Renting - Reposseion threat

andyscott1978

Yesterday my partner opened a letter addressed to the occupy of the property, It was basically a letter for the landlord saying he will be taken to court in Oct for reposseion due to unspecified owed money on the mortgage.
I phoned my estate agent about this and they will not say anything untill they have a copy of the letter sent to them and they have spoken to the lanlord.

We have just recently signed up for another 6 months tennany of the property, Does anyone have any idea of what will happen if it goes all the way to the court can we be out straight away or will the tennancy agreement mean anything?

I am planning to chase the estate agent for advise again on friday as they act as a go between us and the landlord.

Can anyone offer and advise on this situation?

Thanks
Andy

tbs624

andyscott1978 wrote: »

...I am planning to chase the estate agent for advise again on friday as they act as a go between us and the landlord.

No, they act for the LL. All they will be concerned about is getting their own fees out of the LL before he disappears.

1. is your deposit registered ?(if in Eng or Wales)
2. keep a copy of that letter addressed to the occupier and write to the Lender enclosing a copy of your tenancy agreement so that they know that a tenant is in occupation
3. does your tenancy agreement show the current home address of your LL? If it doesn't then write to the LA formally requesting it - they have 21 days in which to give you this info after a written request. (You may need it to pursue your LL for the return of your deposit.)
4. start looking for a new home. Even if the LL manages to clear his arrears and avoids repossession this time, it will probably only be a matter of time.

Sorry if this sounds very "doom and gloom" but you need to look after number one here and certainly don't rely on the LA to help.

Try finding a LL who self-manages his/her properties - check via the local LL association or online at vivatsreet,letalife, gumtree etc

silvercar

tbs624 wrote: »

No, they act for the LL. All they will be concerned about is getting their own fees out of the LL before he disappears.

1. is your deposit registered ?(if in Eng or Wales)
2. keep a copy of that letter addressed to the occupier and write to the Lender enclosing a copy of your tenancy agreement so that they know that a tenant is in occupation3. does your tenancy agreement show the current home address of your LL? If it doesn't then write to the LA formally requesting it - they have 21 days in which to give you this info after a written request. (You may need it to pursue your LL for the return of your deposit.)
4. start looking for a new home. Even if the LL manages to clear his arrears and avoids repossession this time, it will probably only be a matter of time.

Sorry if this sounds very "doom and gloom" but you need to look after number one here and certainly don't rely on the LA to help.

Try finding a LL who self-manages his/her properties - check via the local LL association or online at vivatsreet,letalife, gumtree etc

All goood advice; do the bit in bold as a matter of urgency. Ask the question, " has the lender acknowledged the tenancy?" ie was it a buy-to-let mortgage or did the landlord have consent to lease. If they did they should respect the tenancy and you should be allowed to remain until the end of the fixed period or recieve 2 months notice if the tenancy is now periodic. If the landlord had a owner occupier mortgage, you will need to go to court and get the judge to delay the repossession for 14 or 28 days.

Either way the writing is on the wall, time to look for a new home.

andyscott1978

tbs624 wrote: »

No, they act for the LL. All they will be concerned about is getting their own fees out of the LL before he disappears.

1. is your deposit registered ?(if in Eng or Wales)
2. keep a copy of that letter addressed to the occupier and write to the Lender enclosing a copy of your tenancy agreement so that they know that a tenant is in occupation
3. does your tenancy agreement show the current home address of your LL? If it doesn't then write to the LA formally requesting it - they have 21 days in which to give you this info after a written request. (You may need it to pursue your LL for the return of your deposit.)
4. start looking for a new home. Even if the LL manages to clear his arrears and avoids repossession this time, it will probably only be a matter of time.

Sorry if this sounds very "doom and gloom" but you need to look after number one here and certainly don't rely on the LA to help.

Try finding a LL who self-manages his/her properties - check via the local LL association or online at vivatsreet,letalife, gumtree etc

Cheers for the advice
LA has the deposit secure we have that in writing so we know its safe.
Letters will be going out tomorrow
We know our LA has two more apartments in the complex we rent (hopefully with a diff LL) so any idea if things did go pear shape that they would let us just move across or would we have to go through hassle of credit checks and transfering the deposit again? Were in our first month of a new six month tennancy.

tbs624

andyscott1978 wrote: »

...LA has the deposit secure we have that in writing so we know its safe.Letters will be going out tomorrow.

