Q. My tenants, 'A' and 'B', a couple, have split up, but neither of them wants to move out of the property. 'A', who was living in the property alone before he invited B to share with him, has asked me if I can evict 'B' from the property so he can rent alone again. Is this possible?

A. If 'A' and 'B' both signed the tenancy agreement – no. You can only evict all of them together.

I have known situations where a landlord has evicted all tenants, arranged for the bailiffs to remove them all from the property, and then let some of them back in again under a new tenancy agreement. However, it is not cheap to evict tenants and the question is – why should you incur this expense just because they have split up?

So, the easiest solution for you is to say that they will have to sort it out amongst themselves, but if 'B' moves out then you will be happy to sign a sole agreement with 'A'.
There is the possibility of course that 'A' could cover your costs of eviction. However, you need to be really careful if you do this to make sure you do not fall foul of the tenant fees rules. It is arguable that this will not be a fee but reimbursing you for something done at his request. However, I think you need to be very careful about this and the best answer is just to tell them they have to sort it out themselves.

Q. I rent out a room in my house to a lodger. I have asked him to leave as I need the room back, but he has told me I have to get a court order and as I did not protect his deposit in a scheme, I will not be able to do this. Is he right?