Assured Shorthold Tenancy... LL issue!! Help!

BitterAndTwisted

They could decide to issue a Notice To Quit now to come into effect at the end of April but can only winkle you out before then IF you are eight weeks in arrears. The fact that your rent was due IN ADVANCE a week ago means you are actually a month in arrears. See?

Buy the way, LHA is short for Local Housing Allowance as there's no Housing Benefit any longer. There is a maximum that your Local Authority is prepared to pay towards your rent, so it might not cover all of it. Depends whether you're two people living in a six bedroomed detached house or not.

AST is short for an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which is what you have until the end of April.

Another caveat: please be aware that your LHA will not cover your water-rates, you will have to cover this out of your Jobseekers Allowance.

Why-oh-Why_3

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The fact that your rent was due IN ADVANCE a week ago means you are actually a month in arrears. See?

Sorry, No I dont see, as we have paid in advance for everything so it was due yesterday so 1 day in arrears .... Sorry Im not good with all this....

Another caveat: please be aware that your LHA will not cover your water-rates, you will have to cover this out of your Jobseekers Allowance.

As its a Shared property, all we pay is rent inclusive of bills, but thanks for bringing that up as that may have been a major factor

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BitterAndTwisted

I believe that you stated your tenancy agreement said that the rent was payable a month in advance, not weekly, so your landlord was expecting a month's rent to be paid a week ago.

No need to sweat if your Local Authority are on the ball and the LHA will be coming through before you're 8 weeks overdue.

Why-oh-Why_3

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I believe that you stated your tenancy agreement said that the rent was payable a month in advance, not weekly, so your landlord was expecting a month's rent to be paid a week ago.

No need to sweat if your Local Authority are on the ball and the LHA will be coming through before you're 8 weeks overdue.

The rent was due yesterday so with what your saying that would be a month from then, but they knew we pay weekly or fortnightly.

So in 1 months time if we have not been able to pay (although I think that will not be an issue) we would be 8 weeks in arrears and they can gain a court order for us to be evicted?

clutton_2

i am sorry to say that tenants like you are a nightmare... you signed an agreement to pay the rent monthly in advance - and yet you then chose to pay weekly/fortnightly/ whenever the fancy takes you... no wonder the LL is starting to worry about getting his rent now that you are out of work....

I would also be issuing you with notices if i were your landlord...

re 8 weeks - as an example

rent due on the first of the month - say January - and not paid - tenant now one month in arrears on 2nd january

rent due on first of February - by 2nd of february tenant is now 2 months in arrears and LL can issued Section 8 notice, giving the tenant 2 weeks to pay all rental (in advance) and if tenant does not do so, LL can then apply to court for possession and Court will probably grant possessionin 14 days if 8 weeks or more is still outstanding on the day of the court hearing.....

Why-oh-Why_3

clutton wrote: »

i am sorry to say that tenants like you are a nightmare... you signed an agreement to pay the rent monthly in advance - and yet you then chose to pay weekly/fortnightly/ whenever the fancy takes you... no wonder the LL is starting to worry about getting his rent now that you are out of work....

I would also be issuing you with notices if i were your landlord...

re 8 weeks - as an example

rent due on the first of the month - say January - and not paid - tenant now one month in arrears on 2nd january

rent due on first of February - by 2nd of february tenant is now 2 months in arrears and LL can issued Section 8 notice, giving the tenant 2 weeks to pay all rental (in advance) and if tenant does not do so, LL can then apply to court for possession and Court will probably grant possessionin 14 days if 8 weeks or more is still outstanding on the day of the court hearing.....

Whoah...Excuse me!!!!!!!

I am asking for advice on where I stand, not insults!

We moved in April 09 on the basis of weekly/fortnightly payments, A contract was produced end of May 09 ( a month after we moved in), and it was then that it showed monthly, but was still agreed for weekly or fortnightly payments, I lost my job Dec 7th and have still maintained payments up till yesterday where I was then threatened with serving notice even with advising that we can pay in approx 1 week.

I think your response was somewhat harsh!

clutton_2

what you sign binds you - and saying to a judge "they said i could pay weekly" will hold no sway whatsoever - as the judge will say "why did you sign a monthly contract then ?"

if that is harsh i am sorry - but i am advising you on your legal rights and how it will be seen in court.....

pay attention to this

""rent due on the first of the month - say January - and not paid - tenant now one month in arrears on 2nd january

rent due on first of February - by 2nd of february tenant is now 2 months in arrears and LL can issued Section 8 notice, giving the tenant 2 weeks to pay all rental (in advance) and if tenant does not do so, LL can then apply to court for possession and Court will probably grant possessionin 14 days if 8 weeks or more is still outstanding on the day of the court hearing.....""

its how our courts work -

verbal agreements will have no importance whatsoever in court........

