Ask Nik: “I think my tenant has abandoned the property - what now?”
Question from a landlord:
Hi Nik,
I manage a property myself and haven’t heard from the tenant in weeks. Rent hasn’t been paid for two months, the neighbours say nobody’s been seen there for ages, and when I peered through the letterbox, there’s post piling up. I’m worried it’s been abandoned. What are my rights, and what should I do about the stuff they’ve left behind?
Thanks,
Gareth
Nik’s reply:
Hi Gareth,
It definitely sounds like abandonment is a possibility – and thankfully, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act gives landlords a legal way to end a contract in these situations, without having to go to court. But – and it’s a big but – you have to follow the process carefully. If you get it wrong, there’s a risk the tenant could challenge it later and the consequences can be serious.
The process involves serving two specific, prescribed notices. The first one is your way of saying “I think this property has been abandoned, and I intend to end the tenancy unless you tell me otherwise.” You can serve this as soon as you believe abandonment has taken place. We serve this notice for the landlords we manage properties for.
It kicks off a four-week warning period. During those four weeks, you’re required to make reasonable enquiries to check whether the property has truly been abandoned, and gather evidence. Again, we do all this for our managed landlords. It’s quite a bit of work, but you need a robust file before deeming any property abandoned as it’ll form part of your defence if the tenant later disputes it.
If, by the end of the four weeks, you still reasonably believe the property is abandoned and haven’t heard anything from the tenant to suggest otherwise, you can serve the second notice, which formally ends the contract. We handle this too. At that point, you’re legally allowed to re-enter the property and secure it. There’s no need to apply for a possession order through court, which is a big time-saver – but only if you’ve followed the abandonment process to the letter.
If you’re going down the abandonment route, you’ll have to deal with the unpaid rent separately, i.e. via a court claim if need be. Just bear in mind that by ending the contract, you’re capping the tenant’s liability for rent, utilities, council tax and so on up to that end date – but at least you can get a new, paying tenant in sooner than if you had to go through the courts for possession.
A quick note of caution: if you don’t serve the first notice before taking action, or if you don’t properly investigate whether the tenant has truly abandoned the property, they can challenge you in court. Within six months of being served the second notice, they may try to claim that:
- you didn’t follow the abandonment process properly,
- you didn’t make enough effort to contact them,
- or they hadn’t abandoned the property at all and had a good reason for not responding.
If a judge agrees, they can order you to pay compensation, force you to provide alternative accommodation, or even reinstate the contract. So as tempting as it is to move quickly when you’re losing rent, the best approach is a steady and well-documented one.
When it comes to belongings left behind, the general rule is that you need to keep them safe for at least four weeks after the contract ends. There are a few exceptions, and the rules around what you can dispose of – and when – can get a bit fiddly depending on what’s left and whether the tenant resurfaces. You are allowed to recover certain costs, and you may be able to dispose of items after that four-week mark, but it all has to be handled properly and fairly.
If in doubt, this is definitely one of those areas where it pays to take advice – we manage the whole process for our landlords and make sure it’s all done by the book.
All the best,
Nikki
Director of Operations
CPS Homes
P.S. and a slight disclaimer: this isn’t legal advice – it’s just an honest, considered, best-of-my-knowledge answer.
The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.
