What to do - landlady given notice

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I've received a letter giving the requisite two months notice today, couldn't be better timing, right in the middle of exams and essays, and just a few months before I planned to leave anyway. The situation is now a bit of a mess, as I'm in limbo land for a few months, as my partner is looking for a job in the U.K, and we plan on getting a place together, but that wasn't going to happen until around May/June (she's in the planning stages now).

Option 1:

- Look for a 2 bed place as we planned to do anyway, transfer my HB, which will obviously be less as they will say its too big for my needs, or maybe I can find a one bed place, get the HB transferred, and notify the council when my partner moves in.

- Downsides: Partner is re-locating from Switz, don't know how to prove she is financially solvent (she has a good job in Switz, but think landlords want to see a U.K history, all a bit of a nightmare). What if we offered six months up front?

Option 2:

- Put my stuff into storage, go to Switz for a few months.

- Downsides: Going to be a nightmare reapplying for HB when I get back, need to fly back every other week for various appointments etc.


Option 3:

- Look for place with current housemate on the understanding she moves out when my partner relocated.

- Downsides - she might not find a place? She may want to move in with her boyfriend who has just bought a house


Thoughts?

Also strongly suspect we won't get much of our deposit back, if at all, landlady has turned into a total nightmare this year, refusing to replace things etc, fear this is going to turn into a huge mess.

Sooner I can get out of here, the better, preferably before exams, and leave the landlady with an empty house not making money, can't see her letting us stay on for an extra two or three months.

SteveCat

Will your partner moving in with you affect your HB claim? Surely that will be a change of circumstances and they will be needing to know that??

In the meantime if you're with a agent I would look for other places with them. Alternatively look for places yourself and maybe ask your Landlord if one becomes available, could you move out sooner. The 2 months notices tend to mess things up for Tenants looking for elsewhere.

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(i) I will of course notify the council WHEN my partner moves in with me, but not before. It might be that I will have to find somewhere on my own for a while, transfer the HB to the new place, and notify the council when my partner moves (likely to be a few months later at least).

(ii) As I understand it, I have to give one months notice if I want to leave, this means I can give notice at the end of this month to leave at the end of March if needed, I am not bound to stay here for until April 30th which is the date the LL wants us to move out.

(iii) I'm going to look for places with another agency, countrywide residential of york are best avoided, nothing but nightmares with them, taking ages for them to do simple things, them being obnoxious towards us, don't really need it. Don't want to deal with my LL anymore either.

silvercar

speak to your landlord, it may be that they want to sell the place and would be happy for you to stay put until its sold, subject to allowing viewings.

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I have a suspicion she wants to sell the place, over christmas, we received a letter stating that the garden had to be kept tidy or she would consider terminating our contract, my guess is she wanted the outside to be as presentable as possible.

Either that, or she just wants us out as we had a dispute over her proposal to increase the rent by £90 a month!!! We negotiated, but she may be thinking she can get more for it - our LL is slightly delusional and doesn't seem to realise the other properties on the street with a higher rent have more bedrooms, are modernized, have parking etc. Ours doesn't.

Barcode

I have a suspicion she wants to sell the place, over christmas, we received a letter stating that the garden had to be kept tidy or she would consider terminating our contract, my guess is she wanted the outside to be as presentable as possible.

Either that, or she just wants us out as we had a dispute over her proposal to increase the rent by £90 a month!!! We negotiated, but she may be thinking she can get more for it - our LL is slightly delusional and doesn't seem to realise the other properties on the street with a higher rent have more bedrooms, are modernized, have parking etc. Ours doesn't.

Gorgeous_George

It's possible that the LL is looking at her options.

Option 1 - Do nothing
Maybe her costs are greater than the rental income. Not sustainable long term - especially if IRs continue to rise.

Option 2 - Increase rent
You refuse to pay extra £90 per month (or cannot pay). She could try to find a tenant who will pay the higher rent and hope IRs stabilise at current levels.

Option 3 - Sell
This option realises any equity already in the property, removes the exposure to affects of IR rises and takes the hassle of letting away.

Clearly, Option 3 may be her preferred route but Option 2 is also acceptable in the short term. You, I'm afraid, are just one of her problems. You could help ask her for extra time to move out, as previously suggested, but it is important that you understand her needs as much as you would like her to understand yours.



GG

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We might ask for extra time, but I'm not hopeful. The landlady and agency have been a nightmare, and I will be glad to be out of this house of horrors. It's just the dates could not have been worse.

I'm not at all sympathetic to the LL, we negotiated the rent, she accepted, we can afford to pay what she wanted, but there are nicer places for the same price, which I am now looking at for my partner and myself, I'm just concerned about what will happen to my HB if I move into a 2 bed place by myself for a while as it will obviously be deemed too big for my needs, but hopefully, I'll still receive something.

Have already requested viewings for a few flats from rightmove, the sooner this is sorted out, the better, if I can get out of here by the end of the month, mid-march, much better than moving in the middle of exams.

Voyager2002

Dare I ask, why do you plan to live on HB in the long term? I understand that you are now studying full-time, but could you not find some kind of job once your exams are over? You would then be far more attractive to other landlords and so have a wider choice of places to live, and of course would not need to worry about HB rules.

Since you expect LL to be awkward about returning your deposit, I suggest you ask her to keep it in lieu of the last month's rent.

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I suppose this is where I open myself to all kinds of criticism.

I'm staying on for a PhD. I also have a disability, hence receiving IB and DLA.

My income here is irrelevant. When my partner moves here, she will be paying the rent, and I will be glad to come off HB, especially since dealing with the council is not easy.

The section 21 we received today, states in bold, that according to our tenancy agreement the last months rent may not kept in lieu of the deposit, but I expect this is just standard wording, and we'll have to try and sort it out on Monday.

The issue is not so much me moving, but my partner relocating from abroad. On the face of it, we do not seem like a good couple to rent to, which is really annoying, my partner owns one house, rents another, has substantial savings, can pay six months or more upfront etc, it's just the lack of credit history in the U.K. It may be that we'll look for somewhere short term whilst my partner looks into buying a flat since we're likely to be in the U.K for at least several years. That will be a relief if it comes to fruition, all this hassle with landlords is just not worth it.

black-saturn

If the couple is the same sex do they look on it as being a partner or just as having a non dependant living with you?

Could you not sit tight and hope for council accomodation?