Landlords Guide To Abandonment And Access Issues

An abandoned property is one that may be owned by one party and has been let to another party to occupy. If the occupier fails to be present for an extended period of time, the property owner may deem that the occupier has abandoned the property and no longer wants to lease or tenancy it.

Why is it problematic for landlords?

A landlord may rent a property to a third party in return for rent and then find that the tenant stops paying the rent, and when the landlord visits the property, there is no one there. The landlord may want to take back possession of the property, but depending on the lease terms, the landlord may be unable to change the locks and assume that the occupier has abandoned the property. A landlord should first try to gather as much information as possible about whether or not the occupier intends to come back to occupy the property again in the future before they take back possession. If a landlord wrongly assumes the property has been abandoned