Landlord repossession

old_boy_57 · 16 August 2008 at 10:10PM

Can anyone here please advise me? My landlord tried to sell the house I'm in but found out that he has negative equity and would lose out if he sold it. He told me that he has stopped paying his mortgage and has told his lender to repossess the property. I have been trying to contact him for over a month now to find out what is going on but I cannot get an answer by phone or letter. I stopped paying the rent last month because I'm 90% sure he will just pocket the money and I feel it's better in my bank until I know what is going on. The withheld rent is now equivalent to the deposit he had.

Other properties locally are over £100 more than I am/was paying and are not as convenient as this one. I am a lone parent (if that makes any difference) and have found out that the council would provide emergency housing but would not pay for storage of my furniture etc.

If my landlord has "done a bunk" will I be evicted by the lender? How much notice will I get? What are my rights? If I'm going to be evicted I may as well keep any future rent money for myself unless there is a good reason otherwise.

Roger

Tassotti · 16 August 2008 at 10:19PM

old_boy_57 wrote: »

If my landlord has "done a bunk" will I be evicted by the lender? How much notice will I get? What are my rights? If I'm going to be evicted I may as well keep any future rent money for myself unless there is a good reason otherwise.

Roger

You will be evicted..You still need to pay the LL as per your agreement,

You might get housed by the council, but if you can afford it, ge yourself somewhere else to go

silvercar · 16 August 2008 at 10:19PM

It seems your landlord is being incredibly homest with you, to the extent that he is risking his rental income!

Whether, or more accurately how soon, you would be evicted depends whether your landlord had the correct mortgage (BTL or consent to lease) or if he was letting on a residential mortgage. In the latter case, the lender can ignore you and evict you. If the landlord did have the correct mortgage you could expect to stay until the end of the tenancy agreement, but don't expect any extension after that.

Your rights, if you were evicted suddenly would be against the landlord for breaching your tenancy agreement. Though whether it is worth taking someone to court if they have no money is debatable.

As a lone parent, the council will provide emergency accomodation. This could well be a B&B or some temporary flat until something more permenant is available. Be very careful about not paying the rent, the council may deem that by not paying the rent you have made yourself intentionally homeless and therefore not entitled to council housing.

Rather than rely on the council for inadequate housing, you may be better saving up for a deposit and finding a private let yourself. If you know your landlord isn't paying the mortgage, sooner or later you will need to move.

Tassotti · 16 August 2008 at 10:32PM

silvercar wrote: »

. If the landlord did have the correct mortgage you could expect to stay until the end of the tenancy agreement, but don't expect any extension after that.

.

Really? Tenants have no rights when a repo is underway

Microstar_2 · 17 August 2008 at 12:34AM

Tassotti wrote: »

Really? Tenants have no rights when a repo is underway

That's not the case where the lender has authorised the letting (BTL mortgage or some other form of authorisation).

Premier_2 · 17 August 2008 at 9:05AM

Schedule 2, Ground 2 of the Housing Act 1988 allows a lender (with a loan secured on the property) to appy for possession where the borrower is in default.

This is one of the grounds specified in 7(6)(a) of that act that allows possession even within a fixed term

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/ukpga_19880050_en_1

Generali · 17 August 2008 at 9:22AM

I wouldn't pay the rent. On the face of it you're in breach of contract if you do that but that is for a court to decide if your LL decides to sue you. If you set the rent money aside then it's not really a problem.

In a situation like this your responsibility is to yourself and your child. Look after your own interests and sort out everybody else later. Don't be tempted to spend the rent money on something else though as it isn't yours and if the LL sues for it there's a very good chance that he'll win and you'll be required to pay!

lynzpower · 17 August 2008 at 9:27AM

I would start going around and looking at new places. Is there a lot in your area within the same bracket ( 100 more?) If there is , there is a good chance you can haggle, and get the rent down to similar of waht you are paying now. No LL will want to see thier place empty, and as you will be able to see from the FT-rents falling in the house price area, there are lots of opportunities in some areas.
I also recommend installing property bee, so you can see how the prices are changing in your area.

Premier_2 · 17 August 2008 at 9:58AM

Generali wrote: »

I wouldn't pay the rent. On the face of it you're in breach of contract if you do that but that is for a court to decide if your LL decides to sue you. If you set the rent money aside then it's not really a problem...

Is that like walking out of a shop with goods/items without attempting to pay for them is ok as long as you have the money in your pocket to pay for them when you get stopped by the store security/police?

:rolleyes:

tbs624 · 17 August 2008 at 12:53PM

Roger -

(i) no tenant should ever withhold their rent without getting qualified legal advice first, however tempting it may seem in their particular circumstances.You may have increased the likelihood of the property being re repossessed by doing so, since you will have added to your LLs pre-existing monetary difficulties, and you are placing yourself in breach of your own contractual obligations.

(ii) You need to make sure that the Lender knows of your existence as a Tenant : you can check online at the Land Registry who the Lender is.This doesn't mean that you won't be evicted, just that the fact that you are there may alter how things will be done.

(iii) If your deposit is scheme registered (as it should be if your tenancy started after April 6 2007) then contact the scheme administrators and let them know what is happening. The contact addresses are here & if the LL hasn't confirmed the info with you then you can check for yourself whether your tenancy deposit was registered. See: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066391

As you can see you will get many differing opinions on here, but when anyone is facing losing the roof over their head the best move is to use these options ( singly or in combination):

(a) ring Shelter's helpline on 0808 800 4444 (8am-8pm 7 days a week)
(b) speak to the local Private Sector Rentals Team at the Council
(c) speak to someone with LL & T experience at a law centre
(d) contact Community Legal Advice tel 0845 345 4 345 http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/

tbs624 · 17 August 2008 at 1:06PM

Premier wrote: »

Schedule 2, Ground 2 of the Housing Act 1988 allows a lender (with a loan secured on the property) to appy for possession where the borrower is in default.

This is one of the grounds specified in 7(6)(a) of that act that allows possession even within a fixed term

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/ukpga_19880050_en_1

That may depend on the wording of the Tenancy Agreement.

S7(6)(a) has to be read in conjunction with S7(6) (b), so AFIAA those Grounds can only be used when :

"(b) the terms of the tenancy make provision for it to be brought to an end on the ground in question (whether that provision takes the form of a provision for re-entry, for forfeiture, for determination by notice or otherwise)."

Landlord repossession

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