buying a house tenants refuse to leave help!

mrsd2012

We are currently in the process of buying our first home. We knew the house was tenanted when we put an offer in but were told they would be moving out in December 2013. We were due to exchange contracts on the 28 th February 2014 but when we got to our solicitors office they informed us that they were still waiting for documents from the seller. I rang the estate agent to see what the hold up was and they told me the current tenant is refusing to leave the property.They are Issuing a section 8 and section 21 together on the 17th March and have said this will mean she has 14 days to leave.
I want to know if this is true as people have been telling me it will take months to evict her especially as she has 2 young children. I am 7 months pregnant so I can't wait much longer to move in, we are considering pulling out of the purchase if it is going to take longer then 6 weeks. Also if we pull out we have spent £1000 on solicitors and surveyour will we be entitled to any of that back? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

gazfocus

Unfortunately, whilst a section 8 and section 21 may well give the tenant 14 days to move out, all it actually is is a notice telling the tenant that if they don't move out, the landlord (current owner) will begin court proceedings to remove the tenant. Unfortunately, if the tenant has 2 young children, my gut feeling would be that the court may think twice about evicting the tenant as this would make her and her children homeless, especially if they cannot afford the deposit for a new place.

BitterAndTwisted

They are issuing a S8 and a S21 on the 17th of this month and the tenants will have to leave in 14 days? I think not. They will only have to leave once the current owner has been to court and secured possession. Getting a court-date could take months!

Withdraw your offer and start looking for another property. The vendors can come back to you once they have secured possession if you haven't found something else in the mean-time.

And no, the money you have spent is not claimable from anyone. That's your expense to cover unfortunately. You could have decided to pull out once you'd paid for and seen the survey.

jjlandlord

Do not exchange until property is vacant.

And don't hold your breath because:
1. Why haven't they served notice yet? And why are they now waiting until 17 March?
Either they are not telling you everything or they do not know what they are doing.

2. Unless the tenant is in serious arrears I don't see a reason to use section 8 or why a judge would grant possession based on section 8.
This leaves the section 21: That's a 2 month notice, then another couple of months if the tenant do not vacate.

I would suggest to the vendor that they should come to a financial arrangement with their tenant if he agrees to leave quickly, otherwise you'll withdraw your offer.

mrsd2012

Thanks for your replies. Sorry I should have mentioned she is in arrears. I'm hoping she is just waiting to be served so she can take the notice to the housing association and get emergency rehousing. We will start looking for something else and will withdraw our offer. Didn't think we would get any of the money back but thought it was worth asking. Thanks again

brit1234

The Possession Order

Once the Section 8 notice has been served, the landlord can apply to the court for a hearing to get a possession order using the forms N119[3] and N5 [4] and by paying the court fees.
The landlord is then given a date to attend court, the first hearing, and must attend on this date. If the tenant has not filed a Defence or does not attend court to challenge the claim, the court may make a possession order at the first hearing. If the tenant does defend the claim, the court will issue directions at the First Hearing and adjourn the claim until a further hearing when the case will be heard in full. If the possession order is granted then it takes effect 14 days after it has been issued, although in some cases this may be extended to six weeks where it is deemed that the tenant will face serious hardship as a result of the repossession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_Notice

Buzby

I'm aware of one buyer who was prepared to sit it out (as the reduced price made it worth sitting out) or so he thought. The 2 spinsters lived there for a further 18 years until they died, and paid a minuscule rent.

Unless you get vacant possession, it's not worth the gamble.

BitterAndTwisted

The vendor is a numpty, or greedy/in financial difficulties. No sensible person would wait for a couple of months after they had received an offer to start getting shot of the tenant. They really should have waiting until the property was vacant before putting it on the market but of course that would mean no rent coming in.

mrsd2012

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The vendor is a numpty, or greedy/in financial difficulties. No sensible person would wait for a couple of months after they had received an offer to start getting shot of the tenant. They really should have waiting until the property was vacant before putting it on the market but of course that would mean no rent coming in.

Our thoughts exactly, think he was trying to get every penny out of them he could before exchanging

BitterAndTwisted

Before you withdraw your offer it might be worth asking the vendor when precisely their S8 and S21 Notices were issued and whether a possession order has been granted. After reading brit1234's post it seems that a wire could have got crossed somewhere.

Owain_Moneysaver

mrsd2012 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. Sorry I should have mentioned she is in arrears. I'm hoping she is just waiting to be served so she can take the notice to the housing association and get emergency rehousing.

The tenant will not be eligible for emergency rehousing until the court has actually granted the eviction order and the date for eviction specified in that order has passed.

A tenant who leaves before that date has made themselves intentionally homeless as they are not statutorily obliged to leave the property until that date.