What happens if a tenant is sent to prison?

It may not happen very often, but it is important that letting agents and landlords understand their options if their tenant receives a custodial sentence.

This was the scenario for landlord one recently. In this case, the individual had been sentenced to four years in prison and agents had instructed the landlord to change the locks. Before taking any action, they fortunately contacted our Legal Services provider – Woodstock Legal Services –  to request advice. Woodstock arrived at the following conclusion:

There are two ways to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement:

1. All parties voluntarily surrender the tenancy; or
2. Obtaining a possession court order relying on a Section 8 Notice and/or a Section 21 notice.

If neither method is adopted and the landlord recovers possession of the property – the tenant may try to file a claim against the landlord for unlawful eviction which is a civil wrong and criminal offence. Therefore, it is vital the correct procedure is adopted to end the tenancy.

The tenancy will continue until the surrender or possession order, and this means that the landlord must continue to comply with their obligations and the tenant is still liable to pay rent on time under the tenancy agreement. Rent is an important point because tenants in prison will typically want to surrender the tenancy to avoid further rent liability.

Therefore, the first option adopted was to contact the tenant in prison to see if they were agreeable to surrender the tenancy and if there were any authorised persons who could deal with the tenancy on their behalf. Although the tenancy can be surrendered between the landlord and tenant only, it can be helpful to have someone authorised by the tenant to sign any deed of surrender and deal with any items left behind after possession is recovered. 

Surrendering the tenancy is the quickest and cheapest route to recover possession of the property. However, if the tenant is not agreeable to surrender the tenancy, then the only other option would be to serve a Section 21 notice and/or a Section 8 notice and later obtain a possession order to end the tenancy.

It is vital to consider all options available, and it is also important that your landlords are aware of the liability if the correct procedure has not been followed, as this can have very serious consequences.

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