Find out why the tenant wants to leave
Its always a good idea to find out why the tenant wants to end their tenancy:
- Rent too much?
- Too much noise?
- Too far from work or family?
- Moving jobs?
- Wants a bigger property?
- Just fancies a change?
There are many reasons a tenant may want to end their tenancy, some reasons can be resolved without the need to end the tenancy, if they have been a good tenant you can try to resolve any issues without ending the tenancy. Finding out why a tenant wants to leave can also help with improving the property or when marketing it for a new tenant.
Tenancy Surrender
We use the Habitans Tenancy Surrender Form when the ending of a tenancy is mutual between the landlord and the tenant. This is a formal process for ending a tenancy where all the relevant parties and their responsibilities are outlined. You can also accept a tenancy surrender informally, this can be a simple text or email where the tenant informs you that they want to surrender the tenancy and that you accept. The formal process puts you in a better position if any disputes arise
End of Tenancy Inventory
We recommend completing an end of tenancy inventory report, it allows you to assess the condition of the property at the end of a tenancy and plan for any work required to ready the property for a new tenancy. This can be used in case of dispute and when agreeing the partial return of a deposit. The end of tenancy inventory should compare the condition of the property against the original inventory report, perform the inspection of the property with the original inventory report and make any notes of differences between the condition then and now. Also note the meter readings so they can be submitted to providers.
Calculate the cost to return the property to its original condition
After an end of tenancy inventory report has been complete you need to calculate how much it will cost to return the property to its original condition. This must then be agreed with the tenant and a fair usage policy is to be used when agreeing a cost with the tenant. It can be a good idea to create a fixed price list for repairs and services and provide to the tenant before the end of tenancy date. This means they will know upfront how much certain things will cost and they even have the choice to let you just have it done so they don’t have to:
- Carpet cleaning
- Bathroom Clean
- Oven clean
- Full clean
Return of Deposit
Once a cost to return the property to its original condition has been agreed with the tenant you need to arrange to return the deposit to the tenant. This can be done by logging in to your deposit protection scheme and arranging for a deposit to be returned to a tenant. It will ask you if you want to make deductions or split the deposit between the landlord and the tenant. If you select split the deposit it will ask how much each party is to receive, you can also provide a breakdown of the costs to return the property to its original condition. If disputes arise then you can also submit evidence and track the progress of a dispute in the dispute management section on your deposit protection scheme’s website.
How can Habitans help you?
Please visit our Landlords Area for more information on the services we offer and how Habitans Lettings can assist you in being a successful landlord.
Landlords AreaYou can also see all of our guides for landlords and much more in our Library.
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