I want to make fellow members aware of an issue that arose for me recently with regard to the NRLA model TA. Hopefully the NRLA may respond too. Apologies for the length.
I've had a couple of tenants renting a flat since December last year as joint tenants using the NRLA model agreement. They stopped paying rent. They then split up and she moved out. He implied he would not leave until the bailiffs arrived and would pay no more rent. In London it will take well over a year to evict through notice and the courts at the moment, so I sent the female tenant an email outlining her legal liability and told her the only way to end this was by serving a valid notice. She duly served the notice and I wrote to the male tenant telling him that as the tenancy was now periodic, her notice would end the tenancy and he would have to move out after a month or would become a trespasser.
The male tenant told me he wouldn't go, so I decided to confirm the position with the NRLA advice team so that I could tell him I'd taken advice and was correct. However, to my surprise, they told me that while a valid notice from one joint tenant would end a Statutory Periodic Tenancy, it would need both tenants to sign it with my Contractual Periodic Tenancy. In desperation, I then read up on the issue and it seems that in the Monk vs Hammersmith & Fulham case, which I believe is still the principal authority on the matter, the judge had said in his summing up that in the case of a CPT, the right for one joint tenant to determine the tenancy would be contractual, ie dependent on what was written in the TA. A look at the relevant clause in the NRLA model document from last December shows that the wording is unclear. It says "To end the periodic continuation of the tenancy you must provide us with written notice...". In Section B definitions, "you" is defined as "The Tenant". This is particularly unhelpful drafting and a quick look at the current model shows that the wording has not changed.
I sought clarification from two leading solicitors in the sector and they had opposing views on whether it would be possible using this tenancy agreement for one joint tenant to end the tenancy. I realise that not every landlord will want this, but as you can see, in this circumstance, it would have been very helpful for me in ending the tenancy in a reasonable timescale.
In the end, I quoted the legal opinion of the solicitor who thought it could be done to the tenant and although he said he didn't accept it, he suddenly started to negotiate and offered to leave 3 weeks later if I refunded his deposit and cancelled the arrears. I reluctantly agreed and both tenants signed a deed of surrender and left a few days ago.
I share this with you now in case, like me, you want to use the NRLA model agreement, but also want to allow one joint tenant to be able to end the periodic part of the tenancy. I hope that the NRLA will change the wording in the model to make this clearer, but in the meantime, I suggest members draft their own clause in an addendum that grants this right.
