Eviction advice needed

Rob_M

He or She?

HeatherH

The landlord or the tenant?

PasturesNew

This one needs a solicitor and the original agreement. 16 years is a long time ... and a long time in changes in tenancy laws. Back then an agreement might have given the tenant a right to stay there for life, along with other things about who might be able to take over or inherit that right.

Nobody on an Internet forum can answer the question, this is definitely one for a proper solicitor and a copy of that 16 year old agreement.

Rob_M

The Landlord of course?

HeatherH

It's actually my dad, if it was female I would've said landlady lol

SouthCoast

From CAB:

Oral tenancy agreements:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_family/home_and_neighbourhood_index_ew/renting_a_home_index_ew/tenancy_agreements.htm

Rob_M

ok sorry my mistake!

N79

The approx 16 years is very important here. If the tenancy started before 28 Feb 1997 then this tenancy will default to an Assured Tenancy and not an AST unless the LL can prove that an AST was, in fact, created. To do this, the LL will need to show that they served a S20 notice on the T at the start of the tenancy.

This is important as there is the S21 no fault eviction process does not apply to Assured Tenancies, only to ASTs. Ts with ATs have security for life (and they can be inherited in certain circumstances) subject to the remedies available to the LL in under schedule 2 of the 1988 Housing Act and thus also have regulated rents as without the S21 process the LL has no way of raising the rent to market levels during a long tenancy. Although the T is no longer living at the property, the tenancy continues until either the T surrenders the tenancy or a court orders the tenancy to end.

In practical terms this means that the only way to resolve this situation is to evict the T once they have two months of unpaid rent. If the rent remains up to date then the T has security of tenure for life! Note that the eviction process can fail if the T pays down the unpaid rent to below the 2 months level before the case reaches court.

HeatherH

I've been corrected and apparently the tenancy started late 1997

SouthCoast

HeatherH wrote: »

I've been corrected and apparently the tenancy started late 1997

Rights of assured shorthold tenants (on or after 28 February 1997)

The rights are the same as for other assured shorthold tenancies. However, there is one additional right to a statement from your landlord of the terms of the agreement. Your landlord must provide a written statement of the basic terms of the tenancy which are not already provided in writing. Failure to provide the statement is a criminal offence.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_family/home_and_neighbourhood_index_ew/renting_a_home_index_ew/renting_from_a_private_landlord.htm#The_tenancy_began_on_or_after_28_Februar