Bank commenced possession proceedings in respect to property I am renting?

G_M

greenchicken wrote: »

Just found this thread, I am in the exact same situation and posted about it this morning: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4579647

So far I have been sent a letter saying we will receive another letter stating the date of the repossession - will that be the point at which I can attend a court hearing?

You are unlikely to get anywhere on the phone.

Read
Repossession(What happens if a landlord's mortgage lender repossesses the property?)

WRITE WRITE WRITE

The 'date of repossession' is ambiguous. It could mean
* date of the repossession hearing (court) when the bank may or may not be granted possession by the judge
* it could mean the date they (bank) take physical possession (evict you), which might follow the above.

greenchicken

Thanks, I have sent a letter straight back asking for clarification on the timeline of all this

Flyer333

Hi all, just a quick update.
I received a letter from the solicitor:

"As you are aware from the letter you have received from us, a possession hearing has been listed on
12 June 2013 at 2pm in the xxx.
Unfortunately, as you are not party to the proceedings, we are not able to disclose any further information to you and, whilst our client appreciates the difficult position you find yourself in, it did not consent to any letting of the property and is not bound by any unauthorised tenancy agreement you
may have.
We suggest that you speak to your landlord and/or letting agent in respect of the correspondence that you have received.
Should you still be unsure as to your position, we recommend that you seek your own independent legal advice or contact one of the free advice agencies listed below."


I have emailed the letting agent several times yesterday and today and have not received a response.

As I understand from the link above, my next step would be to write to the bank and ask if they could grant me 2 months notice to vacate the property upon successful completion of the possession order.
And if I receive no response or a refusal, I should attend court and ask them the same thing, through the correct channels.

My questions from here are:

1. What happens to this tenancy agreement? Is it now void and I can just move out without penalty whenever I want, and get the full deposit from the relevant deposit protection scheme?
2. Should I withhold payment of rent with immediate effect until I receive a satisfactory response from the agent? Bearing in mind I am away with work at the end of next week for 10 days, I would be constantly worrying about someone accessing the property and going through my belongings should I withhold funds.

3. Or should I let this months rent come out of my account and then withhold any future monies until the case? Or until further correspondence with the agent.

4. Finally, I had only moved in in February. Where do I stand in terms of getting some/all/none of my money back through the agents? Be it the ridiculous admin fees, compensation for having to take time off to sort this out, costs and inconvenience of moving, etc

I would appreciate any advice.

I feel very hard done by. Granted, perhaps I should have done a bit more research, but I have moved here from the other side of the country and have very limited knowledge of renting.

Thrugelmir

Flyer333 wrote: »

4. Finally, I had only moved in in February. Where do I stand in terms of getting some/all/none of my money back through the agents? Be it the ridiculous admin fees, compensation for having to take time off to sort this out, costs and inconvenience of moving, etc

LL is at fault. Letting agent like yourself has to work on trust.

franklee

Thrugelmir wrote: »

LL is at fault. Letting agent like yourself has to work on trust.

The agent should check for consent to let by asking the landlord to show written evidence from his lender. See this thread here in particular this comment:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=46767155&postcount=39

DiscoCat54 wrote: »

Judge also commented that because the LA hadn't asked to see official confirmation from the LL that he had permission to let, they were liable and could be subject to civil action from me. I won't be pursuing it but it's a nice to know for the future....

OP, should the tenancy be cut short you have a claim for the extra expense it causes you from the landlord or the agent.

If it's ARLA agent report them to ARLA as well as they say the agent should ask to see proof of CTR. Probably won't do much good but you may as well complain.

Also when it's over email your story to Shelter including if the new act helped or fell short for you.

Flyer333

Hi, thanks for your response!

Sorry, but what new act are you referring to with regards ot Shelter?
I am visiting the agents in person today (unannounced) as they have not been responding to my emails.

At this moment in time the terms of the agreement have not been 'broken', but because they LL didnt have permission to let in the first place, my understanding is that the agreement is void anyway?

Is this correct?

In regards to extra expenses, would I be correct in assuming that any admin/references fees paid to another agent during the moving process, aswell as the cost of moving my stuff and taking the time off work to do so, can this be claimed back from the agent/landlord?

If so, how would I go about doing this?

And what would happen to my deposit if I moved out abruptly, having found a new place?

Last question (sorry!) what about this months rent for May, which is due to go out this week?
I think I will be staying here until towards the end of may at the earliest.

Should I still follow the process outlined earlier in the thread?
(Request two months notice from the lender, followed by attend court to request two months to move?)

franklee

Flyer333 wrote: »

Sorry, but what new act are you referring to with regards ot Shelter?

Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010. Shelter was one of the forces behind this act. See G_M's posts for a link to Shelters page and the guidance to the act etc which I recommend you read.

Flyer333 wrote: »

At this moment in time the terms of the agreement have not been 'broken', but because they LL didnt have permission to let in the first place, my understanding is that the agreement is void anyway?

No the agreement is binding on you but not on the landlord's lender. See above links. That stinks I know but things used to be worse for tenants before the 2010 act.

Flyer333 wrote: »

what about this months rent for May, which is due to go out this week?

I think some of your other questions ave already been answered above ... It's a lot of reading but I'm afraid you'll need to get to grips with it and/or seek proper advice.

Flyer333

Cheers, thanks for the advice.
I have read through the links and have a better idea of what to do next.

I can not find any information about whether or not the tenancy agreement is still valid though, because the LL/LA do not have permission to let the property, so that must void the agreement in some capacity.

For example if I found a place in the next few weeks and just moved, would this mean I break the terms of the agreement and would be liable to pay the full amount?
I am thinking that it would be within my rights to tear it up considering it was put in place unlawfully/unauthorised by the lender.

redcar_2

I would suggest you hang onto this month's rent until you have some clarity. You can always pay late once it is clear what is going on.

Ulfar

Not something I would usually advise but don't pay any more rent until it is cleared up.

This is especially true if the landlord hasn't protected your deposit, if he hasn't takling him to court could be an exercise in futility if he has no money.