Think Tank

Be very careful and don't rush into anything. You have only heard one side of the story. They may have had a row and he may have gone to stay with his mother but expects to come back.

As a landlord, you have no right to end his tenancy without a court order. I suggest you advise her to go to a Citizens Advice Bureau. This is not ducking responsibility, the tenancy position can only be changed by her – not by you. If there are matrimonial proceedings, an order can be made as part of those proceedings to transfer the tenancy to her.

Alternatively, if she gives notice to quit, this will end the tenancy and you can grant her a new one. Make sure you do not destroy your right to collect any arrears there may be. The tenant needs to understand what she will be liable for as a sole tenant. Think about your allocation policy – if this tenancy ends, will she necessarily be allocated a new tenancy of the same home?

You should be wary of putting yourself in the position of advising her to serve notice to quit. Her husband may see you as helping her to end his tenancy and might have a reasonable ground for complaint.

It makes no difference if joint tenants are unmarried or a same sex couple – what matters is that they are joint tenants.
Catherine Hand

How do I deal with a tenant's far-fetched accusations?
I have a tenant who continually phones my manager, the chief executive, and me to make accusations against other tenants in the building. She claims other tenants are guilty of things such as dealing drugs, abusing their children and engaging in witchcraft. She accuses me of being evil, of conducting a campaign of intimidation against her and of not doing anything about her complaints. It is fairly obvious that all that she says is rubbish but the chief exec insists complaints have to be investigated in the proper way, so I have to contact each tenant and let them know of the accusations, which obviously makes the whole thing worse. Help!

The first thing that strikes me about this is that the complainant is probably in a distressed and vulnerable condition. The nature of her complaints must raise questions about her mental health, so I suggest that a priority should be to work with other agencies to ensure that she is getting the support she needs.

You should review your complaints procedure. It is not helpful to be obliged to put extreme or far-fetched accusations to tenants, especially if (as I suspect in this case) there is no concrete evidence of wrongdoing. Nor does it serve good neighbour relations, since although you obviously will not disclose the complainant's identity, the accused tenants will probably be able to guess it.

A final point: to get you (but not your organisation) off the hook, if you have yourself been the subject of allegations you clearly lack the objectivity to investigate complaints from the same source and a colleague will have to do it.
John Bryant

First, we would check the file of the "complainee" to see if there was a history of similar incidences and any support contacts who may be able to assist. As the issue is personal, thought should be given to attending with a colleague to maybe establish a fresh point of contact.

We would interview the resident, go through the complaint in detail and explain our procedures on nuisance and antisocial behaviour. We would establish who was alleged to have done what, where, when and whether there were any witnesses. If there were witnesses, we would try to get written statements wherever possible.

If the resident has a support network or social worker, we would invite them to be involved in the process.

We would check whether any incidents have been reported to the police and discuss with them what the outcomes were, ensuring a log of all incidents is made in future. If the matter had not been reported, we would report it.

The decision whether to interview alleged perpetrators would depend upon the investigation and answers given to the above questions. We would report our findings to both the resident and the chief executive and ask them to confirm that they are happy with the outcome. If they are not, we would ask what they would like us to do further.
Steven Walker

A case for the pied piper?
I manage an estate that is infested with mice and rats. We have had contractors in, but they do not solve the problem because the rodents are coming either from a building site or a nearby restaurant. I have contacted both owners but they are not interested. The restaurant owner says it's the building site's fault and vice versa. I can't prove it's either.

Mice and rats are a serious public health nuisance and you need to involve the local authority, which has powers to investigate and deal with the source of the infestation.
John Bryant

Report the infestation immediately to the environmental health office as it will have a duty to investigate and determine the source. Liaise with maintenance and environmental health to resolve the problem, including initiating remedial works to the fabric of the building to prevent reoccurrence. Advise the residents of the response, monitor the situation and make regular checks.
Steven Walker