Getting evicted because Landlord hasn't paid his mortgage...

Mrs.J_4

My husband and I moved into our house June 1st 2011. We got a letter on the 7th September informing us that our landlord had a court hearing against him regarding the repossession of the property. We went into Bulman Properties (our letting agents) and they said "don't worry about it, it's happened before", so we didn't worry about it until they rang us a week later and said we might only have 2 weeks to get out.

We went to CAB to get some advice, they said speak to the bank and ask them about the possibility of paying them directly. So we tried to speak to the solicitors representing the bank with no success, but we did find out that our landlord had not changed his mortgage to Buy to Let, and therefore our tenancy was not binding. Temple Heelis solicitors offered to send a few letters to their solicitors on our behalf etc, so they did and again had little response.

The court hearing was October 4th and I went along to discover that despite contacting the banks solicitors, the bank were still unaware that there were tenants in the property. We have tried ringing the bank several times to try and get through to someone (HBOS) with regards to us buying the property, or paying his mortgage for him...as it turned out he was only paying £165 per month and out rent is £475...dead money is dead money and his mortgage is cheaper!

Just to mention that there has still been no response from the landlord to this date. He has not paid his mortgage for 18 months accumulating £2k of debt, yet we have been paying his rent for 6 months at £475 and he has consistently had tenants in the property for several years!

So every time we get in touch with the bank (after 30 minutes on hold of an 0845 number) they tell us that they cannot speak to us about anything because of Data Protection, so they keep passing the responsibility saying, get in touch with CAB (who told us to contact the bank) or get in touch with their solicitors (who not responding to anything)...both of which we have already done.

We received another repossession letter today, and if our stuff is in the house on the date they decide, then it is our stuff that gets taken. Our perfect house, perfect location, near our family and friends, awesome neighbourhood, and the home we saw ourselves in for a good few years, now has to be sacrificed because the bank aren't willing to speak to us and there is nothing more we can do. Does anyone know of anything else we can do?

Also, as another option, we are looking into Shared Ownership properties with Riverside Housing...does anyone have any advice on that too?!

Cheers
A very stressed Mrs.J

G_M

I went to the court hearing where the bank still had no idea we were living there.

Your rather wordy post is hard to read, but this seems a key part. What did the court say when you told them you were living there as tenants?

Where a landlord has NOT got permission to let a property, and that property is repossesed by the mortgage lender, under the
Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010 the tenant can apply for 2 months extra time.

Did you ask for this? Did the court give it? If not, GO BACK TO COURT.

Note: this is a new law so not all judges will know of it unless it is pointed out to them!

theartfullodger

This explains the ins & outs..


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

Good luck, sorry it's happened.. Stupid, cruel, ignorant and inconsiderate buffoon of a Landlord!!

Mrs.J_4

G_M wrote: »

Your rather wordy post is hard to read!

Apologies, I copied and pasted from a facebook rant we were having about it...I have changed it now.

Thanks for your super quick replies...the court order was delayed slightly in light of there being tenants involved, but we can apply again when we get our eviction date, but it's getting so close to Christmas that if it's only going to delay it until the new year and we're still going to have to move...maybe it would be better to move earlier?! We don't want to move at all!

tanith

not very helpful to your situation but just wanted to say this happened to my Grandson and he did manage to contact the Mortgage company and they allowed him to remain in the flat paying his rent direct to them. He also got them to replace the broken washing machine, mend the shower and get the front door replaced all of which the landlord had failed to do.. So it turned our a win win situation for him and he's still in the flat over 18mths on... good luck

theartfullodger

Indeed, worth WRITING to mortgage people (they'll probably refuse to talk direct to you..) - state you're a great tenant, place immaculate, happy to pat rent to them etc etc and maybe try negotiating a date that suits you..

Hope it works out & next place better luck

BitterAndTwisted

tanith wrote: »

not very helpful to your situation but just wanted to say this happened to my Grandson and he did manage to contact the Mortgage company and they allowed him to remain in the flat paying his rent direct to them. He also got them to replace the broken washing machine, mend the shower and get the front door replaced all of which the landlord had failed to do.. So it turned our a win win situation for him and he's still in the flat over 18mths on... good luck

This is quite common where the LL had a BTL mortgage. Not common with a residential one with no Consent-to-Let. Can depend on when the mortgage was taken out and if there's any equity.

GDB2222

If the LL did not tell the lenders about the mortgage, you can delay the repo a short while but not stop it. You can't pay the LL's mortgage for him, tempting as it seems, and of course the bank won't talk to you about someone else's mortgage.

What you can do is stop paying the rent, then turn up at court at the next hearing and explain that you have saved up £X by doing this and that you are happy to pay this plus £475 a month direct to the bank, which will clear the arrears pretty quickly. See what the judge says, as well as the bank's solicitors. I doubt that either of them has authority to enter into this deal on behalf of teh LL, but at least you'll have saved paying some rent.

princeofpounds

Been through it myself. LL won't talk to you because he loses interest, Agent won't talk to you as he won't get paid any more, Lawyers won't talk to you citing 'client confidentiality', Banks won't talk to you citing 'data protection', Courts won't talk to you as you are not a party to the case unless you actually turn up in person.

At least the situation recently became a little better. Previously if the lender had not given permission to let the tenancy ended right away on the award of repossession and the tenant only had until the bailiffs turned up (an imprecise amount of time but 4-6 weeks?) to get out. Now if the tenant goes to the court and asks for it, the court has the power to award a two month extension before the possession award. But you have to ask for it. Did you do this?

Otherwise there is nothing you can do. Make sure you do not pay any more than you have to in rent, organise to move on.

GDB2222

I was puzzling over the figures. If the mortgage payments are £165/mth, that's the interest on a mortgage of £40k if the interest rate is 5%, or a mortgage of £80k is the interest rate is a very low 2.5%. I wonder whether the property is worth more than the mortgage, in which case why is the LL not trying to keep hold of it? Maybe he's ill? Or perhaps he's lost so much money on other deals that he's almost bankrupt?

RedfordML

Are you not in a position to purchase the property, which will become cheap and as you say it's the perfect location etc. We went through a similar situation and we ended up as home owners rather than tenants, so a blessing in disguise!!

Hope it works out positively for you!!