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Home > Ending the Tenancy > Just the Facts > Abandonment > Premises

Tenant Abandons Premises

A tenant might abandon rented premises without ending the tenancy by leaving without giving any notice and not coming back. In legal terms, a tenant will have “repudiated” the tenancy agreement by abandoning the premises. For the purposes of calculating your losses, it is important in these situations whether the tenancy is fixed-term or periodic.

When can you treat a property as abandoned? You must have a reasonable belief that a tenant has gone before taking any action. What is a reasonable belief will depend upon individual circumstances.

For example, if a tenant has been away, it would probably not be reasonable to assume that he had abandoned the property after a period of only two weeks, particularly if the rent was still being paid. If he had been away for six weeks with no communication, had not paid the rent, and moved the furniture out, these are more reasonable grounds to assume that he had abandoned the property.

What can you do if a tenant abandons premises? You can treat the abandonment in one of two ways (see sidebar for links):

  • as if the tenancy is continuing. In this situation you can claim for unpaid rent from the tenant. 

  • as if the rental agreement has been repudiated (i.e., ended) because of the tenant’s actions. You can then claim damages.

January 2006
Abandonment:Early VacancyPremisesGoods


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