Issues with landlord - buying/renting

stevetan

Hello,

We currently find ourselves in the middle of a nightmare situation. My wife and I are pregnant expecting our first child at the end of February. Been in a rental property for the past 18months with the initial plan of buying the property from landlords when time was right - a perfect situation for us or so we thought!

They gave us notice of their intention to sell at the beginning of october with our tenancy to end at the end of Feb. We allowed the EAs to come round and value the property and were told the valuation so we went about and organised a mortgage. We made an extremely fair offer for the house (above the average of the 3 valuations). They took forever to reply and this Monday told us that the house was going to go on the market for £40,000 more than the highest value!!!!

Obviously we are not going to offer any more for the property. And we now have 2 months to find something else. This on top of our first baby being due obviously isnt helping my wifes nerves about pregnancy.

We now have 6 propertys to look at buying on Saturday and 4 to rent next week as we need to sort this ASAP. We want out of this property now, as my wife had become emotionally attached planning what we were going to do etc.

They have given us notice for the end of our rent for the end of feb. We want/need this to be earlier. Our initial rental agreement was 6 months tied in and then rolling with one months notice our side. I assume this is still in existence? The first day of rental was 1st of the month, so I assume that if we give notice after 1st December we will have to pay rent for December and then January as well??

hoffage123

Hi,

I know it is a very stressful situation for you both, but I would urge you to plan out carefully your next step and not let the stress of it force you into making a bad decision potentially by rushing things.

Please check your contract very carefully and see whether a S21 was issued at the start of your tenancy. And I know it is tempting to go off at the landlord, but it may be more productive to negotiate with them an earlier exit date, if this is really necessary.

Take a look at the houses you are interested in. If you are going to put an offer in for one then bear in mind that buying will probably take a few weeks at least (all that conveyancing stuff) so it may play in your favour to stay until February (i.e. end of your notice period). But get some advice from the CAB as they may be able to advise you on other options.

I hope that helps.

stevetan

Hi thanks for replying

we know that the end of feb could be useful to us if we decide to buy one of these houses that we are viewing. But we dont want to buy for the sake of buying and then regretting so its looking most likely we will continue to rent till we see the house that we want

As far as we are aware we signed an initial 6 months rental contract which expired January 2012, and have been on a rolling contract with us having to give 1 months notice and the landlord 2 months since then. They have given us verbal assurances extending the rental period to July 2012 and now to termination in February 2013, but we have had nothing in writing and have not signed anything committing to this.

Lovelyjoolz

Deja vu?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4311153

Werdnal

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

Deja vu?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4311153

Was just comparing and contrasting these 2 threads myself. Almost too similar to be true - new baby, £40K less offered for house price and a moving date in February. Perhaps I am being cynical, but as OP in your link was given short shrift, perhaps they have re-posted with a slightly different slant to gain some more sympathetic responses.

However, could be just plain co-incidence that this OP and the other are suffering similar dilemmas.

Welcome OP, who ever you are.

Notice from a tenant in a periodic tenancy must co-incide with the end of a rental period (not necessarily the day you pay rent). So if you give notice (ie LL receives it) by 1st December, your notice ends on 31 December (1 calendar month) - do you want to move during Christmas week????

If you miss 1st December, then you are bound to end of January - unless LL can be persuaded to let you leave earlier.

If you have had nothing in the way of a written notice from the LL, you do not have to leave until they do so, and even then, to formally end the tenancy, the LL would need to get a court order, so you can ignore the notice if you choose!

stevetan

yeah that is a bit of a coincidence! but other post definately not me!
Im not looking for any trouble with the landlords. Just ranting about everything!

We are both just so angry that the valuations were 280, 290, 295, we offered 292500, and they rejected and are putting it on for 330! its laughable really! and has put us in an awkward situation with the worse possible timing

G_M

Owners are free to ask what they want, and reject any offer they wish.

They may find they can't sell and then reconsider your offer later, or they may find a buyer at a higher price. Who knows?

If you are starting looking yourself now, it will be 3 - 6 months before you can move.

As for the Notice required (by you OR the Landlord) read this post:

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

tbs624

G_M - there is correction needed within your link page. It is *s5* of the HA1988 that sets out how an SPT arises, rather than *s8*

Whatever the agent may say, and whatever the contract may say, a SPT is a perfectly legal alternative (HousingAct 1988 S8).

Your link from there does tie in with s5 though

tbs624

stevetan wrote: »

We currently find ourselves in the middle of a nightmare situation. My wife and I are pregnant ?

My bolding. Now that to most blokes *would* be a nightmare......;)

stevetan wrote: »

Hello,
Been in a rental property for the past 18months....

They gave us notice of their intention to sell at the beginning of october with our tenancy to end at the end of Feb......

They have given us notice for the end of our rent for the end of feb. We want/need this to be earlier. Our initial rental agreement was 6 months tied in and then rolling with one months notice our side. I assume this is still in existence? The first day of rental was 1st of the month, so I assume that if we give notice after 1st December we will have to pay rent for December and then January as well??

My bolding. It is the last day of the Fixed Term that is most relevant

If you have not signed up for a further Fixed Term and the rent was due monthly under the FT agreement then your tenancy will have become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy, running on in calendar monthly tenancy periods from the day after the FT expiry ( which may or may not coincide with a rent due date.

You could try negotiation with them - if they want to sell the property they will need vacant possession and Ts can of course string out their exit from a property. You could also explain that if obliged to see out a full notice period it would be unlikely you would feel able to agree to viewings during the remainder of your tenancy because of your wife's need to rest

G_M

tbs624 wrote: »

G_M - there is correction needed within your link page. It is *s5* of the HA1988 that sets out how an SPT arises, rather than *s8*

Your link from there does tie in with s5 though

Thanks, and well-spotted.

:T

Amended now.

stevetan

just to update everyone, we viewed properties on saturday, loved one, made an offer and after some negotiation our final offer was accepted! 2 house chain all ready to go so estimated completion mid to late jan! All in the hands of solicitors now and mortgage company ...