Tenants moving out before end of SAT

[Helen]

I signed a AST with 2 tenants, starting on 18th February 2004 until 17th February 2005 without a break clause.
One of the tenants moved out on 7th July (he is in Spain for 2 months but apparently intends on coming back to the UK though not to the property), without forewarning me. The remaining tenant tells me that he cannot afford to pay the whole rent on his own and has paid one half of the rent (period 18th July -17th August) only this month, some 1.5 week late. The SAT states that if "the rent remains unpaid for 14 days after falling due...the landlord may give written notice to the Tenant that the Landlord seeks possession of the property through the Courts".
The remaining tenant has landed a job in the States, starting in early October. I will have no more tenants by then. :(

1. Half of the rent having been paid, where do I stand? Can I serve him with a notice? Which notice would this be?
2. The remaining tenant has alluded to moving out (before October) but added that losing his part of the deposit would put him in a difficult financial position. Should I agree for him to move out, I assume that I am entitled to keep the deposit in its entirety?
3. Should I agree for him to stay in the property paying only half of the rent until October, do I lose any of my rights?

I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do and would welcome advice

Thank you
Helen

[Helen]

Can anybody help with the matter below? :confused: I have read Gizzmo's troubles and similarly would very much prefer to avoid going to court.

[Paul_f]

Helen. I've posted many times on how to treat tenants who want to leave before the end of the fixed term and what you can and can't do.

Use the search facility and put in keywords, or search down the threads and look for some of the titles near to what you want. It's all there if only you look! You have to have patience.