Landlord has had house repossesed

BitterAndTwisted

The mortgage company my be unwilling to talk to you until they have repossessed. At the moment they have no relationship with you. Once they are aware that there are tenants in the property they will have to. Appearing at court is the method for achieving this. If you have a decent relationship with your landlord I cannot think of a good reason why they would not tell about the hearing. Every day you are in the property and paying rent, even after repo is another couple of quid off the debt he owes the mortgage-lender.

trfcgirl06

Good point about the mortgage company - that's what they said to us yesterday basically. I suppose I thought there's no harm in trying, but might just be a waste of everyone's time!

We really do have a decent relationship with the LL. He's always repaired any faults and has been very good at letting us know the issues he's going through. He even said we could put a cat flap in if we wanted to (we declined just in case it caused any problems down the line). We genuinely feel sorry for the position he's found himself in and in comparison to his situation our problems are not that bad...

The LL said they haven't set a date for the hearing so we will contact him or LA (when we contact about two months' notice) about the date for the hearing. The LL is keeping the LA up to date so hopefully may find off them. I just don't want to bother the LL too much as he is going through a difficult time.
Our options are to leave, or stay - at the moment my husband really wants to stay and fight. I'm open to either option.

I'll update when I have any new info, in the meantime thanks again to everyone for advice. It's all been very helpful.

Yorkie1

At the moment, both you and your LL are bound by the contract notice terms. He cannot make you leave without complying with the s.21 procedure, and you cannot leave without giving proper notice, unless he formally agrees a surrender of the tenancy.

So, do not feel under any pressure to leave at their request or to find somewhere against the clock.

I suspect that you should receive a letter to the Occupier before the repossession hearing. Hopefully your LL will also let you know. You can find out the details of the mortgage lender from the Land Registry site if you pay £4 and your LL won't tell you which one it is. Then you can write to the lender, putting them on notice (may not have any effect but you never know).

Do attend the hearing once you know when it is, and ask the court to grant you 2 months to find a new place to live.

P.S. To edit your title, Click Edit and then, once the edit box opens up, click Go Advanced (bottom right of the box).

Clearlier

I'm just stating the obvious here but sometimes stating the obvious can be helpful.

You said that the landlord said he was serving notice because he didn't want the mortgage company/bailiffs to start bothering you. If you want to stay and possibly buy the house why not suggest to him that you're quite happy to live with that risk and you'd prefer to stay in the property for the time being anyway? If you point out that it would be in his interest I don't see why he would refuse.

trfcgirl06

Thanks Yorkie1 - I've changed the title!

I'll keep an eye out for 'The Occupier' letter and proceed from there. It may be that we find somewhere else we really like and move. We'll just have to see. Moving is such a faff though.

The LL gave us the mortgage lender's details so we have spoken to them, but might be best to write a letter (as every good MSEr does)!

Clearlier - That's a good point. I really do want the LL to know we're not staying to be uncooperative. So we'll have to speak to him again soon.

We'll have to properly sit down and weigh up the options we've got ahead of us and whether we want to stay, buy or leave.

Thanks everyone.

sonastin

Make sure that the LL knows that you're grown-ups and you can look after yourselves. Let him know that you are on his side and he needs to concentrate on solving his own problems rather than worrying about how they affect you. Ask him to stop the "eviction" because you'd rather keep paying him rent for as long as he is in ownership of the property to try to help him out financially and you can deal with the lender later once repossession has actually taken, but in the mean time if you find somewhere to move to, you'll have to take it because it looks inevitable that you'll have to move out eventually.

Hopefully that way, he won't feel bad about messing you about and you can decide what is best for you in the long run without feeling too guilty about its effect on him. He clearly has enough troubles without stressing about you as well!

trfcgirl06

Hello all,

Feeling a bit stressed this morning/afternoon. Husband rang the LA to ask if they had heard when the court date is. They said they they didn't know excatly when it was (still), but that it was in early January and that the LL wanted us out by the 15th January because he was worried the bailiffs will repossess the house then.

Does this sound to you like he doesn't have a buy to let mortgage, therefore we have no rights? What happens if there's no buy to let mortgage?

We've tried to ring him to confirm this, but he's not answering his phone.

The LA said they weren't sure about buy to let mortgage. We asked about where our written notice was and he said it must be in with the 'Christmas post'. We live down the same road as the LA! He said that he would get the woman who knows more about it to give us a ring on Monday.

We've viewed a few houses now and they've not really appealed, especially since they're a lot more expensive than whta we're paying now. We may just have to move ASAP and take one of them. The first one that accepts a cat!

Sorry to bother everyone again with this. I hope the tone of this message isn't too stressy!

Thanks again!

olly300

trfcgirl06 you have been given good advise on this thread already.

Also if you cannot get in touch by phone with the landlord, and know where he lives go and pop a letter through his door. Make sure someone neutral reads the letter you write before you post it and you take their suggestions for amendments on board as clearly he's stressed already.

nikki1520

It is unlikely the bailiffs will be round in January. I would expect march at the earliest. Firstly the repossession order has to be given, with an amount of notice, as the court will not be minded to make you move out the next day. Then after that date has passed the mortgage company can instruct the bailiffs- who will be busy, and unlikely to come and see you for about six weeks. They will then give you a date when they will enforce possession, which will be a couple of weeks later.

Or the mortgage co will be happy for you to stay while they find a buyer - this is a bit less likely as they will still have to evict you prior to any exchange of contracts.

Good luck!

trfcgirl06

olly300- Thank you for your reply. I do appreciate all the good advice I've received on this thread. I will go back and read it all again. I suppose I updated today to seek reassurance of our position more than anything because I am feeling stressed by the situation. If it is deemed that by updating the thread I have become a repetitive nuisance to the board then I will discontinue to do so (apart from this reply).

nikki1520 - Thank you. It's just a bit stressful when they say "He wants you out by 15th January". All the information about Section 21 etc just goes straight out your head and panic sets in. Especially when we're trying to get appointments to view properties, but it's not the best time of year for it! (self pity whinge over with)

I'll look over everything again and try and get it straight in my head.