Bankruptcy during an assured shorthold tenancy agreement

mumsyrach

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could please give me some advice.

Have been struggling to pay my debts for about 2years and FINALLY got around to contacting the CCCS for help after a nasty man at HSBC made me cry about my finances.

The CCCS person was so so so nice and recommended that i go bankrupt, something i had never even considered before.

I have done my statement of affairs form on the insolvency website and my final check list bfore submitting it was to just call up my letting agents to double check it would not cause a problem with my current tenancy.
Have already read through my copy of the agreement and can no where see that there is a stipulation on that it would cause a problem on the agreement, but the person i spoke to on the phone said oh no i wouldnt recommend that as you cant have a bank account. When i politely stated that you can have a basic account she has now gone off to check with another member of staff and they will get back to me.

Am now sitting here panicing that they could still turf me out (which is why i never considered bankruptcy before as i thought that is what would happen).

Basically i was just wondering if there is NO stipulation in my tenancy agreement about bankruptcy would the landlord still have the right to ask me to leave? Can they just say "oh well because it is not mentioned we can still do it?"

Any advice on this would be so helpful and very greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.

k2nga

i was in the same situation and funny that through that i found out that my LL had been BR himself once.

But being honest if you are paying the rent i doubt your LL will care less as the address is not even blacklisted like years gone by and if its not in the contract they have even less a reason to ask you to leave and im a guess that post BR you will maybe have more money making there rent even more secure so dont worry about it too much

mumsyrach

thankyou for your response, i really hope so, it was just the womans attitude at the letting agents that nearly bought me to tears again, who would of thought that bankruptcy would be such an emotional rollercoaster!?x

catneedtosell

You might find out that even though theres no mention of bankruptcy in the agreement as they're aware you're going bankrupt they may just decide to not renew your tenancy agreement, and give you 2 months notice of doing that.

However, it is known that most landlords are ok with bankrupt people living in their property, as they know they'll get their rent.

paulc19

It's amazing how some people are so misinformed about bankruptcy, when i told my mum she also thought i could not have a bank account. God bless the co-op, i say!

I'm on an assured shorthold myself. Obviously if the landlord wants to turf me/you/anyone for that matter out, they can do so with 2 months notice once the initial 6 months has passed with no reasons but at least that allows you ample time to look for something else. Any LL who knows their !!!! from elbow will not have a problem providing rent is paid. Never bothered to tell mine, but doubt he would have had a problem with it, he just likes the money going into his bank account every month! Try not to worry, chances are you will be fine. How far are you into your tenancy?

completemess

We had to tell our LL as they wrote to him at our address, I have never been so scared but he was surprisingly understanding and like the others have said as long as he gets his rent he is not bothered x

fiveyearplan

mumsyrach wrote: »

who would of thought that bankruptcy would be such an emotional rollercoaster!?x

That it most definitely is!

RRWJ

An assured shorthold means that the time you've signed for is assured. The worst that can happen providing you don't have any rent arrears is that they don't renew the lease as someone has already said. If they decide to do this, you'll get a section 21 notice you'll need to sign and send back to them. My landlady served that notice when we renewed the agreement last september, but it's fine because we don't want to renew here anyway!

They can't get you out with two months notice after the initial six month period as someone has said on here unless it's by mutual agreement to dissolve the tenancy agreement. The earliest they can get you out unless you're behind in your rent is at the end of your agreement.

If you have rent arrears it's a different matter. Then they can go to court and get a section 8 order to get you out, but that can take a while, and it's rare nowadays that unless you've been horrendous and trashed the place that the judge would rule against a tenant. The housing act 1988 rules very much in favour of the tenant, and all agreements nowadays come under that act.

Hope this helps, and if you need any more info, please feel free to drop me a private message.

All the best

R

mumsyrach

thank you all for your replies. after much harassing the letting agents they finally let me know that it would be ok, so much more stress for nothing. least thats that sorted now, well at least i hope so until the court writes to my landlord, he is of the same generation as my dad and just hope he is upto date on such things as my dad was convinced that going BR would go against the property; worst thing you could possibly do etc. thanks again everyone x

JKG1312

HI,

I am hoping someone can give me a bit of advise. My partner went bankrupt in OCtober 2011. We are now at the end of our tenancy and are looking at doing it for another year. Do we have to tell the landlord? We have looked through our tenancy agreement and there is no mention at all for bankrupcy. It is a joint tenancy and we also have a guarantor. Rent has always been on time and never had any problems at all.

Just to confuse things even more, we found out our landlord passed away last month and have not been informed by the letting agent. We know through the grapevine of his family memebers and friends. Should we of been informed of this? It is only his name on our agreement and not sure if he is married?

Please Help!!

beckyfojo

Don't know about the name thing or the landlord dying, but the OR (I believe) would have written to your landlord at the time of the bankruptcy to inform them that you had gone bankrupt. If they didn't contact you at the time I can't imagine that they'd not want to renew the lease because of this?!

xx