Why-oh-Why_3

clutton wrote: »

what you sign binds you - and saying to a judge "they said i could pay weekly" will hold no sway whatsoever - as the judge will say "why did you sign a monthly contract then ?"

if that is harsh i am sorry - but i am advising you on your legal rights and how it will be seen in court.....

pay attention to this

""rent due on the first of the month - say January - and not paid - tenant now one month in arrears on 2nd january

rent due on first of February - by 2nd of february tenant is now 2 months in arrears and LL can issued Section 8 notice, giving the tenant 2 weeks to pay all rental (in advance) and if tenant does not do so, LL can then apply to court for possession and Court will probably grant possessionin 14 days if 8 weeks or more is still outstanding on the day of the court hearing.....""

its how our courts work -

verbal agreements will have no importance whatsoever in court........

My issue is that we can pay in 1 week as mentioned, to threaten within this time surely is unfair especially as if what your saying of 8 weeks in arrears is the case that still gives us 4 weeks plus the 14 day notice.

I aprreciate the legal content advise definately but to say were a nightmare as tennants and also you would issue notice is harsh.

The landlord was 3 months in arrears with his mortgage with a court repossesion hearing no communication to any of the tenants. contract Breach?? yet were expected to sit here and be happy with receiving this threat after missing payment for 1 week (as in when it would be paid)!?

princeofpounds

Let's be precise in this - it is overdues that matters, not arrears. So if you are to pay your rent one month in advance, as is often standard practice, you are 2 months rent overdue after one month of arrears.

WoW - they can give you a notice at ANY time they like. Landlords frequently give notice to quit on the day you move in. But that doesn't mean the notice is valid or that it expires on the day you receive it.

Eviction is only possible with (ignoring the more esoteric grounds that can be used):

Section 8 - 2 months overdues and a court visit.

Section 21 - end of fixed tenancy, 2 months notice and a court visit.

You shouldn't even worry about what the landlord will do. Sort things out as best you can, try to get payments back on track, and it is totally their decision to end the tenancy under one of the methods above or not.

You may even get a notice tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you won't have time to get back on track and even ask them to reconsider. A landlord is unlikely to chuck a tenant who is paying regularly, once they are assured it is a one-off problem.

As for the landlord being behind in their mortgage, it's a strange gap in housing law but if the lenders repossess, your tenancy will end anyway and you have no recourse unless it was a specific buy to let mortgage.

From what you have said, it sounds like the agency are just turning bully very quickly. Do contact your landlord directly to explain any problems if you think they are being unreasonable.

Why-oh-Why_3

princeofpounds wrote: »

Let's be precise in this - it is overdues that matters, not arrears. So if you are to pay your rent one month in advance, as is often standard practice, you are 2 months rent overdue after one month of arrears.

WoW - they can give you a notice at ANY time they like. Landlords frequently give notice to quit on the day you move in. But that doesn't mean the notice is valid or that it expires on the day you receive it.

Eviction is only possible with (ignoring the more esoteric grounds that can be used):

Section 8 - 2 months overdues and a court visit.

Section 21 - end of fixed tenancy, 2 months notice and a court visit.

You shouldn't even worry about what the landlord will do. Sort things out as best you can, try to get payments back on track, and it is totally their decision to end the tenancy under one of the methods above or not.

You may even get a notice tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you won't have time to get back on track and even ask them to reconsider. A landlord is unlikely to chuck a tenant who is paying regularly, once they are assured it is a one-off problem.

As for the landlord being behind in their mortgage, it's a strange gap in housing law but if the lenders repossess, your tenancy will end anyway and you have no recourse unless it was a specific buy to let mortgage.

From what you have said, it sounds like the agency are just turning bully very quickly. Do contact your landlord directly to explain any problems if you think they are being unreasonable.

Thanks for this response.

The letting Agents are extremely bizare, they do as much as possible verbally and pin you down and forget there terms etc so yes bullying antics are apparent as far as were concerned.

it also doesnt help that the landlord is the letting agents brother in law who happens to be in India all the time!

Its all a nightmare, I think we intend to look elsewhere if possible, but want to know where we stand in the meantime and deal with the issue.

Either way, from what people say its not like they can provide a notice of which we have to immediately move out so thats the main thing, as we would most definately have no where to go!