Help! Help! Advice on renting

bluered_2

Hello,
I wonder if you guys could help us in our hour of need.
We have currently been renting our property for 2+ years, but for the last year we haven't had a tenancy agreement that was signed.

In the last few days a few of the people in the house have moved out and the two that are left can't afford to pay the rent by ourselves.
We didn't pay last months rent because the landlord hasn't fixed the cooker and we didn't have hot water for 3 weeks because he is useless at getting anything fixed after badgering and badgering.
One of my housemates has texted the landlord saying we can't afford to pay the rent so we will be out at the end of the month.

What can we do? When the landlord turns up can he just chuck us out of the house straight away and make us homeless?
what legal position are we in?
we haven't had any written notification of any notice to leave the property and we informed him that we weren't going to pay the rent last month because of the broken cooker/boiler.

any help or advice is much appreciated as he's likely to turn up in the next day or so.

PasturesNew

Firstly, you shouldn't ever withhold rent.

Secondly, you are responsible for paying the full rent, including for those who have left... most probably, except we don't know what your contract is.

You have to give one month's notice. At best, this is "one month from when you give it", at worst it is "one month from the next rent date", which has the potential of being two months.

The landlord cannot just turf you out. He has to give you TWO months' proper written notice (in the form of a valid S21 notice), and that is two months to end on a rent date, so (depending when your rent date is) that's 2-3 months.

Once you're two months behind on the rent, he can issue an S8 instead of an S21 and potentially get you out a bit quicker, but he has to go to court etc etc.

So it's never "now", or "you've got 24 hours/a week".

G_M

More info needed on your contractual position.

When you moved in, what contract(s) did you sign? Individual ones or a single joint one?
For what period, and when did it expire?
Did you ever sign new one(s) and if so for what period?
are you in England/Wales or Scotland?
I assume the LL does not live at the property too?

The fact that repairs are outstanding is irrelevant - rent is still due. there are procedures for repairs. You cannot just stop paying rent.

If you want to leave, you need to give proper notice - NOT by text and NOT "at the end of the month".
Whether he can 'just chuck you out' is unlikely, but depends on your contract.

The fact that "for the last year we haven't had a tenancy agreement that was signed." does not mean you do not have a contract.

ps - did you pay a deposit and is it in a recognised scheme?

bluered_2

so since we haven't paid the rent, what position does that leave us in?
does he still have to give us the notice to kick us out.
As I said, we can't afford to pay for the whole house for ourselves.

BitterAndTwisted

Are you on a joint tenancy and have all of the same people who signed the original tenancy agreement remained in the property all this time?

In order for the landlord to end the tenancy they will have to issue what is known as a Section 21 Notice. This signifies the LL's intent but in order to evict you they will have to go to court. If you owe two months rent the landlord could issue you with a Section 8 Notice and when this goes to court the landlord will get possession and will then be able to engage bailiffs to evict you.

The whole process could take a couple of months, maybe longer so you should start planning your onward move asap.

G_M

Answer the questions and people here will be able to advise you better.

bluered_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Are you on a joint tenancy and have all of the same people who signed the original tenancy agreement remained in the property all this time?

In order for the landlord to end the tenancy they will have to issue what is known as a Section 21 Notice. This signifies the LL's intent but in order to evict you they will have to go to court. If you owe two months rent the landlord could issue you with a Section 8 Notice and when this goes to court the landlord will get possession and will then be able to engage bailiffs to evict you.

The whole process could take a couple of months, maybe longer so you should start planning your onward move asap.

There's only one person in the house who is on the original tenancy agreement who's remained. I personally have never signed anything. We didn't pay rent last month and we can't afford to pay this months rent as it would be for the whole house and we still wouldn't want to as he's still not got the oven fixed.

As the for the contract it was one joint tenancy agreement last year between four of the six people that were living in the house.

BitterAndTwisted

So, you've never seen this rental agreement so you don't know whether there was anything mentioned about "jointly and severally" or not? If you personally have not signed anything then at least the landlord won't be able to chase you through the court for rent arrears.

The landlord not fixing the ruddy oven is no excuse for you not paying your share of the rent!

bluered_2

so what do we say to the landlord when he comes round, as the rent would have been for the whole house and not individual rooms and as stated previously we can't afford the whole house by ourselves, it would be £1200+

G_M

There is only one person who is liable to pay rent and that is the person named on the original tenancy agreement.
Since you still have not answered my original questions, I am making assumptions here though!
He (she) is liable for the whole rent. The oven (and any other repair issues) is irrelevant. You want it repaired? Follow repair procedure, don't withold rent!

Those of you not on the tenancy agreement are at best sub-tenants (owing rent to 'your' landlord - the one on the agreement who owes the whole rent) but more probobly are squatters as the tenancy agreement probobly does not allow sub-letting (need to read the agreement to be sure).

bluered_2

When you moved in, what contract(s) did you sign? Individual ones or a single joint one?
There was one joint contract

For what period, and when did it expire?
the original contract was from 24th july 2008 to 2009
Did you ever sign new one(s) and if so for what period?
only one was ever signed
are you in England/Wales or Scotland?
England
I assume the LL does not live at the property too?
landlord does not live there

Also my housemate has said that he didn't sign the original document either, his signature was forged by the estate agent at the time of renting