7 days notice to leave.

looby75

Thank you, I will do that now

Tassotti

Ivrytwr3 wrote:

My understanding is your sister must be given 2 months notice to leave. After that the landlord must then issue a S8 or S21 (forget which) through the courts system.

Not quite right. The Section 21 is the 2 months notice that must be given. Section 8's are used for tenants 2 months in arrears

See you on LLZ (pretty sure you will get the same advice on there)

Tass

black-saturn

They have to give her 2 months written notice. If at the end of 2 months she hasn't found alternative accommodation it will go to court and the courts will probably give her another 1 or 2 months. If at the end of that time she still hasn't found alternative accommodation it will go to court again and the courts may give her another 1 or 2 months or they may give the landlord permission to take his property. Whatever happens they are not allowed to just throw her out on the street if she has nowhere to go. If the worst comes she will be put in a hostel for a while until she is rehoused but if it goes to court and she loses she will end up with a CCJ against her name.

She will need to use this time to look for alternative accommodation and go to the council offices every day to see if they have anything. Whatever she does she shouldnt make herself intentionally homeless whilst waiting by staying with relatives or friends or anything like that as if she does they won't rehouse her at all.

Xbigman

Get her to talk to the local council housing dept and show them the letter. It will give them a heads up that there is a problem and she will find out the direct phone numbers to go straight to the right person if she does need to get out overnight.
You might also find the council are very pro active in helping sort these problems out. In my area there is a waiting list for B&B accomodation let alone a council property and the council jump on landlords who try it on and leave them to pick up the pieces. Other councils don't do anything to help so its a bit of a lottery.

I'd also advise (without trying to scare anyone) that your sister does not leave the house unnoccupied after the 7 days is up. I once had a dispute over the exact date a lease ended and came back one morning to pick up my last bit of furniture and the locks had been changed. Nasty.
Regards



X

Kaminari_2

Totally agree with Tass. I am a landlord too and this does give us a bad name. Some forget that the poroperties are the tenants home. They legally have to give two months notice and then it hits the courts. Your sister has a while yet and she should use this to find a new home. there is not point in waiting to be evicted but there is no point in rushing it all either. Tell her to take her time and find a suitable property, hopefully with a decent LL and put this whole experience behind her.

Tassotti

With regards to the council issue, how come they have no properties if you make yourself intentionally homeless, but, if you are evicted, suddenly housing becomes available

black-saturn

She could also contact ARLA who are the governing body which oversees most letting agencies. If they see a letting agent giving out 7 day notices when the legal requirement is 8 weeks they may do something about it:

http://www.arla.co.uk/

black-saturn

Tassotti wrote:

With regards to the council issue, how come they have no properties if you make yourself intentionally homeless, but, if you are evicted, suddenly housing becomes available

Because council housing is for those that need it not for those who do something deliberately to get one. Having said that here there are no vacant council properties at all. I was on the list for 20 years before I bought this place.

Alleycat

Tassotti wrote:

With regards to the council issue, how come they have no properties if you make yourself intentionally homeless, but, if you are evicted, suddenly housing becomes available

Hi,

Social housing i.e. council, housing trust housing is available to everyone regardless of their circumstances, but there tends to be extremely heavy demand. If the OP's sister did make herself 'intentionally homeless' by leaving the property before she legally had to then she could still apply for housing, but would face a very long wait. The local authority would also have no statutory duty to provide her with temporary accommodation.

Basically when someone is faced with or is currently homeless, they can present at their local Homeless Advice Unit and make an Homeless application. Details are taken by a Homelessness Officer and an investigation is carried out. If it is found that someone is not homeless or is intentionally homeless then they would not be eligible for assistance with rehousing such as priority status on the housing list and the provision of temporary accommodation if necessary.This isn't to say that they will get no help, just that if there is no temporary accommodation available when they present, there is no legal duty to provide it. Provision of priority and/or temp would also depend on the person's circumstances i.e. do they fit into a priority category. Basically if they are pregnant, have children, are under 18 years old, have a significant medical or mental health issue, have potentially been institutionalised by spending a major proportion of their lives in the forces/prison/children's homes they could fall into one of the priority need categories.

lynzpower

thanks Alleycat, very clear explaination there