Recently brough a flat

Daniel1987i

Hi I've recently brought a flat. On Friday I went to pick the keys up to finally move in to find someone was living there. I was told the property would be vacated. The site manager has given me another flat to move into for the time being. Am I due any compensation

mjdh1957

So you have squatters?

Or maybe you are a landlord without realising it.

You probably need some paid legal advice rather than opinions from random Internet strangers.

Lokolo

You should be speaking to your solicitor...

Daniel1987i

No, there not squatters. I spoke to them and they said they've been told to vacate the flat by Sunday, they've been living there the last year and this is the first they've been told about vacating. They have the right to stay there a month.

mjdh1957

So you are currently a landlord then.

There is not any guarantee that they will actually leave....

Daniel1987i

Well yeah I guess I am. The guy seems reasonable to move out. It's more the inconvenience of moving my possessions from one place to another then packing up and moving again in the run up to xmas

PasturesNew

Daniel1987i wrote: »

... this is the first they've been told about vacating. They have the right to stay there a month.

If the first part of this sentence is true, then the second part is untrue.

If they have only just found out, then they will need to be served with the proper/legal paperwork asking them to vacate. This will give them a minimum of 2 months' notice from the next rent date. If, say, the rent date was today then that'd add on another month as the next rent date wouldn't be until 8 January, so they'd get notice to leave on 7 March.

And then - it is possible they won't leave, so you'd need to then take them to court ... and wait more time.

You need to give us more details about what you bought, who from, what you thought was happening.

Maybe your solicitor can be sued.

Did you get a residential mortgage, to move in?
Did you know there was a tenant when you viewed it?

Do you have a Rightmove link to the property?

Daniel1987i

I was told that the current tenants will be moved out. The current tenants were only told on Friday to vacate. Some where the solicitors haven't done there job properly. The mortgage was not buy to let.

PasturesNew

Daniel1987i wrote: »

I was told that the current tenants will be moved out. The current tenants were only told on Friday to vacate. Some where the solicitors haven't done there job properly. The mortgage was not buy to let.

What you should have done is to visit the flat prior to exchange/on the day of exchange, to confirm that it was vacant. This is where the process has broken down.

You didn't check the tenant had left; your solicitor has not made you do it.

Your current mortgage is now "illegal" and your solicitor has enabled this to occur by not assuring you had vacant possession (by telling you to get your bum down there to check).

However, as you are now a Landlord ... whether you like it or not, you have legal obligations.

You need to find out who has/where is the tenant's deposit. You need to ensure the gas certificate is current. You need to insure the property as a Landlord.

In short..... you've bought yourself several weeks (if not months) of trouble, inconvenience and cost.

There are enough people on this site to be able to help you through this, but there will be many, VERY SPECIFIC, steps you need to take.

One of the first things you might be advised to do is to join a landlord's group. I won't do that as I don't know how relevant it is to your situation and, who knows, maybe the tenant will leave .... but if the tenant turns up here asking us for advice we'll be telling them to stay put and it's your tough luck as the law is on the tenant's side in this.

mjdh1957

Listen to PasturesNew's very wise advice above.

You are in a dangerous position legally as you have lots of obligations as a landlord (even as a reluctant one) and any wrong step can lead to criminal charges of harassment and illegal eviction.

Get onto your solicitor first thing on Monday.

Daniel1987i

Thanks for the help guys. In the tenant position I would be reluctant to move. The site managers have taken some responsibility in this and asked how I can be compensated. I think they've offered the tenant another property to stay in free of charge. In the run up to Xmas I dot think anyone wants to go the legal route.