Rented property being repossessed!

poorlilritchgirl

Hi

My friend and I have been renting a property for nearly 6 months now. A few weeks ago we had 2 callers to the house, one from the Building society and one from a solicitors asking if our landlord lived there and wanting our names incase he had to write to us about something that would affect our Human Rights or something like that. We were reluctant to give out any phone numbers but just gave our names to keep us safe. After this we immediately contacted our landlord to inform him of what had happened. He acted like nothing was wrong and sped off the phone. We tried to contact him again to ensure everything was ok but to no avail.

Then 2/3 weeks later we both receive a letter each stating that GE Money intends to repossess the house due to non payment on a secured loan. As you can expect we were very angry with our landlord, tried calling him but to no avail. He evenrtually caled use back stating he had sorted it out in the week and we had nothing to worry about, but when we looked at the letters from the solicitors, they were only posted out the day before so I don't see how things could be sorted out.

Needless to say we are still worried about where we stand and what our right are. We have only been living in the house for nearly 6 months now, so for things to get to this stage our landlord must have been defaulting on payments before we moved in. Is that not illegal or something for him to rent us out a house he knew he had a secured loan against which he was defaulting on payments?

Although we are going to a solicitor, we are waiting to hear back so were hoping someone may have some advise or input on the situation. Some people we have spoken to say we should sue our landlord over this, as he didnt even inform his mortgage company he had new tenants in the property.

Any input or advise on the situation would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Jowo_2

The Shelter website has excellent info for tenants whose rental properties are being repossessed by the lender. There's also a sticky on the top of this forum about landlord's need to get permission from the lender to rent out their residential properties.

One thing to consider when considering taking anybody to the small claims court, or equivalent, is whether or not they are in the position to pay. No point in taking action against someone who has no means to pay. Getting a judgement can be fairly easy. Getting it enforced can be very difficult - a very large percentage of successful claimants never get a penny.

BitterAndTwisted

In the first instance I would be phoning the solicitors acting for GE Money to confirm the landlord's story. Due to Data Protection they may be disinclined to discuss it with you in any case. It doesn't necessarily follow that someone who has defaulted on a loan has also defaulted on their mortgage although I do understand your alarm.

Secondly, I would be putting together an emergency exit plan or at the very least a savings pot to finance it should you need to move at short notice. Watch out for a formal repossession notification in the post addressed to "The Occupant/s"

poorlilritchgirl

Thanks for the info. The kicker is our landlords wife is a good friend of my house mates family (although we still signed a contract to cover us). We know he is very well off and our rent was large enough to cover any payments on the house so this is why this is all a surprise to us. The lender knew he was renting the property before us, but our landlord never informed them that the prev tenants moved out and that we moved in. All i know is i no longer trust my landlord and want out!

BitterAndTwisted

Why do you think it is strictly necessary for your landlord to inform the lender when there is a change of tenant? I don't believe that this is the case.

If the LL is as well off as you think he is, also bearing in mind the family connection there may be no need to worry.

I'd still be making plans for a savings pot if you don't have one already, just in case.

poorlilritchgirl

I am not sure if he has to inform them we are there are not, but with people calling at our door and everything we just don't know what to think at the minute. Our landlord new of them coming to our house and never returned our calls when we first got concerned. All I can say is if it is sorted or not I think I will still move out as I no longer trust the guy!

Strings

I certainly wouldn't pay any more rent as I would doubt that you'll get your deposit back either

BitterAndTwisted

How long is your rental agreement for?

G_M

Write back to GE Money asking them for confirmation of what action they are taking, hot it affects the tenancy, what date any planned court hearing for re-possession is.

Ask also if they have taken over responsibility as your new LL. Point out you have a tenancy agreement, that they clearly gave the original LL perission to let the property, and that by leaving you in the property they could get a guaranteed income (your rent) to offset against the mortgage.

Also as advised read the Shelter advice here. (I assume you are in England not Scotland).

poorlilritchgirl

it was an open ended contract as far as I knew, we never got our copies back from the landlord after we signed them.

BitterAndTwisted

To my knowledge there's no such thing as an open-ended contract. Generally, it would be for a fixed-term of say 6 or 12 months. How long have you been in the property?

Have you been in contact with GE Money yet? Any more correspondence addressed to "The Occupants"?