Tennant with section 21 notice please advise

JulesMc_2

Hello
We have lived in our rented home since 1979. Always been up to date with the rent.
About 4 years ago the land lady passed away and as we had always been in contact with her agent rather than her, we continued to pay the rent to the agent in the hope that we would be allowed to stay here.
Around Christmas 2010 we were told by the agent that the house was to be sold with us as tennants and that who ever bought it would likely keep us on.
Well......it was sold at auction and we had a letter saying no more rent was to be given to the agent as the new owner would complete the purchase of the house on 18th March 2011 and would therefore be entitled to collect rents from then.
Today 24th March 2011 the agent came to our home in the evening and handed me a letter saying " I have bad news for you, the new landlord wants you out. I took the letter saying thank you and shut the door.
When I opened the letter it is addressed to myself and my husband but the name for me is my previous name not my married name. Now I know this might not be a big deal but everytime we get a letter from the agent its always to Mr & Mrs so why now does he use my previous name and is the Section 21 document legal with the name change? Also it says at the bottom that the agent has written it on behalf of the solicitors who were the solicitors for my old land lady as far as I know up to when the house was sold.
I guess my question here is, are people allowed to treat people like this and is the section 21 legal.
I am so confused as to why, if there has been no change of agent that we can't carry on renting what has become our home of 32 years.
Thank you

G_M

In the end, you will have to move.

See my post below.

franklee

The section 21 notice is for an assured short hold tenancy which I doubt you have as you have been there for so long. First step is to find out what type of tenancy you have, you may want to start here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/private_tenancies/checking_the_tenancy_type

Extract:

"Regulated tenants

You will be a regulated tenant if you don't fall into one of the exceptions mentioned above and you moved in before 15 January 1989. This applies even if your landlord has changed or if you've moved to a different property but kept the same landlord."

Do not give up this tenancy without getting proper legal advice as you are likely to have strong rights that tenants nowadays just cannot get.

Wee_Willy_Harris

franklee wrote: »

The section 21 notice is for an assured short hold tenancy which I doubt you have as you have been there for so long. First step is to find out what type of tenancy you have, you may want to start here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/private_tenancies/checking_the_tenancy_type

Extract:

"Regulated tenants

You will be a regulated tenant if you don't fall into one of the exceptions mentioned above and you moved in before 15 January 1989. This applies even if your landlord has changed or if you've moved to a different property but kept the same landlord."

Do not give up this tenancy without getting proper legal advice as you are likely to have strong rights that tenants nowadays just cannot get.

Well worth saying twice.

G_M

Franklee is right. I apologise. As you have a Regulated Tenancy the grounds for eviction are:

Mandatory grounds

If your landlord can prove a mandatory ground for possession the court has to evict you. It is not possible for any of these grounds to be used unless your landlord has already given you notice that the ground may be used. Before your tenancy started your landlord must have told you in writing you may be evicted for one of these reasons:

• Your landlord (or a member of your landlord's family) wants to return to live in the property (and lived there previously).
• Your landlord wants to live in the property due to retirement.
• A minister of religion normally occupies the property and needs to live there.
• An agricultural worker normally occupies the property and needs to live there (and you are not an agricultural worker).
• Your landlord is in the armed forces and intends to live there upon discharge.

Discretionary grounds

If your landlord is using a discretionary ground for possession the court has to consider whether it is reasonable for possession to be granted to your landlord before an order can be made. The courts have lots of room to decide what is reasonable in a particular case. Your circumstances can be taken into account. Even if the court agrees with your landlord's claim it can decide to:

• delay the eviction to give you time to find somewhere else to live
• stop the eviction if there are exceptional circumstances
• allow you to pay off arrears by instalments.

Discretionary grounds include whether:

• suitable alternative accommodation is available for you (this could be another private tenancy or council accommodation)
• you have rent arrears or have broken your tenancy agreement
• you have caused nuisance or annoyance
• you have damaged the furniture or condition of the property
• you have assigned or sublet the property without your landlord's consent
• you are employed by your landlord and the accommodation is required for a new worker
• your landlord wants to live in the property.

tbs624

Useful post from Ben Reeve Lewis ( former TRO) , on Tessa Shepperson's LandlordLaw blog pages

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/11/02/let%E2%80%99s-hear-it-for-protected-tenancies/


OP - seek proper advice on this one. You can get a fixed fee appointment with a solicitor. Check with the law society for someone local to you who has experience of Protected Tenancies. You may also be able to get some support from the local Council's private sector housing tenancy relations officer.