Tenant - just received repossession letter HELP!

PasturesNew

Get him to cancel his rent payment at the bank. In all the hoo-hah it might be paid out. This isn't withholding rent, but ensuring full rent doesn't go to a landlord the day before/of/after any repossession.

He can always set it up again if it's all OK etc.

In event of repossession, I might be tempted to do a sit in at the EA's office.... complete with food stocks and sleeping bags.

tbs624

hesjane wrote: »

He has a large deposit on hold with the agency which he can't afford to lose.

Has either the LL or LA scheme-registered this deposit and passed the relevant Scheme's "prescribed information " on to your son ? If the property is in Eng/Wales and let on an AST (annual rent under £25k)this is a legal requirement. If your son hasn't been given any info by either LA or LL then he should check for himself with each of the 3 schemes - google TDS, DPS and mydeposits.

The LA should have ascertained whether the property was owned outright, had consent to let or a BTL mortgage in place before marketing it. Remember that they work for the LL , not for the T, and their prime concern in this scenario will be to get any money that is owed to them by the LL rather than fighting the T's corner.

The Council has a Tenancy Relations Officer whose role it is to deal only with Private Sector Rentals - they can be a useful source of support.

franklee

hesjane wrote: »

Thank you - I will pass this on - looks very useful.:beer:

Please don't believe the article it's flawed. The way your son will be treated depends on if the tenancy is binding on the landlord's lender. If it isn't your son has no rights to stay till the end of the fixed term. That the LL/agent is insisting on keeping to the two months notice in the break clause does mean your son is in limbo, he needs to start kicking up a fuss to get his resolved one way or the other.

Shelter on this here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/repossession_by_a_landlords_lender

Do get help from the local council tenancy rations officer or shelter!

hesjane

franklee wrote: »

Please don't believe the article it's flawed. The way your son will be treated depends on if the tenancy is binding on the landlord's lender. If it isn't your son has no rights to stay till the end of the fixed term. That the LL/agent is insisting on keeping to the two months notice in the break clause does mean your son is in limbo, he needs to start kicking up a fuss to get his resolved one way or the other.

Shelter on this here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/repossession_by_a_landlords_lender

Do get help from the local council tenancy rations officer or shelter!

Many thanks for this information.

He has written to the lender tonight and advised them of his tenancy (enclosing a photocopy of his tenancy agreement). He has asked both the Landlord (separate letter direct to landlord) and the lender for confirmation that the landlord had consent to let the property out under such a tenancy agreement - and he has specifically asked for confirmation that his tenancy is binding on the lender. Hopefully he will get a positive response to that question - but we are not holding our breath on that one to honest.

I will contact him in the morning to advise he contacts the council tenancy relations officer.

Many, many thanks for all the advice and guidance.

hesjane

tbs624 wrote: »

Has either the LL or LA scheme-registered this deposit and passed the relevant Scheme's "prescribed information " on to your son ? If the property is in Eng/Wales and let on an AST (annual rent under £25k)this is a legal requirement. If your son hasn't been given any info by either LA or LL then he should check for himself with each of the 3 schemes - google TDS, DPS and mydeposits.

The LA should have ascertained whether the property was owned outright, had consent to let or a BTL mortgage in place before marketing it. Remember that they work for the LL , not for the T, and their prime concern in this scenario will be to get any money that is owed to them by the LL rather than fighting the T's corner.

The Council has a Tenancy Relations Officer whose role it is to deal only with Private Sector Rentals - they can be a useful source of support.

Apparently his deposit is registered with TDS - I say apparently because he tells me it is...but until I check that he has checked properly online and not just accepted that the paperwork the agent gave him says it is then I am taking that as unconfirmed at the moment.

Snooze

First thing you need to do is stop paying any more rent to the LL. Don't pay anything to anyone.

I speak through experience of a friend who went through this recently. I suspect your LL does not have permission from the lender to let and this was the same with my friend's LL.

Has the repo hearing actually happened yet? If it hasn't then you need to attend the hearing and put your case forward. If it has happened then will receive a letter about a week after the hearing saying that the lender has been granted possession and it will give a date that you need to have vacated the property by. It all looks very official and scary, but don't get worked up about it. It's actually all a load of scare-mongering and there really is no urgency to be out by the date stated at all. Suffice to say that no-one will be on the doorstep on the date you're required to vacate the property, I can tell you that much.

In my friends' case, his deposit wasn't protected by the LL and hence didn't have one to give to a new LL so was pretty much stuck where he was. The repossession date passed, and then a further 2 months before a card was dropped through the letterbox by the solicitors handling the repo asking him to call them. He didn't bother due to his financial problems and carried on as normal. Another 7 weeks went by before he received a letter from the solicitors advising him that they were applying to the court for an eviction notice. Another month went by and then a letter landed from the court giving him an eviction date around 2 weeks from the date of the letter. He vacated the property a few days before the eviction date but he spoke to the neighbour some time after and they did turn up on the eviction date to evict him.

From the repo 'vacate' date to the eviction date was the best part of 6 months. You want to use that time to your advantage while you save up a new deposit (and take advantage of the free accom. )

hesjane

Snooze wrote: »

First thing you need to do is stop paying any more rent to the LL. Don't pay anything to anyone.

I speak through experience of a friend who went through this recently. I suspect your LL does not have permission from the lender to let and this was the same with my friend's LL.

He has written to lender and landlord for confirmation that his LL had permission to let the property and that his tenancy is recognised by the lender.

