What happens if one of your tenants absconds?

It’s quite common for landlords to rent apartments and houses to multiple tenants, but they need to make sure they’re covered in the event of one or more of these tenants moving out before the lease expires.

Such situations can pose quite a problem for landlords unless their leases are correctly worded to state that the tenants in a multiple-tenant situation are ‘jointly and severally’ responsible for the full amount of the rent.

This wording means that each tenant in a shared flat or house is legally responsible for making sure that the entire monthly rental is paid, so that if one moves out without warning, or perhaps does a ‘midnight run’ because they are unable to pay their share of the rent, whoever is left will have to make up the difference for the duration of the lease or until the missing tenant is replaced.

This protects the remaining tenants as much as the landlord, and on top of that we are experienced in dealing with departing tenants who wish to claim a share of the original damages deposit.

There is an alternative option for landlords, which is to make one tenant in a multiple-tenant situation the “primary” who is solely responsible for paying the total amount of the rent each month, but is allowed to sublet certain portions of the property, such as the rooms in a commune, and collect rent from the subtenants to subsidise his or her own payment.

In some ways, this is more convenient for landlords as it means there is only one amount to collect each month and one tenant to evict, legally, if the rent is not paid.

In addition, he says it can prove difficult to physically evict subtenants, even if you do get a court order to evict a primary tenant who is in default, and can develop into a really unpleasant situation if the subtenants have in fact been paying every month and the defaulter has absconded with their money rather than pay your rent.

On the other hand, there are also risks for primary tenants in such instances of being left with the whole bill when subtenants leave suddenly or without paying, of not having professional help to find reliable replacements, and of being penalised for damages caused by the subtenants when the lease expires and they would like to claim their deposit back.

It should also provide that the landlord or managing agent is to be advised immediately if one or more subtenants move out, as an early warning of possible payment difficulties.