Landlord illegally letting flat to us - advice needed please!

mooma_2

Hello!

I have been aware for some time that the owner of the flat we rent is breaking his lease by letting the property out to us.
Someone from the company who owns the lease has been round and told us that we must move out as we have no rights to live in the property.

I contacted the company who own the lease to have a chat with them about the situation and all the info I gave them was forwarded to their legal dept. Also we were told we don't have to worry about being chucked out without any notice as the situation will take ages to sort out (not that it matters anymore as we are moving out next month -phew!).

I have been in contact with our landlord and he denies everything - and lies that he has never been made aware of breaking his lease (!).

Anyway - I was just wondering if there is anyone alse I can contact (apart from the company who own the lease) to make sure the right thing is done and the landlord gets in trouble for what he is doing.
I hate what he has done to me, my partner and our baby daughter - we've only lived here a few months and now we are being kicked out. I know the landlord plans to continue to let the property after we have gone and I want to save the next tenants from what has happened to us.

Any advice appreciated x

poppysarah

Where's your deposit?

You could find out who his mortgage is with and snitch him up to them (couple of quid at the land registry) and his buildings insurance - but he might have done this side of things legit.

redcar_2

Have you had anything in writing yet?

If you have signed a 6 month contract with the landlord to rent you may be held liable for the outstanding rent even if you move out if you do not have it written out that the contract is now void (I'm assuming you are in the first six months as you've only been there a few months). I'd not take some other person's verbal word for it.

You also need to find out how much and whether you need to give notice.

I don't think you have to move out without a possession order if you don't want to, although it sounds as if you are happy to go.

prudryden

If he owns the flat, why does someone else own the lease? Are you referring to the freeholder rather than the lease holder?

What authority does this "lease owner" have to tell you to leave?

PasturesNew

He might not have been aware that he is unable to sublet. This could have happened if he obtained a residential mortgage on the property and had no clue what the lease meant when he read through it. Many people do that in flats, have NO idea that the lease contains lots of Do/Don'ts.

If the freeholder's been round and knocked on your door and you've spoken to them, then you're a long way towards having the heavies down on his case. They'll be watching him like a hawk now.

I suspect if he'd had a BTL mortgage, the solicitor would have picked up on the "no subletting" clause in the lease and made an issue of it during the conveyancing.

Of course, he could have a residential mortgage with a Consent to Let.

But I can see how it is possible he didn't know. Some people are just thick like that and don't read things. While leases can be lengthy and full of legalese, the bit where you can spot the Do/Don'ts is usually the most readable section of it all.

olly300

OP your post is confusing. The only scenarios where I think this is likely to happen is housing association or council flats.

If you are not suppose to be in the flat then get the person who told you this to write you a letter stating the exact reasons for this. Just phone them up and ask for one. If they want to charge you (which is unlikely) tell them to charge your landlord.

Once you have the letter you can then chase your landlord up.

I also suggest before you confront your landlord again, you get a residential address for your landlord and check by paying a visit that your landlord actually lives in the property.

Trollfever

Speak to Shelter:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/

boggie40

Cruel..... oh i see where you are coming from now !
I thought you were directing them to some kind of site for caves or something..lol never heard of a charity called shelter.

mooma_2

Sorry to all those who are confused - I have always rented so don't know all the right terms for all these things.

Basically the guy who is letting the property to us only bought a lease. In the terms of his lease it says that the property is not allowed to be let out at all, it is to be owner occupied.
The freeholder has told us we are not allowed to live in the property as the guy who owns it is meant to live in it as it is written into the terms of his lease.

I have had advice from the citezens advice bureau so i know all the suff about tenancy agreement not worth the paper it's written on, and also that we have no rights whatsoever to stay in the property. So thank goodness we are moving soon.

I have already reported him to the freeholder, and now also to the tax man as i doubt he pays tax on this second income if it is illegal!!!
I will now be trying to find out who his mortgage company is so I can tell them too!

Realy

mooma wrote: »

Sorry to all those who are confused - I have always rented so don't know all the right terms for all these things.

Basically the guy who is letting the property to us only bought a lease. In the terms of his lease it says that the property is not allowed to be let out at all, it is to be owner occupied.
The freeholder has told us we are not allowed to live in the property as the guy who owns it is meant to live in it as it is written into the terms of his lease.

I have had advice from the citezens advice bureau so i know all the suff about tenancy agreement not worth the paper it's written on, and also that we have no rights whatsoever to stay in the property. So thank goodness we are moving soon.

I have already reported him to the freeholder, and now also to the tax man as i doubt he pays tax on this second income if it is illegal!!!
I will now be trying to find out who his mortgage company is so I can tell them too!

Why the personal vendetor?
As you say you knew for a while but why wait untill leaving to raise it?

bajangal

......and how did the freeholder know you were renting the property? Did they just turn up?