What action should a landlord take when they learn that their tenant has been slandering him? Even after being warned to desist, the tenant failed to heed the warning. Can you evict someone who hasn't broken the lease agreement for . . . spreading malicious rumors about you?
I think it is the same as when a neighbor is spreading gossip against you, what could you do? Practically nothing because it is so difficult to prove slander. But in relation to the landlord-tenant relationship, the landlord has no legal right to evict the erring tenant. However, over here the law gives a sort of protection to the landlord that the landlord can (diplomatically) evict a tenant in favor of his family. When a child of the landlord needs a dwellling, that child gets priority over the tenant, voiding the lease contract in the process.
I agree. Slander is effectively not actionable in the US. Well, it is actionable in that you can sue but you are very unlikely to win, so that just ends up costing everyone a lot of money an escalating the situation. Unless the slander is deliberately disadvantaging you in a business deal *and* the person spreading it knows it is false, it is just nasty gossip you are meant to deal with at an interpersonal level. I am assuming you have already attempted a serious, non-angry discussion about why they are so upset with you and perhaps misunderstanding what you are trying to achieve? No matter ow much of an ass that person might be, they feel they have a grievance and may be swayed in their opinion of you genuinely try to understand and address it. If not, at least you displayed to anyone else paying attention that you are the better person.
Regardless of what a tenant has or hasn't done, any UK landlord is within their rights to evict any tenant provided the correct notice period is given in writing. So theoretically, if they wanted to get rid of the slanderous tenant, they would be able to do so perfectly legally and without having to give any reason.
I agree with misshishi on this one. As long as you give them the correct notice period and they receive an eviction in writing you, as the landlord, are allowed to break the lease. Legally you can do so without reason and there is nothing they can do about it. It seems they are going to spread malicious rumors about you whether they are renting your property or not so I would look into having them evicted. Nobody has to put up with that. Aside from talking to them, sadly, there is little you can do about them spreading rumors about you. Good luck with the situation and please keep us posted.
Terminating a lease agreement before time is difficult, in my area, such errors will be brushed off but once the lease agreement is done, the tenant will have no place in that house as eviction takes place.
