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Notice to leave property - confusion
MortgageMamma
Posts: 6,686 Forumite
hi there I hope someone can help me with this
I rented a house on a 6 month AST via a letting agent in October 2009. The tenancy is due to run out on 31st March 2010.
Just after Christmas I decided I'd like to relocate back to my home town to live near my family as I've recently divorced and am isolated where I live.
As I was on good terms with the letting agent and knew that the landlord is a cash strapped dairy farmer I wrote to the letting agent letting them know that I hoped to move out at the end of my tenancy. I did this (and I explained it in letter) to ensure the landlord had a continual tenancy and hence income for the property as I was conscious he could lose money for any period the property was not let and I wanted to be fair to him.
To my suprise the letting agent found tenants for the property within a week, signed them up took deposits etc. The new tenants are anxious to move in as the property THEY are renting is due to be repossed. I explained at the viewing that we had not found a suitable property yet but anticipated we would before long.
Then disaster struck. My partner lost his job and I'm a SAHM and suddenly our budget was restricted and no decent properties were available to us because we are on HB. We registered with the council for a property straight away.
To date we still don't have a property to move into, and the landlord has sent us a letter saying they require posession of the property on 31st March for the new tenants. It would be a miracle if we got a property before the end of March but our finances won't allow it and despite having medical grounds and being in the top 15 bids for councils properties every time I still think we will need a bit longer.
I feel very bad about the new tenants situation and I don't want to speak to the letting agents yet until I know my rights as I want to be able to negotiate a reasonable solution with them
Can someone help me work out what to do - can I be FORCED to leave the property on 31st March and if I do not comply with what they have asked can they refuse to give me a good reference when I do find something?
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance
MM
I rented a house on a 6 month AST via a letting agent in October 2009. The tenancy is due to run out on 31st March 2010.
Just after Christmas I decided I'd like to relocate back to my home town to live near my family as I've recently divorced and am isolated where I live.
As I was on good terms with the letting agent and knew that the landlord is a cash strapped dairy farmer I wrote to the letting agent letting them know that I hoped to move out at the end of my tenancy. I did this (and I explained it in letter) to ensure the landlord had a continual tenancy and hence income for the property as I was conscious he could lose money for any period the property was not let and I wanted to be fair to him.
To my suprise the letting agent found tenants for the property within a week, signed them up took deposits etc. The new tenants are anxious to move in as the property THEY are renting is due to be repossed. I explained at the viewing that we had not found a suitable property yet but anticipated we would before long.
Then disaster struck. My partner lost his job and I'm a SAHM and suddenly our budget was restricted and no decent properties were available to us because we are on HB. We registered with the council for a property straight away.
To date we still don't have a property to move into, and the landlord has sent us a letter saying they require posession of the property on 31st March for the new tenants. It would be a miracle if we got a property before the end of March but our finances won't allow it and despite having medical grounds and being in the top 15 bids for councils properties every time I still think we will need a bit longer.
I feel very bad about the new tenants situation and I don't want to speak to the letting agents yet until I know my rights as I want to be able to negotiate a reasonable solution with them
Can someone help me work out what to do - can I be FORCED to leave the property on 31st March and if I do not comply with what they have asked can they refuse to give me a good reference when I do find something?
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance
MM
I am a Mortgage Adviser
You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
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Comments
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You've given notice so you either vacate the property on the 31st of March or you negotiate with the agents and the landlord to remain as soon as possible. I don't believe you have any rights to remain in the property once you've given notice but if you're good tenants and the landlord is happy for you to remain you could go on to a rolling periodic tenancy, so you don't need to sign another AST although the agents will be to keen for you to sign one as they earn fees from you and possibly the landlord for doing so.
Contact the agent asap as you should try to give the other tenants enough time to make other arrangements, it's the only decent thing to do0 -
Why would you expect a good reference if you changed your mind about leaving the property and then refused to leave at the end of the contractual period, forcing the landlord to go to court to regain possession of the property?!
When did the landlord serve this notice and was it in the form of an S21 document or a more informal letter?