Add to that a letter to the deposit scheme letting them know what is happening too.

andyscott1978 wrote: »

We know our LA has two more apartments in the complex we rent (hopefully with a diff LL) so any idea if things did go pear shape that they would let us just move across or would we have to go through hassle of credit checks and transfering the deposit again? Were in our first month of a new six month tennancy.

Your deposit should be returned to you. If you took up another tenancy at different property with a different LL you would then have to sign a new contract and pay a new deposit, which should then of course be scheme registered.

If Carlsberg ran Letting Agencies then the LA would not insist on you being credit checked again (or indeed charging you for it) but the new potential LL may have different requirements & insurance policies to comply with and/or the LA may just fancy another fee for doing very little.

Hope it all works out for you.

andyscott1978

A update on the situation.
Friday I phoned up to see if the estate agent had got the copy of the letter, I took them to Monday to tell me no so I emailed them over a copy. Today we have received a letter saying they will not discuss the case until either the LL has settled his problems with them or it has been to court.
So as far as I can tell my hands are tied? I either hope the LL pays or I get told after the case its been repossessed, I have asked my LA where I stand legally if its repossessed but I don’t hold much hope of a reply it's the first dealings ive had with a LA but I wont use these again.
Is it worth a visit to the CAB for advise? I dont want to be told in Oct I have X amount of days to move out.

Premier_2

andyscott1978 wrote:

Yesterday my partner opened a letter addressed to the occupy of the property, It was basically a letter for the landlord saying he will be taken to court in Oct for reposseion due to unspecified owed money on the mortgage.

Actually it was a letter intended for you, hence why it was addressed to the 'occupier'
This is standard procedure where a property is being re-possessed. The mortgage company would have written in person to the LL at his normal mailing address. This letter is for your information. As a tenant, you can also attend the court hearing, and if you tell the court in advance that you wish to make representations, the judge will listen to them, but don't expect too much sympathy. The judge will be more interested in allowing the lender to minimise their loss than to allow you to stay there. Expect at best the possibility of getting 28 days notice to leave instead of the usual 14 days.

andyscott1978 wrote:

We have just recently signed up for another 6 months tennany of the property, Does anyone have any idea of what will happen if it goes all the way to the court can we be out straight away or will the tennancy agreement mean anything?

Unfortunately, you are tied to the terms of the tenancy agreement until such times as a court rules otherwise.

andyscott1978 wrote:

Is it worth a visit to the CAB for advise? I dont want to be told in Oct I have X amount of days to move out.

Yes, by all means contact the CAB or Shelter for further advice, but I fear you may well be told you have x amount of days to move out come the court hearing in October.

andyscott1978

Just to update this thread.

My landlord went to court I was told not to attend I was not a party to it but try phone up and find the outcome of the case after it had happened.

The court will not tell me the outcome. I have asked the LA to speak to the LL but between them they do not seem to be able to give me any indication to what has happened

Phoned the legal company up who were dealing with it, They again can not tell me nothing. They say if a eviction order is applied for I will get a letter in the next four weeks about that.

Anyone have any further experience with this? Will I get a letter saying what happened in court or may I just get a letter sometime over the next month saying get out in X ammount of days?

Why dont tennants get more right then this, It's just a worry to me and my partner at least if we had some indication it has gone tits up and the LL is losing the flat then at least we could start looking for a new place to live.

andyscott1978

anyone know if threat of repossesion would fall under the quiet enjoyment rule? especially if no one has told us nothing and I have spent time trying to find out, If our flat is not been repossed I would like to get out of it due to the LA and LL been of no help at all and causing undue stress.

roguebrogue

I know you've probably alread done this but I googled it and here's some things to read through:

http://www.housingrepossessions.co.uk/tenants-whose-landlords-are-in-mortgage-arrears.html

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/repossession/repossession_by_a_landlords_lender

andyscott1978

Cheers Roguebrouge I have read the shelter oen before but the first one does seem to explain things a bit better, It's basically like weve been told as a tennant weve sod all rights.
So dissapointing you would think there would be certain laws in place to help.

Next question my deposit is with the LA which is supposed to be in a secure account if the house is repossesd how long does it take to get that back?

I have already arranaged a couple viewing of potential places incase worst happens

It's just frustating its impossible to find out the result of the court case for now when all I want is a simple Yes its all gone tits up or no you should be safe for now.