Has the repo hearing actually happened yet? If it hasn't then you need to attend the hearing and put your case forward. If it has happened then will receive a letter about a week after the hearing saying that the lender has been granted possession and it will give a date that you need to have vacated the property by. It all looks very official and scary, but don't get worked up about it. It's actually all a load of scare-mongering and there really is no urgency to be out by the date stated at all. Suffice to say that no-one will be on the doorstep on the date you're required to vacate the property, I can tell you that much.

Not sure - the court paperwork said the property was being repossessed on 6th May - so I assume the repo hearing has already occurred. Will get my son to bring the document over again and read it with more care and less emotion this time

In my friends' case, his deposit wasn't protected by the LL

We have confirmed the deposit is registered with the TDS scheme - checked online - so that's okay

and hence didn't have one to give to a new LL so was pretty much stuck where he was. The repossession date passed, and then a further 2 months before a card was dropped through the letterbox by the solicitors handling the repo asking him to call them. He didn't bother due to his financial problems and carried on as normal. Another 7 weeks went by before he received a letter from the solicitors advising him that they were applying to the court for an eviction notice. Another month went by and then a letter landed from the court giving him an eviction date around 2 weeks from the date of the letter. He vacated the property a few days before the eviction date but he spoke to the neighbour some time after and they did turn up on the eviction date to evict him.

From the repo 'vacate' date to the eviction date was the best part of 6 months. You want to use that time to your advantage while you save up a new deposit (and take advantage of the free accom. )

They are fortunate that they have fairly large savings (son is self employed and tries to ensure he has six months income in savings, plus they have been saving for a deposit for a mortage anyway). However, just because they are fortunate to be in the position that they could just put down a fresh deposit on a new rental property doesn't mean they want to lose their deposit or any rent on this one.

The flat is furnished so I would think that if it is to be repossessed the LL would want his furniture out of there, so even if they don't have to vacate on the repossession date then I would imagine they wouldn't have beds and sofas etc (quite nice, new furniture so can't imagine LL leaving it to be repossessed with the property).

I have passed on all the information given here and want to thank everyone for their responses. My son's partner has got her parents involved in helping them with this and her dad is speaking to his solicitor about where they stand. Not sure the solicitor will know more than you guys - I guess it depends on his specific area of expertise but as I said I have passed on the information and hopefully they will bring it up with the solicitor.

I will keep you updated with their progress:beer:

zaralondon

hesjane wrote: »

Oh and I checked with the land registry and it appears that he does have a buy to let mortgage as the owners registered address is different to that of the flat.

I always wondered whether my landlord does actually have a BTL mortgage - how does this work? Because I know he owns another property.

Do you mean that if my landlords address is the same as the flat I am renting, then he doesnt have a BTL mortgage? Where can I check this?

hesjane

zaralondon wrote: »

I always wondered whether my landlord does actually have a BTL mortgage - how does this work? Because I know he owns another property.

Do you mean that if my landlords address is the same as the flat I am renting, then he doesnt have a BTL mortgage? Where can I check this?

Don't assume that because I ''thought' a different address meant he had a BTL mortgage that I am right...I am a total newbie in the field of finding out about all this.

I was following the information on this link - you can download the information from the land registry and the lender information is given on that and from that I guess you could write to the lender and check the status of your tenancy, ie if the LL does have permission to let the property.

Snooze

I think it's unlikely you'll get any response from the LL about whether he has permission from his lender to let, or if he does respond I'll bet you £20 that his answer will automatically be 'yes'. Likewise, I think you'll have a hard time getting anything in writing from the lender about that either but if it were me I'd keep pushing them because it will give you some breathing space to sort yourself out. On the off-chance that you haven't sent off the letter to the lender yet, I'd advise wording it saying that the LL says it's a BTL mortgage and has permission from you to let it etc, also mentioning your tenant rights of 6 months grace in the event of a repo etc etc. While this is actually completely made up from your end because you don't actually know what the mortgage status is, it puts the ball in their court and if the LL doesn't have permission then it won't be long before they contact you to tell you this. You'd be better off with this approach than writing to them asking them if the LL has permission to let, imho.

Re your other comment, if you've already got a repo 'you must be vacated by' date then the hearing has already happened, and fairly recently too if the 'out' date is 6 May. This won't go in your favour that you've missed the hearing as this was your chance to put your case forward. About a month before the hearing date you should have received a letter with big writing on the front addressed to THE CURRENT TENANT/OCCUPIER from the lender's solicitors which would have set out all the information about lender vs. mortgagee, when and where the hearing is, etc.

hesjane wrote: »

They are fortunate that they have fairly large savings (son is self employed and tries to ensure he has six months income in savings, plus they have been saving for a deposit for a mortage anyway). However, just because they are fortunate to be in the position that they could just put down a fresh deposit on a new rental property doesn't mean they want to lose their deposit or any rent on this one.

The flat is furnished so I would think that if it is to be repossessed the LL would want his furniture out of there, so even if they don't have to vacate on the repossession date then I would imagine they wouldn't have beds and sofas etc (quite nice, new furniture so can't imagine LL leaving it to be repossessed with the property).

Depending on how much he's in arrears, there's a high chance you won't ever see or hear from the LL again. That was certainly the case with my friend and his place was fully kitted out too.

Also, don't forget that the LL can't enter the property without your permission first so it's plenty easy enough for it to be 'inconvenient' for him to call round thus meaning that he can't leave you furnitureless. However, as a precaution from this possibly happening when you are out, I would spend £20 on a new pair of locks which will give you peace of mind til you've found somewhere else to move to. Obviously don't tell the LL that you've changed them or he'll want a key!