Advice on what to do?! Landlord court date for mortgage arrears

N79

spongerob500 wrote: »

I am seriously considering claiming some sort of compensation from my current letting agents for not properly checking out my landlady. I have an appointment with CAB thursday, to discuss this. Will be moved (hopefully) within 4 weeks.

Unfortunately they are not your letting agents - they are your LL's agent and as such have no contractual obligation to you for the LL's conduct.

MissMoneypenny

spongerob500 wrote: »

I am seriously considering claiming some sort of compensation from my current letting agents for not properly checking out my landlady. I have an appointment with CAB thursday, to discuss this. Will be moved (hopefully) within 4 weeks.

I have always thought that a letting agent is to blame as well as the landlord. The LA showed you the house and said it was available to let, when consent to let from the mortgage lender had never been recieved. How can they claim a house is available to let when they never bothered to check it was

You may be able to get a specialist solicitor and barrister for free, to take this claim up for you. If you have a house contents insurance and took the optional extra of Legal Cover, phone your insurers and ask for a legal cover claim form, fill it in and see if they will agree you have case that they will pay. Once you have their agreement in writing, you can then select solicitor who is a specialist in this field, to act for you.

My Legal Cover is for a maximum of 50k. Some insurers have a legal cover limit of 100k

chappers

spongerob500 wrote: »

Me and my family will be homeless before the end of my tenancy (which is supposed to end Feb '10) So therefore I have to find altenative accommodation.

Are you sure of that, a date has only been set for the hearing, you can definitely make an application to the court to be given time to find alternate housing.
There is also a slim chance that your LL may be able to stave off the eviction too.

spongerob500

chappers wrote: »

Are you sure of that, a date has only been set for the hearing, you can definitely make an application to the court to be given time to find alternate housing.
There is also a slim chance that your LL may be able to stave off the eviction too.

I spoke to the council and the seem to think that I have 6 weeks max from the court hearing to get somewhere else. I do not think the LL will bother turning up, she is abroad and has been since our tenancy began about 15 months ago. Sounds like she fully understood what she was doing to me. Can't I get any compensation for her taking my rent and not using it to pay the mortgage?

DVardysShadow

spongerob500 wrote: »

Can't I get any compensation for her taking my rent and not using it to pay the mortgage?

You might get a court order - ie win your case. But if she is being repo'd, you will find it hard to get compo. Just hold on to the rent.

silvercar

I spoke to the council and the seem to think that I have 6 weeks max from the court hearing to get somewhere else.

Interesting. Often people are told that possession would be granted immediately, the mortgage lender having no obligation to acknowledge your needs.

Can't I get any compensation for her taking my rent and not using it to pay the mortgage?

In practice, no. She is (a) broke and (b) abroad. Your chances of getting compo are slim and expensive.

In the current market there is the possibility that the lender (as the new owner) will allow you to remain until the end of the tenancy. If they think there is no mileage in selling quickly, they may feel that receiving some rental income and waiting for prices to improve (possibly) is worth doing.

This puts you in a difficult situation as you do not know where you stand.

silvercar

roger196 wrote: »

I take a very different view on the situation. It would be worth reading thru the thread I started on 30th Sept on "tenants evicted when LL repossessed" (ps can someone tell me how to put in the link to this). The first para states:-
Civil or Criminal
If the landlord did not have a BTL ( buy-to-let) mortgage, then the landlord falsely pretended to the tenant that he was able to grant a 6 month AST giving the tenant peaceful enjoyment of the property for six months. Thus the rent was obtained by false representation. This is a criminal matter under S.2 of the Fraud Act 2006. Fraud by false representation occurs when a person dishonestly makes a false representation (express or implied), to make a gain for himself or to cause loss to another (e.g. the loss of the tenancy)
The bank may then be in possession of the tenant’s money (if the rent was used to pay the mortgage) falsely obtained and that it should be returned to the tenant under S.240 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
If you want to play hardball, try the following. Suggest you put this to the lender's solicitors as to when they propose to return your money. Suggest that you will forego this money in return for two months rent free at the property to give yourself sufficient time to find somewhere else to live.
You need to be careful not to suggest that the lenders have themselves acted fraudulently.

Really interesting. There is the arguement that the landlord had sufficient funds at the start of the tenancy to be able to afford the mortgage and as such at the time the tenancy was granted was able to provide "quiet enjoyment" through the tenancy. So the AST wasn't set up falsely, but subsequent events have meant that the mortgage wasn't paid.

I don't see how you can ask the lender to repay the rent money; isn't the whole point that the lender hasn't been receiving payments, so hasn't received any money?

edgex

silvercar wrote: »

Really interesting. There is the arguement that the landlord had sufficient funds at the start of the tenancy to be able to afford the mortgage and as such at the time the tenancy was granted was able to provide "quiet enjoyment" through the tenancy. So the AST wasn't set up falsely, but subsequent events have meant that the mortgage wasn't paid.

I don't see how you can ask the lender to repay the rent money; isn't the whole point that the lender hasn't been receiving payments, so hasn't received any money?

I dont think you could reasonably expect a lender, who has also been 'wronged' to repay moneys that they were rightly owed & paid.

however, if the LL did not have the neccesary permission from their lender to be letting out the property, that would be the fraud part.
therefore, you could look into withholding any further rental payments, & even contacting the scheme that the deposit is held with, & explaining to them that the deposit was obtained fraudulently.

MissMoneypenny

spongerob500 wrote: »

Can't I get any compensation for her taking my rent and not using it to pay the mortgage?

You can sue for your costs. Does the landlord own any other properties? Maybe the home they live in.

Did you check to see if you have Legal Cover on your house contents policy as I suggested in post 33? You could then get a legal expert for free and get them to act for you. If the landlord doesn't own any assets, can you sue them when they get back on their financial feet? Is fraud covered by statute time barring? Maybe sue the letting agent for your costs if it is easier to get your costs from them?

MissMoneypenny

silvercar wrote: »

In practice, no. She is (a) broke and (b) abroad. Your chances of getting compo are slim and expensive.

Silvercar. Now that you see the misery people have from landlords that don't pay their mortgage, would you please now stop telling posters to rent their houses out without asking for their lenders permission