Landlord has given us 2 months notice to leave

silvercar

Gandalfthegrey wrote: »

Sorry to quote whole post! Thanks for this.
If the LL's evict us through the courts would that be very expensive? (as im sure the money would be deducted from our deposit)

The landlord would be able to claim the court costs from you, but that may be a cost worth paying if it gets you a secure council tenancy.

serious_saver

ruggedtoast wrote: »

And the former, basically is what I think you should do. It’s a shame about your landlords and will no doubt be awkward but if I were you I would just be upfront to them. Tell them you don’t have the money to move and ask them to begin evicting you so you can get council accommodation.

Council accommodation is meant to exist so people who cant afford to rent or buy somewhere privately have somewhere to go. There are plenty of people who arrive here every day who have never paid a penny into our welfare state who take advantage of this, the reason that you’ve been paying taxes all this time isn’t just to subsidise them, its so that you can too if you need to.

Talk to Shelter, and your council housing office, an actual Section 21 may be enough to qualify for council accommodation. I would be surprised if you have to go as far as to wait to be dragged out by bailiffs.

At the end of the day your family is more important than your landlord having to delay his completion date by a couple of months.

That is some very good advice. It's also something that nobody else has touched up on. If your landlords are nice enough people ask them to start the process of eviction or at least get them to write a letter to the effect that you will be evicted if you stay beyond that date. If they will do that you can take the letter to the Local Authority and hopefully it will help your case.

Good luck finding somewhere new!

POPPYOSCAR

[QUOTE=tbs624;40796820]It's funny, this view on one sided benevolence.

Your Ts covered your mortgage costs for you until you were able to sell and kept the property heated and aired, presumably.

The alternative would perhaps have been you finding two lots of rent/mortgage plus trying to sell an empty property that seemed a little soulless and with a whiff of damp, postal circulars piled up behind the door.

For those who want to avoid that worry/uncertainty the answer is simple - don't try to have your cake and eat it too.[/QUOTE]


Where do you get this statement from then? Where did I say we were doing them a favour? I was just stating a fact that by them having it at a cheaper rent it enabled them to save up for a deposit.Obviously the arrangement worked in both our favours and what is so wrong with that?

jamesd

First thing, I'm currently living in a place as a tenant that's for sale and on a statutory periodic tenancy where the landlord can give me two months notice to leave, just like yours. I've bought another place so it's now less stressful for me - I went out and actively searched immediately and had an offer made and accepted within a month of being given notice, though I'm still not quite ready to move.

One thing to do is find out whether the buyer wants to let out the house and if so, at what rent. Some five years ago the place I'm in was sold a few months after I moved in, the owner has been happy to have me as a tenant at a slightly higher rent that hasn't changed for he last five years. So, find out whether the buyer wants you as a tenant or not.

Once a properly given section 21 notice ends you're supposed to move out and the clock starts ticking. The landlord will go to court to seek an eviction notice to get bailiffs to force you out of the property. That will take at least a few weeks, maybe a few months. If you are just about to move to a new place and can prove it you're likely to be allowed a little more time for that move to complete. If you're doing nothing you're going to be evicted.

In that case you need to find a new place to lie, time to start hunting now. Stress is bad now but it's worse later.

The buyer's solicitor or seller may well contact you to ask you to sign a document indicating that you will be out of the property before completion of the purchase. Don't agree until you're content that you have a new place to live. Do explain your situation and ask whether the buyer is willing to consider renting to you for a few months if required, with the seller paying any eviction costs if you aren't out within the agreed time. This may get you a bit more time, depends in part on whether the buyer wants to move in quickly, perhaps because their own child is due in a few months.

Gandalfthegrey

Just to update: I went for interview with housing department and we have been allocated a caseworker. She was very helpful and basically told us to obviously continue looking for another house to rent but dont feel pressured into taking any house if it isnt suitable for our needs (ie: a flat above ground floor with no garden or lift, or in another town etc) she said if we find somewhere they may be able to help with a deposit bond. If we dont find anywhere by the end of this month (Feb) then they have a duty under the homelessness act to find us a house, but that will most likely result in temp accommodation. She said because we work we would have to pay for it and it can be quite expensive, we would stay there until a permanent council house eventually becomes available.
We really wouldnt want to stay in a b&b with a newborn and toddler, so hopefully we can find another house to rent that we can afford.

She said another option is that they can contact our landlord at the end of March to see how the exchange of contracts with sale of house is going, as there could be a delay and the LL's may agree to let us stay a few more weeks.

BitterAndTwisted

Your Local Authority, like many others, are forced to operate a procedure which is known unofficially as "gatekeeping". This means preventing as many applicants for social housing as possible from qualifying. Some authorities advise tenants to stay put in the property until the landlord has been to court to enforce their Section 21 Notice or they will be deemed to have made themselves "voluntarily homeless". They have probably given you the line about B&B accommodation to dissuade you from believing that a council-owned property will be attainable, and therefore you will discount that as a possibility. That may not actually be the case.

The only caveat I would add to your caseworker's comments is that until and unless you have been correctly served with the S21 you should continue to occupy the property, pay your rent and use the time to try and find another suitable property.

Has your LL served you with a S21 yet? If their buyer is attempting to purchase the property with a mortgage their lender will not authorise the release of funds without vacant possession. Have you had any indication whether the buyer is looking to occupy the property or acquiring it as a buy-to-let?

silvercar

When I was in hospital having my baby, there was a lady in the next bed with a new born who was refusing to leave until the council found her a suitable home!

She reckoned that for the first 28 days after birth she was legally under the care of a health visitor and couldn't be forced to leave unless the health visitor was prepared to say it was suitable for her to live on the streets! After that time she intended staying put until the council sorted her out.

On day 27 the council assigned her a 1 bed flat.

Gandalfthegrey

Hi
No LL still has not served a S21 notice yet. Our caseworker said nothing about this, I expect she will wait until it gets nearer the time to mention that, hoping that we would have found a private let before it comes to that. We will see. But at least I know that info now, thanks!

I asked our LL's if they know if the new buyers are looking to move in etc, she said she never met them and knows nothing about the buyers.