any advice from good landlords ???

huangdi

hello everyone, i have a question on behalf of a friend regarding a rogue landlord. hoping some of you good landlords or tenants! can help me out ....

friend has a tenancy living with some flatmates in a house. they are all foreigners and hence do not know the law as well as somebody from the UK might (ie being taken advantage of).

friend signed a contract with the landlord for 3 months, then on a rolling contract. pays money to the landlord every month. friend and flatmates received a threatening letter on 11 March, advising them of repossesion by the mortgage lender and bailiffs appearing on match 29th! as you can imagine they are very worried about having to leave their house within 3 weeks!

AFAIK, the tenancy deposit was not protected for all housemates. they do not have an address for the landlord( i dont think an LA is involved). is this going to be a major problem when it comes to chasing them for payment?

i have been reading the law on this to help them. im aware that they could potentially sue for 3*deposit etc later, but the immediate worry is eviction! i also read that the mortgage company must give them 2 months to arrange another rented property or else can go to court for the order.
the letter they recieved from a solicitor says that bailiffs will appear on behalf of santander plc to repossess house. i will phone mortgage company tomorrow, but there is not a lot of time left. any suggestions? i advised them to try not to worry as there is a law preventing this type of quick eviction. seems that the landlord can take their money(they have already paid up until march), and get away with it so easy!:mad: ive made them all aware that it is so important to get the deposit protected in future, so maybe they will all learn something.

im going to become a landlord soon myself, dont like them giving us all a bad name.

regards

theartfullodger

If the landlord hasn't been paying his mortgage and the house is being repossessed then whilst you can sue him for 3xdeposit the chances of ever getting any money out of him will probably be very small. It's wrong but that's the situation.

Regarding the bailiffs & repossession: The law changed on 1st October 2010. See here..

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/repossession_by_a_landlords_lender

Call Shelter on 0808 800 4444: (sorry, ask the tenants to call..Shelter may want to speak to them to give advice... ) Expect a wait - Shelter is a charity with too many demands.
Ring 0808 800 4444

8am-8pm Monday-Friday
8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

Good luck!.

(No I do not claim to be a good Landlord.. just a Landlord... )

Artful

huangdi

theartfullodger wrote: »

If the landlord hasn't been paying his mortgage and the house is being repossessed then whilst you can sue him for 3xdeposit the chances of ever getting any money out of him will probably be very small. It's wrong but that's the situation.

Regarding the bailiffs & repossession: The law changed on 1st October 2010. See here..

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/repossession_by_a_landlords_lender

Call Shelter on 0808 800 4444: (sorry, ask the tenants to call..Shelter may want to speak to them to give advice... ) Expect a wait - Shelter is a charity with too many demands.
Ring 0808 800 4444

8am-8pm Monday-Friday
8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

Good luck!.

(No I do not claim to be a good Landlord.. just a Landlord... )

Artful

some very useful information on that website. its possible the lender is not even aware that is is being rented!

on another note, the landlord has furniture in the building. my friend thought it was a good idea to possibly give the furniture a better home, since they will never see their deposits again (5 flatmates*400 pounds is quite a lot of dough!). any repurcussions on this if the house is going to be repossessed anyway?

thanks again

huangdi

just another quick question if i may

i have been to see said friend earlier and they showed me correspondence from the solicitors and mortgage company. Apparently one of the tenants has already contacted Citizens Advice and they have sent an email saying that because the property is not on a Buy to Let mortgage, then the mortgage company dont have to comply with the 2 month rule? is that the case. surely that is not fair!

i will be phoning the mortgage company tomorrow asap to get this sorted.

G_M

They can also stop paying rent, though they should keep it aside (separate bank account) to pay later.

If they have no agent, AND no address for the landlord, THEN THEY DO NOT HAVE TO PAY RENT.

"Under the requirements of section 48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 rent is not lawfully due unless the tenant has been given, in writing, an address in England and Wales at which notices can be served." Here.

Check carefully whether an address has been provided, either on the contract or seperately. The address can be a PO box or relative or agent - but there must be an address.

huangdi

G_M wrote: »

They can also stop paying rent, though they should keep it aside (separate bank account) to pay later.

If they have no agent, AND no address for the landlord, THEN THEY DO NOT HAVE TO PAY RENT.

"Under the requirements of section 48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 rent is not lawfully due unless the tenant has been given, in writing, an address in England and Wales at which notices can be served." Here.

Check carefully whether an address has been provided, either on the contract or seperately. The address can be a PO box or relative or agent - but there must be an address.

hi, thanks for the reply. i forgot to say earlier. unfortunately they have actually paid the rent for march, as they only received the letter on 11 march. ill let them know not to pay anything else for any future months depending on the court proceedings