Will we be kicked out of our new tenancy?

edwardmluk

I'm looking around a property with some friends, and on the window of our neighbours was the following sign:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5339/img20101120143058.jpg

Is this enforceable? Apparently the neighbour is a solicitor who wants control of the street, but surely if someone purchases a property, they're allowed to do what they want with it.

We don't want to sign into a contract, and then find we're being kicked out simply for not being a family.

DVardysShadow

It is quite intimidating - and in the long run, potentially full of unintended consequences for the perpetrator. If he succeeds in intimidating good tenants away, he will probably increase the population of bad tenants ... and decrease the number of people who would want to buy there to have a family home....

But for you, the worst that can happen is that you will be made to move after the end of your fixed term - or your landlord may have to buy you out. The notice indicates it is a property rights covenant and not a planning restriction, so your adversary's route to dealing with this is to get a civil court order against your landlord - this should not affect you more immediately than any section 21 notice your landlord could give you - otherwise the court will effectively be ordering him to break the law. Yes, I know tenants have been kicked out on an eviction by a lender for repo, regardless of their tenant rights. But my best guess is that this neighbour's rights are not sufficiently strong to force your eviction. Opinion only.

BitterAndTwisted

It seems to me that the notice is warning landlords and/or renters that there is a covenant preventing something like house-shares/HMO. If you're looking to rent with a partner then to all intents and purposes you are a family.

I would find that notice rather intimidating (as it's probably intended to be) and would not look forward to living next door to such a person.

molerat

So he is trying to stop the place being rented by maybe 2 or 3 possibly quiet students, my daughter and her friends were very good tenants and left the property and garden in a better state than when they took it and got on well with the neighbours, but is powerless to stop a family of sponger chavs with a couple of rusty old transit vans and paid for by the council ..... not a smart move me thinks. The old adage be careful what you wish for springs to mind.

Jowo_2

Does this restriction actually exist and if so, is in something on the freehold or a local council HMO regulation? Local councils can bring in their own selective licencing but I think this is more about requiring the landlord to apply for a licence and be inspected for compliance with health and safety regulations.

Many areas have been blighted by HMOs which attract more transient or deprived tenants. In the city where I live, they bought in the HMO legislation for licencing after a landlord's negligence meant some student tenants died in a fire. In my tenement, the two flats that have been rented out to tenants in the past have almost always had anti-social tenants - parties, poor disposal of rubbish, propping the main door open and so forth.

tbs624

Jowo - it's likely to be a restrictive covenant put in place from the time the properties were built.

Nothing to do with HMO licensing as such.

See an example here in Schedule 1 (c)

pimento

If this is the one it looks quite nice though

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ty-Draw-Place-Cardiff-CF23-5-bedroom-terraced-rent-/170564398956

edwardmluk

Yeah thats the place. It's really nice. The thing is we're not even students. We all have respectable jobs and we ourselves are looking to have a civil lifestyle.

So what would my next step be, get in writing that this can't be enforced? Contact the local council authority? Should I get something on paper before we sign any agreement?

Thanks,
Ed

PS yeah the neighbour sounds like he'll be a nightmare. Ah well, the house is worth it.

HappyMJ

At £240 per person per month I'd take the risk. At the very least you'll be able to stay until the end of the fixed term. It takes ages for these matters to go through the court system so it will probably be years before they force the landlord to issue a S21.

Gorgeous_George

I'd take it too.

In fact, if I was the Landlord I'd find some musician-filled family and let it go a a reduced rent

GG

voytovdwiof

It's most likely something he'll use in the event of nuisance tenants, if you're good as you claim you are (eg: not students) he'll probably let it slide, because why go through the hassle of kicking people out who aren't a nuisance and risk more people coming who are? It'll be something reserved for a worst case scenario I figure.