Rented flat being repossessed

MeeNorr

Hello,

I know there are a few threads on this subject and I'm sure a few of you are saying 'not another one', but I'm hoping someone may be able to give me some pointers.

The flat that we've rented since March 2010 is being repossessed as the landlord hasn't made any mortgage payments for 9 months and of course it turns out it is an unauthorised letting. We attended the county court hearing this week to apply to the judge for 56 days delay to allow us to find somewhere else to live which he granted. If the landlord suddenly pays the mortgage at the last moment (they or any of their representatives didn't attend the hearing it was just us and the solicitor for their mortgage provider) does this mean that we're then liable for this tenancy again until it expires in March 2012?

We need to find somewhere else to rent before the date the 56 days expires as we don't want to still be here when the bailiffs turns up so by paying the agent for the referencing/credit check/any other fees they feel like adding on for the work they do (plus of course an 'admin' fee for everything!) for a new place before the 56 days is up we're then liable for the rent on the new property also. Our nightmare scenario is that they pay the mortgage at the last minute and we're then back on at this place.

The whole thing is giving us a headache! I feel that by this happening the relationship between us and the landlord/letting agent in now untenable if they paid the mortgage but whether a judge would see it like that is a different matter as I believe we'd then be liable.

Any help/pointers would be great, thank you.

BitterAndTwisted

What would I do? Make plans for my onward move immediately and stop worrying about the LL paying the mortgage arrears off. If they had the money they would have paid them before the hearing. I would also have stopped paying the rent by now as well. Let them deduct any rent due from your deposit.

pararct

Yes balance off the rent due against your deposit over the next 56 days or so. If it makes sense then stop paying the rent, by the time they put in place the enforcement action to evict you it will be past the 56 days in anyway. The money you save should build up for the deposit on your next place....

PasturesNew

I'd make one of my first ports of call the original EA - and insist they find something else, without further referencing costs. They can speak to their other landlords and explain what's happened... and shouldn't need you to be referenced again. Having said that, they might not have any other houses in the right area, the right sort, the right price. But that's one way to avoid referencing fees again.

may_fair

MeeNorr wrote: »

We attended the county court hearing this week to apply to the judge for 56 days delay to allow us to find somewhere else to live which he granted.

You might find some help in the following (downloadable) leaflet

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/mortgagerepossessionguidance

MeeNorr

Thank you very much for the replies all of you.

may_fair - thank you for the link to that article, it is so helpful and explained in a fairly easy to understand manner I wish I'd seen it sooner.

We will be speaking to the original EA who we got this place through to see if they have anything else but there isn't much on their website at the moment in the right area where we need. If we can save on not having to pay all the referencing fees again it would be a help.

We have real reservations about not paying our rent and having it deducted from our deposit as we don't want to cause problems getting a reference from our current letting company on a future place. Whilst it's not out fault what's happened we've never been chased for debts in our life and don't want to start now. Also our rent is £475 a month and the deposit is £550 and we have one whole month left to pay later this week and then we'll make a pro-rata payment for the last bit. We haven't been told by the solictors representing the bank to pay rent to them and so I guess we pay it in the normal way as the landlord is still the owner at the present time.

My head is spinning because of all of this. We've done nothing wrong yet we're stuck in the middle. I don't think it's a realistic option to sit and wait for the 14th August (the last date our 56 days runs out) to come and go in the hope they pay the arrears and then find somewhere and move in within the couple of weeks it'll take for the actual repossession to take place.