Landlord subletted - breached his contract

KG91

Hi all, just looking for some advice. We are a young couple with a 10 week old baby, we moved into our flat at the beginning of March.
We went through an estate agent, have met the landlord and everything was fine until yesterday. We knew the landlord was subletting - he openly told us he was. The flat used to be his business but he sold up and converted it to a flat.

We received a letter informing us that the landlord has been in breach of his contract by renting to us, as it not permitted to be used for anything as a business unless he gets permission. So either he had to evict us before a deadline of 4pm yesterday, or he will be taken to court and his landlord will start proceedings for a court order to evict us. Haven't spoken to the landlord as yet as he was at work all day yesterday.

Visited Citizens Advice but they weren't much help. They basically said that they now need a court order to evict us but by the time they get one, our contract may be up anyway (ends in August but we were gonna renew). Rang the estate agents (who have been completely useless from day 1) just to be told that they assumed he owned the property outright.

Havent really got a clue what to do from here. This is the first place we have rented, before that we lived with parents & terrified whats going to happen now, especially now the baby is here.

If we start looking for somewhere new and decide to go for it, will we be penalised for ending the contract early? Will we get our deposit back? Should the estate agents have checked that he was allowed to sublet? So many questions!

Any advice would be appreciated, because as I said I am clueless!

Thanks

ValHaller

The first thing to try is to get the Landlord to agree to a surrender of the tenancy. Get this in writing and look for new accommodation.

If he will not agree, I suggest that you write to LL's LL, tell them that LL has refused to agree a surrender of the tenancy and ask them to indemnify you against all claims from the LL if you move out. edit: If they agree, get it in writing.

You should ask to be notified about repo proceedings and you should attend court if necessary to ask for 2 months grace. I believe that you will have the same protections as a tenant whose LL is letting without mortgage lender's permission - but this does require checking out.

Others may have better ideas or more accurate information, so let this sit for a while.

theartfullodger

Agree with Vallhaller:

You KG have an entirely valid & legal tenancy agreement with your landlord ... but sadly he's broken his lease in granting it..

He (or anyone else..) can't evict you without going to court, getting possession order then booking up bailiffs then getting them round - likely a couple of months...

So, get early surrender agreed if possible and best wishes for the future but you've done nothing wrong..

You can get **free** advice from Shelter Helpline on 0808 800 4444 see..
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/how_we_can_help/housing_advice_helpline

Housing advice helpline

Shelter provides a free, national telephone advice line staffed by trained housing advisers. We have helped thousands of people, from finding them a place to sleep to suggesting how to handle mortgage arrears.
Ring 0808 800 4444

8am-8pm Monday-Friday
8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

Calls are free from UK landlines and main
mobile networks (Vodafone, O2, EE and
Virgin Mobile).

We will answer your call as quickly as we can and treat it confidentially. The helpline gets very busy at times, but please keep trying. Calls are recorded for training purposes.

Our advisers can:
give you immediate, practical assistance
explain your rights
offer advice and guidance
suggest specialist or local support services to help you longer term.

- but expect a wait as they are very busy...

Best regards to you both & baby..

PS As your landlord has "not bothered" with getting permission to let perhaps he's "not bothered" with declaring his rental income to HMRC & the suggestion that you might not report him to their fraud line might make him more helpful... (only try if feeling confident..)

PasturesNew

This is very annoying as you've paid a lot of money to the agents to "do the right thing" and they've been amateurs. The trouble with these 6 months ASTs is there's no feeling or security of being around for as long as you want; just as long as it suits the LL etc.

No advice, just very annoyed for you.

theartfullodger

Actually there's JUST a possibility that either...
a) The agent might be so embarrassed at not having done their checks on LL properly they might help you find somewhere fast/negotiate with your current Landlord..
b) (After you've moved..) there might be a faint chance of compo from either/both landlord and agent for scr**ing things up for you.. If you had the time that would be an interesting case to pursue....

Best regards

monty-doggy

I wouldn't pay any more rent if you think you won't get your deposit back, then use that for a deposit on the next place.

mrginge

monty-doggy wrote: »

I wouldn't pay any more rent if you think you won't get your deposit back, then use that for a deposit on the next place.

Well that would be a stupid idea.

Guest101

Check your deposit is protected.

Check with your LL's LL, after you ask to surrender, that they are upto date with the situation.

Check with the LA if they will compensate you/ hep you for not carrying out their searches correctly.

BitterAndTwisted

If their landlord hasn't protected the deposit in one of the authorised schemes, not paying the rent is a very sensible idea.

I'd go for agreeing a surrender of the tenancy, and if the landlord's not prepared to do that, wait for the court-order

KG91

Thanks for the advice everyone

I phoned Shelter earlier and the guy I spoke to said that because the lease is most likely business he is unsure what the court proceedings for that would be as he only deals with residential queries. He advised us to ask for a surrender of the tenancy, then if he agrees we can move on to a new place. We could then apparently sue him for breach of contract and breach of a tenancy deposit scheme as we have never received a certificate confirming it was protected (however there is some info about my deposits.co.uk at the front of tenancy agreement but no certificate).

Contacted estate agents earlier, gonna ask if the estate agents should have checked and see what happens from there.

Urgh, what a mess!

Thanks again for everyones advice it's been really helpful