Section 21 Notice and wanting to buy

spooky69

Pricivius wrote: »

I preferred not to know, to be honest - at least this way I don't know if I won or lost! If they had given me a figure, unless it was crazy good, I was not prepared to gamble.

Houses are valued with occupants, but usually those occupants are the owners who have a considerable vested interest in selling the place. Tenants, on the other hand, particularly those who either don't want to move out or want to buy as cheaply as possible, have no incentive to make the place look good, tidy up, emphasise the good points and generally do everything to increase the value. Rightmove is littered with properties where the tenants clearly made no effort to move their dirty pants off the floor or wash up.

Fair points and your first paragraph did make me laugh! Cheers, that's been useful. :beer:

spooky69

SerialRenter wrote: »

You say you've found the the landlords family members on facebook. Have you engaged in conversation with them? That strikes me as the best way of getting the direct contact details of the landlord, by pass the agency completely.

Further to that, your contract may state that the deposit is protected, but you need to check if it has been with the following schemes:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

Contact all of them and report back if it's protected or not, as its highly relevant to the validity of the S21.

The agents have told me that the deposit is with My Deposits. I started renting in or around June 2006. I have used the search function for a number of months around that time with my information and I cannot find any confirmation that it the deposit was protected.

Can you tell me what that means, how this affects me and if this might be in my favour in relation to the S21?

For anyone reading this that might be interested, there was very little available to rent but I eventually found somewhere that was available fairly soon. I will have to pay one more months rent but kept the agents informed and have assured them that that I will be moving around 3 weeks after the date I should be out. Nothing was available sooner. They did not even try to suggest alternatives and actually told me that there was not much on the market, but still insisted that I should not have any problems moving out in the time given. The lack of available property was confirmed by a number of other agents and apparently my current agents are gaining quite a reputation. Quite bizarre for a very well-known name.

Their reaction to me telling them when I can move out is to tell me that the owner will be taking legal advice and contacting me in due course. I had asked for some flexibility but was told that there would be none. I have a feeling that I will be out before anything could happen anyway and I can see a judge looking very kindly on an owner taking up Court time trying to evict someone who is already moving out.

It strikes me as an utterly bizarre way of doing business but it is consistent with their behaviour since taking over last year.

spooky69

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spooky69

Also interesting was that the agents told me another agency were coming to value the property but nobody turned up. I know people who work at that agency and they checked and told me that they had NOT been asked to value the place. Very odd. I would not be surprised to see the place tarted up and put up for rent at a higher price, as this all happened a month or two after the same agents put another similar property a few doors down from me on the market for around 65% more than I pay (they are quite well-known for putting unrealistic prices on properties and have not made a sale in my road for the entire time they have been here).

dancingfairy

You need to check all the deposit schemes (I think Shelter has a list) to see if your deposit is currently registered. When your last fixed term tenancy ended I believe the landlord or his/her agents should have reprotected the deposit (and sent you all the relevant information). If they haven't complied with the law then the S21 could be invalid.
I am unsure though because your tenancy was pre 1997 when a lot of the rules came in but I think that if you had a tenancy after that then your deposit should have been reprotected.
In terms of moving out/giving notice etc then you are required to give the correct notice. This means 1 months notice in writing (email doesn't officially count as far as I know) and it has to be in alignment with your tenancy period.
Irrespective of their notice and whether it is valid or not (which it doesn't sound like it is) then you need to make sure you do everything correctly and have served your own correct notice.
It is unlikely that upon the expiry of the S21 that the landlords and their agents would proceed directly to court if you have served your own notice but it's possible. Obviously if this did happen you would appear and let the judge know you had served your own correct notice and would be out in a few weeks anyway.
df

ArfanB

re deposit point - while pre-2007 tenancys didn't require deposit to be protected for a valid s21 notice but the firm I work with has argued this in court and won. Nonetheless an amendment is pending for al deposits inc pre 2007 to be protected. As you have had a periodic - case of superstrike says deposit needs to be protected and prescribed info served at each renewal for s21 notice to be valid.

I would go to a local CAB / Legal Aid solicitor with docs to get it checked out,

spooky69

dancingfairy wrote: »

You need to check all the deposit schemes (I think Shelter has a list) to see if your deposit is currently registered. When your last fixed term tenancy ended I believe the landlord or his/her agents should have reprotected the deposit (and sent you all the relevant information). If they haven't complied with the law then the S21 could be invalid.
I am unsure though because your tenancy was pre 1997 when a lot of the rules came in but I think that if you had a tenancy after that then your deposit should have been reprotected.
In terms of moving out/giving notice etc then you are required to give the correct notice. This means 1 months notice in writing (email doesn't officially count as far as I know) and it has to be in alignment with your tenancy period.
Irrespective of their notice and whether it is valid or not (which it doesn't sound like it is) then you need to make sure you do everything correctly and have served your own correct notice.
It is unlikely that upon the expiry of the S21 that the landlords and their agents would proceed directly to court if you have served your own notice but it's possible. Obviously if this did happen you would appear and let the judge know you had served your own correct notice and would be out in a few weeks anyway.
df

Thanks for the information. The agents have told me that my deposit is protected under My Deposits. I have checked all months during the year I started there and also this year and from 6 months prior to the new agents buying out the old agents and it does not appear to be protected. I will check all months for the entire period when the service works again!

I have checked the other two sites where they ask for the rental commencement date and I presume check all records from that point onward and they state that there is no protected deposit with them.

The threat of legal action is almost certainly nonsense and just another example of how the agents choose to do business. Why come to an amicable solution when they can instead be aggressive and threatening.

spooky69

ArfanB wrote: »

re deposit point - while pre-2007 tenancys didn't require deposit to be protected for a valid s21 notice but the firm I work with has argued this in court and won. Nonetheless an amendment is pending for al deposits inc pre 2007 to be protected. As you have had a periodic - case of superstrike says deposit needs to be protected and prescribed info served at each renewal for s21 notice to be valid.

I would go to a local CAB / Legal Aid solicitor with docs to get it checked out,

Thanks - very useful and I will do that. It is no doubt helpful if my deposit is not protected for the agents to have stated in writing that it IS protected. That appears to be either ignorance or a lie, neither of which are acceptable.

spooky69

martindow wrote: »

Is your deposit protected? I think someone asked earlier but I didn't see a response. If it's not protected or you have not received the required information at the correct time the S21 may not be valid.

Could you let me know if you have anything further to add with regard to the additional posts and comments above?

franklee

So your tenancy went periodic in June 2007? A periodic tenancy is a new tenancy and in your case it started after the deposit regs came in which was April 2007.

So if the deposit wasn't protected in time or if you weren't served the deposit prescribed information the section 21 notice isn't valid. Ring all the deposit schemes and ask them first hand if they have your deposit. If the landlord applies to court for possession he will likely claim the court fee (280) and solicitor's fee (60ish) against you. You need to defend against this by completing the form that will be enclosed when you get the paperwork form the county court. Your defence is no deposit protection AND no prescribed information given to you.

Meanwhile serve your own one period's notice that ends and the end of a period. Move out on or before the end of your notice.

Defend any unfair deposit deductions.

If you wish to sue for 1-3 times deposit for failure to protect the deposit and serve the prescribed information check out the current law there is an amendment going through ATM IIRC.