Same flat, new ladlord

Bluedroog

Hi Guys,

I was just wonder where I stand as a tenant in regards to a change in Landlord. My girlfriend and I have lived in a flat (within a dived house) together for around 3 years, prior to this she live there on her own for a further 2-3 years.

This private rent has been perfect for us as the landlord favours under market value rates for long term tenants, we’ve never asked much of him and as with most of his properties the occupants tent to stay for many years.

Now he is in the process of selling our flat, the neighbours down starts have also been sold (to the brother of our potential new landlord). The tenants were given two weeks notice to move out while a refurnishing was done, they are not sure if they’ll move back, I suspect they will be priced out and not return.

Now we face a similar prospect, what rights do we as tenants and the new landlord have? Can they turf us out for redecorating then put the rent up? The current landlord says he thinks they’ll put it up a £100 pcm which we could live with and understand but frankly I don’t believe this figure and suspect it will go up by 30% which will be beyond us.

So where do we stand?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

theartfullodger

(This assumes the old & new landlord do not live in the same building as you...)

Your tenancy continues as before, on exactly the same terms, simply with a new landlord.

The landlord must write and advise you of who he is, address etc, before rent is due, but I suggest you try to not-p*** him off (unless you really want to..).

Beware the "just move out for these repairs.." then "oh dear it's taking longer..." then "well you ain't living there no more so the tenancy has ended bye-bye.." trick.

If You WANT the repairs/decoration then think about agreeing: If you don't want them then I'd politely & calmly decline their kind offer In your shoes I'd want written confirmation of timescales & your accommodation paid for (eg hotel) until work completed..

If new landlord wants to evict you or raise the rent he has to go through the same processes, plus some more, as the old one would have ...

Cheers!

rentergirl

Yep I agree with the above. Don't move, and obviously, ask for everything in writing.

BitterAndTwisted

If you're on a periodic tenancy you could be given two month's notice before the new landlord can go to court to apply for possession. A landlord is free to to do this for any reason or no reason at all. If you're on a fixed-term AST you're committed for however long that agreement is for. After that the same could happen. So not agreeing to renovations and wanting to sit tight at your current rent possibly won't happen. It all depends on how valued you might be as long-term reliable tenants and how easy it would be to replace you with new tenants paying a much higher rent.