Q. I am a landlord of a ground-floor  flat let to a young lady who is seven months into a 12 month tenancy. She is struggling to pay the rent and is currently in arrears.  

Last week I was contacted by a neighbour who told me that the tenant was moving out. When I went round there I found the back door was ajar so I have secured this.  All her possessions were gone and she had put the keys through the letter box. I do not have a forwarding address for the tenant and do not know what to do now. I had served a section 21 notice on her but she had not formally confirmed that she was vacating. Can I change the locks and re-let the flat?

A. I think so as there is a doctrine called 'implied surrender' which will apply here. This states that if the conduct of a tenant is inconsistent with an intention to continue with the tenancy, then this can be taken as being an implied offer to surrender the property, which the landlord can accept by going in and changing the locks.