Mesne not being took up

Letting Agents

Hi,

The situation we’re in is:

Tenants in a fixed term contract for a year have gave notice seven months into the contract as they’d found a property they plan to buy. In December 2023 we had a meeting with the agents where we discussed and requested that the tenancy is not to be renewed after  the fixed term. At this point it looked like the tenants move was imminent. This was followed up in writing stating, should it go beyond the contract date we’d be looking at mesne, (note this was more than two months before end of contract).

Looking to re market we approached the agent about reletting, marketing, viewings etc. The replies were vague and the agent gave no Check Out Inventory date. We then spoke to tenants direct. They shared they’re refurbing their new place, and they had approached the agent to extend the contract and also knew we’d declined any extension to the fixed term. We spoke of Mesne which they seemed amenable to. With recognition of the above we approached the agent to support this Mesne.

The agent has today by email said “The tenants are in a fixed term and there is no landlord notice in place therefore, the tenant can rescind their notice without the landlords agreement.The tenants notice cannot be taken through the court proceedings as it is unenforceable”

Seeking clarity to the content of the above email we made a call to the letting agent . This is what they shared:

A 6A was not issued.

A section 21 was not issued

A tenant notice was processed

A landlord instruction was not processed.

The tenant can retract their notice.

It really raised concerns related to competence of the agent, who appeared to have no knowledge of mesne.

What’s the best way to handle this now (mesne usually works) - contract ends on the 27th Feb.

Yan