Change of landlord due to surrender of head lease, now what ?

bacchuscook

Hope someone can give some good advice or guidelines

I live in a block of flats, private property not council or housing assossiation, a dispute started between freeholder and leaseholder (Landlord).

Eventually , all tenants got a letter that Landlord surrenderd his head lease of the premises, and in view of which the Freeholder is now our Landlord.

They have sent us a notice pursuant to section 48 of Landlord & Tenant Act 1987, confirming their address, and that futur rent should be sent to them, they requested a copy of our tenancy agreement to ensure it meets it complies with the agreementey received from former leaseholder.

They added:
The Promises are currently in a very dilapidated state. We would like to arrange an inspection of the flat pursuant to the terms of the terms of your tenancy agreement ASAS in order to ensure that it complies with health and safety legislation.

My query,
What is the status of the deposit ?
Do we need to sign with them a new contract ?
Does the new contract have to be at the same rate as the previous one or can they put up the rent ?
Can they decide not to give us a contract ? And ask us to vacate the property within a determined period? how long?

They, freeholder, already got a planning permission approved for demolishing the property and building a similar property in its place but with few minor changes.
I suspect they will want us out asap .......

I tried to contact the previous landlord to no avail ........

Any insights, answers or advice will be highly appreciated.
I will be getting in touch with them but want to be prepared so I know what to ask and what do I need to tell them or maybe not tell them

princeofpounds

It is as if the words 'old LL' are replaced with 'new LL' in your contract. You don't need to sign a new one, the new LL takes on the contractual relationship, they cannot put up the rent unless that option was available to the old LL (eg coming to end of fixed period).

They can decide not to give you a new contract or extend your current one on a rolling basis when the fixed period expires. They must respect your current fixed tenancy however.

As for the deposit, it should remain protected with the details of the LL changed to match the new LL. Speak to the relevant scheme if you are worried.

bacchuscook

Thank you princeofpounds.

I forgot to mention, that my contract expired some 6-7 years ago , so it is on rolling basis ......

Any idea what is the period before they can stop the rolling contract situation ?

Thanks again.

theartfullodger

bacchuscook wrote: »

..

Any idea what is the period before they can stop the rolling contract situation ?

They (And you..) can stop it any time by giving notice: You give 1 months notice, they give 2 months notice. Then you will have to leave (after they get court order & bailiffs.., take another 2-4 months)

Ben_Reeve-Lewis

Make sure they dont try to slip in Possession ground 6 against you, commonly known as "Demolition or reconstruction". The law (Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988) states quite clearly that "This ground is not available to a landlord who has aquired his or her interest in the property by purchasing it after the grant of the tenancy". So in that sense....and legally......the fact they want to demolish has no bearing on your tenancy.

As mentioned above, new landlords are bound by the existing terms of the original contract.

If they want you to leave it is either a Section 21 claim (2 months notice) or a Section 8 claim for things like rent arrears or damage

Ben_Reeve-Lewis

Oh and BTW> Your enquiry about your fixed term having expired 6 or 7 years ago? That means you are what is termed a Statutory Periodic Tenant now, which means that you are still covered by statute (The law on evictions) and every time your rent becomes due (Periodci) it renews the contract, so the same advice re notices and possession proceedings applies

tbs624

princeofpounds wrote: »

As for the deposit, it should remain protected with the details of the LL changed to match the new LL. Speak to the relevant scheme if you are worried.

As has now added that his/her FT expired some 6/7 years ago and s/he has remained, as Ben RL says, on a SPA then the tenancy deposit is not required to have been scheme registered.

Bacchuscook - your deposit will be held by the new LL.

Remember when/if you move out you can only be asked to leave the property in the same condition as when originally let, save for "fair wear and tear". Google mydeposits and "LLs guide to fair wear and tear". The LL would need to be able to evidence the original condition, usually by an inventory signed by both parties.

bacchuscook

We received a section 21 two month notice to leave by 10 Jan.

And recently we got an "Application" not a Tax invoice,from an estate agent acting for the freeholders, and in it we are charged 45% more rent and it shows that we have not paid rent for 2 month.

Some of us did not get any bank details to pay the rent, and some of us still did not find or give copy of their tenancy agreement to the new landlords. We simply do not want to be bullied and because of previous dealings with them, we do not trust anything they say and we always try to confirm or get more accurate information.

Can they increase the rent without giving notice ?

Can they set a new rent because we did not give copy of old tenancy agreements we had ?

Do we need to have new contract with them so the new rent applies ?

About the S21, what happens after the dead line ? do we continue paying the rent until we get a court order? and if so, do we have to pay any court fees ?

Thanks everyone

RAS

If you recieved a section 21 notice today telling you to leave by January 10, your landlord does not know the law.

He has to give 2 months notice and you are not obliged to leave until after he takes you to court is granted possession.

What is your rent day?

Ignite

As far as rent increase goes, the LL has to give you a section 13 notice that has the required wording. You can appeal this with a tribunal (can't remember which so please can somebody step in) and their decision is legally binding.

bacchuscook

Rent day is first of the month, so basically I am 2 month in arrears. They did not give us any banking details to pay the rent until yesterday !!!!

The S21 was given to us a month ago, 10 Nov, so it is within the 2 month limit. We knew they became the new landlords week1, week 2 they issued us with the S21 !!!!

So am I correct in understanding that on 1Jan I should be paying rent which in theory entitles me to stay until the end of the month and so on, untill there is a clear court order sent to each of the tenants stating that by HM Court XYZ you have to leave this property by X date and until then I just keep on paying my rent normal... Correct ?

Thanks everyone.