1 month eviction notice?

Ulfar

The bills issue is irrelevant if they didn't protect your deposit and issue the prescribed information.

A side effect If they haven't done this is they can't issue a section 21 notice until they have.

Depending on your amount of deposit, I would not just assume you have used that much in bills.

For instance in six months I use about £400 to £500.00 total for Gas/Electricity and Water. I would be surprised if your deposit was less than this.

PasturesNew

Oh dear .... this is going to be a long thread ....

Your landlords have broken/are breaking several fundamental basic rights you have when you are a tenant.

Keep reading OP .... you'll shortly be empowered!

The others are right: you signed a 6 month AST, which ends on 28 February (presumably), meaning you moved in on 1st September 2009 (I presume). Your landlord has to issue you with a proper/written/formal S21 notice when they want you out. That means they have until 28th February to issue you with this two months notice, which would then run until the end of April (30th). So, 30th April is your leaving date... if they fanny about and argue the toss and as a result of that they don't get their finger out and instead issue you with an S21 on 2nd March (say), then they've missed their chance (even if it's back-dated by them) ... in which case, you'd have two months from the NEXT rent date (1 April) meaning your leaving date would be two months from then (31st May).

Now, obviously you don't want to be 4rses about it... and you want to leave in an orderly and professional manner, but those are your rights.

Re deposit: they MUST/SHOULD have put it into a proper Tenancy Deposit Service. It's not their choice what they do with it, that's the law. As they haven't, they've opened themselves up to the potential for you claiming back 3x this amount from them ... that's the law.

Trollfever

Buy to let landlord fined for not checking safety of gas fire

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has again warned landlords to be extra vigilant in ensuring the properties they own contain safe gas appliances that are correctly checked and certified.
It follows the recent sentencing of landlord Helen Jayne Beckett, of Lodge Hill, Addingham, Ilkley, who was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs after she pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 36(3) of the Gas Safety (Installations and Use) Regulations 1998 and of contravening a previous improvement notice.

http://www.residentiallandlord.co.uk/news2127.html

clutton_2

i would explain to them that as they are new landlords they clearly are not aware of a lot of the legislation... if it was me i would try to negotiate a sensible way forward for you all...

slinging round threats of court action this early on will only make matters a lot worse and make things even more difficult for everyone....

they want the house back.. you want a bit more notice... so /.....

i would suggest that you say to them that - if you are given enough time to find a new property, and are given your deposit back, then you will be happy to start house hunting straight away, and will be in a positioin to move out much quicker than doing things the formal way.. .. but, get this in writing...

and, yes, i know that the rules have been broken here - but - do tryto get a negotiated settlement that pleases both parties and you may have a Win-Win situation.....

Mouseman

I'd also keep an eye on those bills that haven't been paid by you all - have you been putting money away, you must have realised they'd need paying at some point? Again, legally you might be ok in that they're not in your name but if you burned it, you should pay for it?

clutton_2

what does it say in your AST about yoru bills and utilities ?

edwardmluk

Cheers for all the information so far guys. We're 3 new graduates on our first jobs, its not quite in our nature to want to mess people over, no matter how easy/feasible it might be. Instead, we're gonna get the LLs to figure out the bills and all that. And come to a compromise to pay them over a period of time, not all in one go. To give us a chance to afford rent & deposit on the next house. If they decide to get all uppity about it and demand money (which i sincerely doubt) then we can start pointing out the errors they've made. I dont think this is going to get to a legal stage. At least I hope not.

Is there any point in me posting a copy of our tenancy agreement (with addresses/names blanked out obviously)? Or is it likely to just be a standard issue one? Nothing exciting to learn etc.

Again thanks a lot. This has been very informative and has turned was has been a ridiculously depressing/stressful couple of days into something not quite as bad.

edwardmluk

clutton wrote: »

what does it say in your AST about yoru bills and utilities ?

We have to pay them. And it uses the word indemnify a lot. Nothing about them being in our name or not. But we always passed on all post to the LLs, even obvious bills. And they never got back to us about it. Not saying its all their fault, just saying its not all ours either.

Fire_Fox

Most of us are not suggesting that you automatically go to court, just making you aware of what the law allows for. I would strongly recommend you formally ask your landlord to lodge your deposit now, and then you are all in a secure position to debate how the bills are managed. You should also ask for an S21 so everyone knows where they stand but this can't legally be issued until the deposit is lodged.

Note that the tenants are legally liable for the council tax regardless of what the AST says, and you are not in a good position if you have not informed the council of your presence. This needs regularising immediately and can be backdated; any monies paid during your tenancy into the wrong account will not be automatically transferred over, so in theory you could end up being charged twice. The other bills can remain in the landlords if it suits. By all means post your entire AST, but you might be better to type in the relevant sections - any mention of deposits or utilities would be interesting to read.

edwardmluk

Here's some of the more useful pages for you lot to peruse if you wish. I'm going to talk to the LLs tonight and try to figure all this out.

http://www.mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting-view-04.php?id=257page1.jpg
http://www.mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting-view-04.php?id=3815page2.jpg
http://www.mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting-view-04.php?id=7645page3.jpg
http://www.mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting-view-04.php?id=3799page4.jpg

Thanks again,
Ed