Do not delete the tenant
Deleting is the instinct and it is the wrong move. The tenancy that just ended is the one you are most likely to need evidence from: the deposit position, what was served, what was paid. Ending a tenancy closes it; it does not erase it.
On the day, not before
A date still to come ends nothing. If the tenant gave notice on paper or by email, record it: End tenancy offers to when you pick a date still to come. A notice given through their portal is recorded already. Either way the leaving date shows on their row, appears on your dashboard from 30 days before, and is filled in for you on the day. An end date more than 90 days ago has to be confirmed before it is used.
What ending it does
- Sets the end date you give, which is what later calculations run from
- Removes the unpaid rent charges due after that date that nobody has paid or started collecting. A Direct Debit payment already in progress completes, and nothing is apportioned for a part period
- Cancels the Direct Debit and switches off the tenant’s portal link, so nothing is collected from somebody who has left and they have no way back in
- Writes a move-out inspection record with your deposit decision
- Leaves the documents, the ledger and the activity log in place
One joint tenant leaving
If one of several tenants on a tenancy leaves, End tenancy records them as left and the tenancy carries on for the others: the rent and the deposit stay with the tenancy, and only the person leaving has their Direct Debit and portal link switched off. The deposit is dealt with when the last tenant goes.
The deposit
Ending the tenancy is the point to deal with the deposit rather than the point to forget it. Choose a full return, a partial return with each deduction listed, proposing deductions through the deposit scheme, or no deposit held, and you can email the tenant the summary in your name. If there are deductions, the inventory comparison between check-in and check-out is what supports them. Once the money has gone back, record the day and the amount against the former tenant on the Tenants page; the dashboard reminds you if a return you decided on is not recorded ten days later.
Right to Rent copies
Copies of a tenant’s Right to Rent documents are kept for the tenancy plus one year, then destroyed. Ending the tenancy records when that year ends and, for the copies it can match to that tenant, the dashboard reminds you to delete them once it has. Compliance, then Right to Rent copies, lists every copy due across your properties with a delete button beside each.
After a possession case
When a case on the Possession page is marked resolved and the tenant is still on record as living there, the case offers End the tenancy, so the rent does not carry on against a home you have back.
Then what
The property is free for a new advert, and the certificates carry over because they belong to the building, not to the person who was living in it.
