My landlord has lost his case at the possession hearing

shortcake01

Hi, I have rented a flat since February through a letting agent. I have always paid my rent on time and never had any problems until August when I received a letter addressed to the Occupier which was basically a letter from a solicitors advising me that due to non payment of mortgage my landlord was being taken to court and the possession hearing was scheduled for 20th October.
I took advice from CAB, shelter, tried to discuss with the solicitors and mortgage company but basically couldnt get anywhere with people telling me that tennants have no rights and I would have to wait for the outcome of the court case.
I rung the court the day of the hearing who advised me that due to data protection they were unable to tell me anything, the solicitor and mortgage co also said the same. After a few more calls to the court, hoping to get someone slightly more sympathetic a lady told me my landlord had lost his case and we should hear something in the near future but they had a delay on sending paperwork out.
We are now weeks down the line and still no one will tell me anything except the solicitor told me 2 weeks ago that the order had not yet been enforced and they were unable to tell me anything further due to data protection.
My letting agents have not been very helpful and apparently my landlord is ignoring them but they have advised that should I attempt to leave the property before my contract ends in February they will pursue me for the remainder of the rent. It seems I am in a no win situation, does anyone have any advice or thoughts?
If I have to leave then fine but I dont want it to get to Christmas and then be told I have a week to leave!
Thanks in advance.

eamon

Stay where you are. The mortage holder has so much paperwork backing up that they don't know what to do. Don't pay your rent instead open another savings account and stick it in there. Use this time to find suitable accommodation and don't forget to play hardball with whoever tries to evict you when its not convenient.

SouthCoast

Sit tight and follow the advice from CAB and Shelter.

The property could be sold at auction with you as a sitting tenant.

geoffky

stop paying the rent..they have refused to be fair with you....get your deposit ready

Incisor

As the others say, stop paying the rent. But make sure you put it in a savings account, rather than let it evaporate.
Write to the lettings Agent and advise that you understand the property has been repossessed and you are now acting as though you had no security of tenure and that you will be seeking alternative accommodation unless they give a written guarantee of security of tenure for the remainder of term. If they don't give that assurance, then move out once your saved rent covers your deposit. If they do give that reassurance, then post a copy to the lender and ask for their confirmation.

ad9898_3

Another BTL !!!!!!, over leveraged, greedy and taking another tenant with them. Legislation should be bought in to stop these people recking peoples lives for a fast buck, they should be heavily fined and banned for life of ever taking out a BTL loan again.

Stop paying your rent. Good Luck in finding somewhere else.

Debt_Free_Chick

Just want to check that witholding the rent is the right way to go ...?

Why would that be the case?

Incisor

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Just want to check that witholding the rent is the right way to go ...?

Why would that be the case?

Contract is between LL and T. LL no longer owns house, so is unable to fulfil contract to T. T mean while, if paying rent in advance, runs risk of being evicted at no notice, but with prospective rent already paid, which becomes something to recover from LL. LL being repossessed is not likely to be in a position to refund, even after a small claims case. Also if LL has money problems, he is unlikely to think of evicting tenant from whom he has some prospect of money - nor, if the house id repo'd would he have standing to take an eviction to court, I should imagine. Any rent would be due to the lender rather than the [ex]LL after repo, morally at least.

Should be made clear that it is to be held to pay LL after all done and dusted. This is not legal advice, of course, it is just a practical approach.

silvercar

Its a really difficult one. A lender in repossession could use the fact that tenant is behind with rent to evict (presuming that landlord had BTL / consent to let mortgage in the first place).

I wouldn't rely on the letting agent's view. They have a contract with the landlord not the lender.

sarkin

Move out its not your problem

Debt_Free_Chick

Doesn't the lender step in to take the place of the LL?

I guess it's semantics at the end of the day as it sounds like the LL didn't have the lender's permission to let. If they had, then the lender would be a "co-Landlord"

Just wanted to be sure that the OP wouldn't be adding fuel to fire by witholding the rent