Eviction of tenants before purchasing property

ellecarumba

Hello

Could anyone give a rough idea how long it will take for the vendor to evict the tenants in the property I hope to purchase?

The estate agent had told me that the tenants had agreed to move to another property owned by the vendor but that turned out to be wrong (what a surprise!)

The estate agent is nice but extremely dim and knows nothing about eviction proceedings. He thinks that they will probably have a court hearing "next week". He appears to have forgotten about Christmas. I asked about possession orders, section 21 notices etc and he was totally blank.

What I have confirmed is that they don't have a court date yet but they have applied for one.

So how long might the process take? Best case and worst case scenario? I am just trying to plan for what I should do in the mean time. I had to move out of my rental flat (landlord was selling it) and I am currently staying with family so have flexibility but need to have some idea if this is 6 weeks or 6 months so I can decide what storage units to get etc.

I've asked my solicitor to ask the vendor's solicitor for details but everyone appears to have knocked off for Xmas.

It is in London in case that makes a difference.

The vendor has been hassling me to get everything done quickly and then turns out he hasn't evicted the tenants (grrr!). I am ready to go. Mortgage offer was made this week, searches done, fixtures and fittings list approved, draft contract seen etc. The plan would be to exchange as soon as tenants are out and then complete ASAP.

Thanks for your help.

Guest101

Court dates can take 6-8 weeks, assuming they issued s.21 orrectly and protected the deposit, he will gain possesion legally. If bailiffs are required then a further 6-8 weeks is not uncommon.

sooz

Anything up to 6 months.

Especially if they haven't filled in paperwork correctly before applying to court.

Section 21 needs 2 months.

Court application. [STRIKE]Rejected several times due to poor paperwork, resend paperwork, wait another 2 months each time[/STRIKE]

Wait for court date.

Eviction notice & date given.

Wait for date to pass to see if tenants move voluntarily before or on the date.

Apply for bailiff

Wait for bailiff date.

Or, the vendor and LL could offer to compensate them for their troubles and reward a swifter move.

ellecarumba

OK, thanks.

I guess I should double check how long my mortgage offer is valid for then.

thesaint

If you want to get a realistic timescale, you need to know exactly what stage the prcess is at, and which local county court is dealing with it.

A Sec 21 should not require a court date in most circumstances.

RAS

Get your lawyer to demand of their lawyer a copy of the tenancy agreement and S21 notice. That means that you know on what date it was issued and hopefully your lawyer can tell you if the dang thing is valid or not.

The S21 is 2 months notice, only once that ends can they start legal proceedings.

So if they really do have a court date (or have maybe applied for a court date) then the S21 should have been issued over 2 months ago.

ellecarumba

My solicitor just emailed to say he had spoken to the vendor's solicitor who had no idea there were still tenants in there, let alone there were problems. So not sure what lawyer the vendor is using to evict tenants.

He will continue to inquire.

I thought it had all gone a bit too smoothly (sigh)

thesaint

RAS wrote: »

Get your lawyer to demand of their lawyer a copy of the tenancy agreement and S21 notice. That means that you know on what date it was issued and hopefully your lawyer can tell you if the dang thing is valid or not.

They would also need a proof of service.
If a deposit was taken, then add a whole lot of other information to the list.

benjus

ellecarumba wrote: »

So not sure what lawyer the vendor is using to evict tenants.

Quite possibly not using one at all. The process is quite simple, the forms and documents are straightforward, and there is plenty of information online to guide you through it - so it's perfectly doable without a solicitor. However, lots of people do make mistakes and have to restart the whole process from scratch. This is why it would be a very good idea to get the documents checked as advised above.

ellecarumba

Thank you all.

The vendor's solicitor will speak to the vendor and try and establish what the situation is and then (hopefully) get back to my solicitor.

I hope the vendor is not trying to do the paperwork himself. I've met him briefly and his English is not great!

45002

ellecarumba wrote: »

Hello

Could anyone give a rough idea how long it will take for the vendor to evict the tenants in the property I hope to purchase?

The estate agent had told me that the tenants had agreed to move to another property owned by the vendor but that turned out to be wrong (what a surprise!)

The estate agent is nice but extremely dim and knows nothing about eviction proceedings. He thinks that they will probably have a court hearing "next week". He appears to have forgotten about Christmas. I asked about possession orders, section 21 notices etc and he was totally blank.

What I have confirmed is that they don't have a court date yet but they have applied for one.

So how long might the process take? Best case and worst case scenario? I am just trying to plan for what I should do in the mean time. I had to move out of my rental flat (landlord was selling it) and I am currently staying with family so have flexibility but need to have some idea if this is 6 weeks or 6 months so I can decide what storage units to get etc.

I've asked my solicitor to ask the vendor's solicitor for details but everyone appears to have knocked off for Xmas.

It is in London in case that makes a difference.

The vendor has been hassling me to get everything done quickly and then turns out he hasn't evicted the tenants (grrr!). I am ready to go. Mortgage offer was made this week, searches done, fixtures and fittings list approved, draft contract seen etc. The plan would be to exchange as soon as tenants are out and then complete ASAP.

Thanks for your help.

ellecarumba wrote: »

Thank you all.

The vendor's solicitor will speak to the vendor and try and establish what the situation is and then (hopefully) get back to my solicitor.

I hope the vendor is not trying to do the paperwork himself. I've met him briefly and his English is not great!

I would check 1st and find out when did the tenants actually 1st moved in

Example after 27 February 1997

or between 15 January 1989 and 27 February 1997

or before 15 January 1989 ?

Just to be on the safe side....