Essentially, if you do not leave the property of your own volition, the landlord is obliged to go to court and get a possession order. If judgement is made in the landlords favour and you still do not leave, this is enforced through the landlord requesting bailiffs through the court to change the locks and the police will get the tenants out. The Shelter website has excellent information about the eviction process.0 -
Jowo it's the OP, the tenant who has given notice but now they want to rescind it. I don't believe the landlord has served a S21 notice. Yet.0
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No the landlord has not served an S21, we simply got a letter from the letting agents 2 weeks ago stating we needed to be out by 31st March.
Obviously I am concerned for the prospective new tenants and do want to do the decent thing but we are in a difficult position having had a change of circumstances since giving notice.
Can we try to be non judgementlal with responses please as we are decent people and in giving notice so early did think we were helping the landlord out.I am a Mortgage Adviser
You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
I really feel for you, but I think since you've officially given notice they have every right to expect you to leave at the end of your tenancy. The LL now has a binding contract with the new tenants and I think it's unlikely that they will pull out of this. Especially since your circumstances probably make you less attractive/stable tenants than the new ones, who have presumably signed an AST whereas the LL/LA know that you don't wish to stay long term.
I'm really sorry, but I think you need to contact Shelter ASAP to find out what your options are.0 -
I believe Jowo gave you some valuable facts in his post above as he explained the procedure the landlord would need to carry out in order to evict you should you decide to remain in the property without their permission if they wanted to hold you to your notice. Worst case scenario is that should you remain it will take a couple of months for them to serve you with the necessary S21 notice and then go to court to seek possession. The court will award possession if the papers are served correctly.0
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My advice stands - you are entitled to ignore the notice until such point that the landlord gains possession of the property through the courts and then enforces it with a bailiff, if required.
If you approach the council to advise them that you've been served notice to leave the property they may tell you to remain in place until the landlord has a possession notice anyway. Local councils should not do this but its still a fairly common practice. This is known as 'gate keeping' whereby they tell a potentially homeless household that if they leave when they do not have to (i.e. in advance of the court case) they will regard them as having made themselves intentionally homeless and will not assist them.
In previous threads, some tenants have been told by the council to tell their landlords that the notice has not been adequately served and is not valid. They may potentially insist that the landlord serves a proper S21 (which they'll probably need as a pre-requisite for court if they do not wish to carry on your tenancy after the fixed term expires). This gives the tenant 2 months notice timed to expire with when the rental period is so might be pushed out to the end of April if not served on you today, depending on your rental period, in order to give you the full 2 months notice required by law).
Again, the Shelter website is an excellent source of information on how a local council is supposed to deal with a homelessness application. Shelter can advise on notice periods.
Some councils have schemes to unite tenants with LHA friendly landlords, guarantee deposits for households on low income/housing need. Check what your local council offer and ask for their advice on your being served notice when you don't think you can find onward accommodation in the near future.0 -
The LL now has a binding contract with the new tenants and I think it's unlikely that they will pull out of this. Especially since your circumstances probably make you less attractive/stable tenants than the new ones, who have presumably signed an AST whereas the LL/LA know that you don't wish to stay long term.
That is not strictly correct. The contract the new tenants have signed is not legally biding until they have taken possession of the property.
There is still time for the OP to negotiate with the LL. Who knows, if they're good tenants the LL may be keener for them to remain than taking on an unknown quantity.
OP, I would recommend in the strongest terms possible that you negotiate direct with the LL. The agents have a vested interest in putting the new tenants in the property as they stand to make more fees from doing this than persuading the LL to agree for you to remain.0 -
Given that you have given notice, if you stay beyond it the LL is entitled to claim double rent from you.0
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Given that you have given notice, if you stay beyond it the LL is entitled to claim double rent from you.
Though I've been a bit blunt, this advice is completely false and totally unhelpful.
Obligation to pay a certain level of rent does not change at all - its set by the contract and there are proper procedures to be followed, should a landlord decide to increase the rent, which they typically do to match changes in local market rent and not to 'punish' tenants.0
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