in the OP that give rise to the ‘fcuk the tenant’ attitude.

Sleeper12

Pod123 wrote:

Feeling so annoyed this evening. Had a two bedroom flat let to a tenant who signed a twelve month contract from 28th of February 2018 for twelve months.Found out this evening 24.08.2018 that the tenant has left. Bin collection was cancelled then found the two keys under the doormat out in front door. What action should I take to recover the remaining rent i.e of the months that are left of the tenancy? It is registered and tax is paid on the rental. Thanks in advance.

The steps you need to take are to advertise it & rent it again.

I'd have seen this as a negative a few years ago as the room could be empty for a few weeks but in todays market you have a good chance of getting someone in within days. You also get to keep the months deposit. Get someone in quick enough & you'll make a small profit on the deposit

Gael23

You can keep their deposit, nothing else really.
Be grateful they didn’t wreck th place.

Fol20

Gael23 wrote: »

You can keep their deposit, nothing else really.
Be grateful they didn’t wreck th place.

At a moment minimum they can keep partial of the deposit however you do have to mitigate your losses and re let it asap