New LL is a nightmare.

Scoobysnacks

Hi
am posting for a friend.

She is having problems with her new LL. She has been in the same property for almost 3 yrs but as of 3 months ago has a new LL. She runs her business from home and also has a dog. He knew this when he came over 3 months ago and asked her to sign a new contract. He rushed her to sign saying he was late so she never even got a chance to read it. ( I know this is not relevant but just thought i would mention it)
Anyway, recently he has been saying he is going to sell the house and so she has received various notices (Section 8?) from him last week saying that she has breached her tenancy by running a business from the address and by having a dog.
On inspection of her lease, it does say she can't run a business or have a dog. But as he said nothing in the last 3 months, is he allowed to kick her out because of those 2 reasons?

Also, she gets HB which is sometimes late as the council checks her books so her HB is temporarily stopped while they do this. Her LL is now saying she has not paid her rent on time and is charging her late fees ( also stated on her lease). He says his agreement is with her and nothing to do with HB therefore she is breaching the tenancy by not paying on time.
Is there anything she can do about this?

It_can_get_better

First check if the notice is valid, and exactly what grounds are being used.

Are there currently any arrears? If not or they're less than 8 weeks then the only grounds the landlord can use on a section 8 in this case are discretionary, so it's not guaranteed that possession would be awarded. It would be down to a judge to decide if it was reasonable to award possession taking into account the seriousness of the breach.

How long is left on the tenancy?

Scoobysnacks

It was a 12 month lease so she still has 9 months left. I think she got a section 21 too though we don't know what they all mean. one mentions the dog, one mentions the rent and one mentions the business. How does she check that they are all legal and properly worded? She cannot afford for a solicitor.

Her rent was late but she is not in arrears now. In fact she is a little in credit at the moment as she pays her rent top up.

somethingcorporate

is there any way she can get HB to pay the landlord directly? this would mean any "arrears" as a result of the time delay etc the landlord would know about automatically and not blame the tenant.

TDPIX

Probably not the most sympathetic reply, but it sort of sounds like she's at fault. She signed a contract saying she can't work from home, nor have a dog. She also agreed to the late fees.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but she should never have signed a contact (especially as one as important as an AST) without reading it first.

Who's the deposit registered with? (Assuming it is registered)

If the landlord is being this bad, I'd be inclined to move out ASAP. He clearly wants her gone and technically your friend has breached the contract in multiple ways (granted she was rushed into signing the contract, but still).

BitterAndTwisted

All of the grounds quoted in the Section 8 are discretionary. Also, there's a world of difference between working from home and running a business from there.

Given that the new landlord has only just agreed a 12 month AST, met the tenant and knew all about her circumstances at the time of signature it would appear most perverse to attempt to evict the tenant on grounds they were aware of. It's not a foregone conclusion that a court would agree to award the landlord possession.


The OP cannot move out asap without agreeing a mutual surrender with the landlord in writing.

DVardysShadow

TDPIX wrote: »

.... I know hindsight is 20/20, but she should never have signed a contact (especially as one as important as an AST) without reading it first.

I agree. Being in the property already, she had all the time in the world to read it and could far more easily have refused to sign on the spot than if she were in the agent's office before the tenancy started.

G_M

As others have said, S8 is discretionary if the grounds are breach of tenancy (dog, business). Given all the circumstances I think it very unlikely a judge would use that discretion to make someone homeless. She simply has to explain that the LL knew about the dog when he took over the tenancy etc.

About a 1 in 10 chance of eviction, if that.

When you say 'new landlord' 3 months ago, has she been given the required information of his details as per the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 section 3? Failure to do so is a criminal offence.

It_can_get_better

I think she got a section 21 too though we don't know what they all mean. one mentions the dog, one mentions the rent and one mentions the business. How does she check that they are all legal and properly worded? She cannot afford for a solicitor.

The notice has to be in a prescribed form or substantially the same. It has to state which ground and give the full wording of it.

This is how the form should look: (Form 3)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/194/schedule/made

These are all the discretionary grounds:-

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/schedule/2/part/II

In the tenancy agreement, are there any break clauses allowing the tenancy to be brought to an end before the the expiry of the fixed term? If not you can ignore the section 21 until the fixed term is up.