Renting and got a repossession hearing letter

confused_tenant

I recently posted a message on here seeking advice as we thought our landlord was in arrears with his mortgage! As a result, we started looking for somewhere else to live and are now buying a property.

Ideally, we want our completion date to be 5th July (It's a new build so no chain) but the solicitors aren't sure if the contracts will be ready by then. If they are not ready, our moving day/completion day will be the 20th July.

However, we received a letter from a company called Walker Morris stating that proceedings for possession of the property will commence on the 3rd July, two days earlier than the 5th July, the day we hope to move/complete.

We have got three questions:
1. If the house is possessed on the 3rd July court hearing, how long do we have as standard before we have to leave the house?

2. If our contracts aren't completed by the 5th July and we do need longer before we move, how do we go about doing that? Is this a difficult process?

3. Thirdly, if bailiffs do come to the property, where do we stand with regards to protecting our possessions or anything of value? We are unsure whether the courts know this is a rented property.

Any help will be much appreciated. Thankfully we do have another home lined up, but there may just be a shortfall of days in between.

Thank you.

Yorkie1

You must attend the hearing on 3 July and let the judge know that you are in occupation. You can request the possession order to be delayed by up to 2 months. If you do not attend, the court is unlikely to grant any time.

If the court does not grant an immediate possession order then your tenancy continues.

Have you given correct notice to the LL to end your tenancy?

Guest101

In law you and your property are protected, but the courts need to know you are there, so as suggested make sure you attend the hearing.

G_M

Read:

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

(as previously advised in your other thread)

confused_tenant

Yorkie1 wrote: »

You must attend the hearing on 3 July and let the judge know that you are in occupation. You can request the possession order to be delayed by up to 2 months. If you do not attend, the court is unlikely to grant any time.

If the court does not grant an immediate possession order then your tenancy continues.

Have you given correct notice to the LL to end your tenancy?

Thank you for your replies

We have given correct notice in two ways: we have written to our overseeing estate agents, but only given notice verbally to our landlord as he lives in another country and gave us no forwarding address. However, he has accepted our notice and the overseeing estate agents are aware of this. Is that a sticking point for us? I have no idea how else we would give him written notice as he also has no email address...

Attending the court hearing is a pain due to getting time off work, but it is important so its good to know that.

G_M

confused_tenant wrote: »

Thank you for your replies

We have given correct notice in two ways:.

Are you sure...!?

Look at your tenancy agreement.

Find the address on it "for the serving of notices".

Send a letter there by Royal Mail (1st class with proof of posting, not recorded delivery)

THAT is the ONLY correct way to give notice.

ValHaller

I suggest you make contact with Walker Morris and explain your situation rather than spring it on them in court. Do still attend court though and state your case.

The advantage for Walker Morris is the potential for you to surrender the property to them when you move out, so they may not contest any application from you.