Buying House - Tenant refusing to leave...

*~Zephyr~*

MattinLondon wrote: »

She's not being thrown out tomorrow. She's been given the notice period that is agreed upon in the contract that she signed. What's the point of these contracts if she can now decide she doesn't like those terms.

No, but she has to go and find a place within 8 weeks. How long were you searching for a suitable place to buy? Why do you think it would be easier/quicker to find a suitable place to rent?

There's no point whining about the rental contract now. You've been a tenant yourself and found the contracts to be perfectly suitable for you, but now the boot is on the other foot and you're in the lucky position to buy they are totally unreasonable? Double standards much?

If you want the house, accept the fact that the law allows the tenant to take their own sweet time to get out (because the court process is not a quick one), suck it up and be patient. I can't see how you're going to loose out financially anyway. You wait until she has gone, THEN you exchange contracts and give notice on your current home, arrange completion day for a few days before your notice period is up and move into your new place. How do you loose?? The only person who stands to loose out is the Landlord who will have about a month void. Oh and the tenant who has to find money for the cost of moving.

Cissi

MattinLondon wrote: »

She's not being thrown out tomorrow. She's been given the notice period that is agreed upon in the contract that she signed. What's the point of these contracts if she can now decide she doesn't like those terms.

Those terms are defined by housing law, which states that notice given by the LL is NOT a notice to quit, merely a notice that the LL wishes to take the property back. As has been explained many times on this thread already, expiry of a correctly served S21 simply means that the LL can apply to the courts for possession. THOSE are the terms that the tenant agreed to, and which the LL has to abide by.

theartfullodger

Cissi wrote: »

Those terms are defined by housing law, which states that notice given by the LL is NOT a notice to quit, merely a notice that the LL wishes to take the property back. As has been explained many times on this thread already, expiry of a correctly served S21 simply means that the LL can apply to the courts for possession. THOSE are the terms that the tenant agreed to, and which the LL has to abide by.

Correct: A s21 does not end a tenancy nor require the tenant to leave: It is not, cannot be, may not legally be a "Notice to Quit". In particular see Housing Act 1988 S5(1)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/5

5 Security of tenure.

(1) An assured tenancy cannot be brought to an end by the landlord except by—

(a) obtaining—
.(i) an order of the court for possession of the dwelling-house under section 7 or 21, and
.(ii)the execution of the order,
(b) obtaining an order of the court under section 6A (demotion order), or
(c) in the case of a fixed term tenancy which contains power for the landlord to determine the tenancy in certain circumstances, by the exercise of that power,

and, accordingly, the service by the landlord of a notice to quit is of no effect in relation to a periodic assured tenancy.

(An AST being a special form of Assured tenancy..)

Cheers!

Shortypie

I still don't understand why so many people are feeling sorry for the tenant when the seller and ourselves will end up being the ones that lose out financially.

We're not greedy landlords looking to make a quick buck. We just got married and want to start a family - something we can't do in our one bed rented flat.

As someone has already pointed out, you can indeed start a home in a one bed flat. In fact some even have the baby in a one bed, I don't know if you realise this but small babies do not actually require their own room.

I don't understand why you would not feel sorry for someone having their home sold from underneath them. And 8 weeks to save up for the potential cost of renting a new home (around £3k in this area) plus to find a suitable property (right size, price, proximity to work/school) - you think this is enough time?

We have been in the hideous world of private rent for the last year (having sold for no profit due to intolerable anti social behaviour in the area). We have a two year contract with 12 month break clause but the LL led us to believe we could have at least 5 years if we wanted. 9 months into the tenency, the LL informed us he would be issuing notice to leave after the 12 months as he wanted to sell. I can't tell you how stressful it has been to have to find a new property for ourselves and 3 children under 7 :eek: we are "lucky" enough to be be able to borrow money from my parents to buy (albeit moving five of us into a tiny two bed bungalow, going from 5 mins from the school to 20 min drive).

But, we are nearly 5 months from being told we would have to leave and still not quite ready. Fortunately our tenency runs out next month and we should just be out in time (although he has said we could have a monthly rolling contract until he has a buyer ready to move in - not looking good as he's had hardly any viewers and they really should have advertised it as needing refurbishment to avoid viewers' disappointment, no doubt state of disrepair being blamed on it being tenanted rather than the LL not maintaining his property :rotfl: I think he will be out of pocket for quite some time). But, if we hadn't found somewhere else, of course we would have to refuse to leave. What choice would we have?

And this is of course without the fact that most London borough councils insist on tenants being court evicted before they will be eligible to rehouse them. And if this tenant is on HB, most LLs won't touch with a barge pole anyway so they would have little choice.

I would never buy a place with tenants in situ as I couldn't bear to be complicit with the injustice of the private rental market, it needs total reform. :mad:

Shortypie

Sorry, first bit should have been a quote

kwmlondon

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Or instead of lining the pockets of the tenant, the OP could retain his offer on the property on condition that it is available eventually with vacant possession whilst at the same time continuing to look for another property. Commit to whichever is achieved first - a different place or the original place with the tenant out on her ear without any financial inducement.

At that point the OP can decide if he actually wants the original place after all. All's fair in love and war. .

*puts on tin hat*

Good luck Matt with the new house search:)

The thing is that LL can't hurry the tenant out. The tenant will take as long as they need, or until the judicial process has concluded. If you REALLY want to get in, and get in sharpish then you cold stump up a grand and the LL can chuck in a grand and get the tenant out quickly, if they'll play ball. But if you can't stomach the idea of paying the tenant off them that's your choice.

I got stung for £10k the week I was meant to exchange by a greedy vendor. Nothing I could do as it was a rising market and he was right - the property was worth more than when I'd had my offer accepted, but I could either walk away and lose a bargain (even at £10k more) or swallow the horrible taste and pay the extra.

Buying a property is absolutely horrific.

franklee

MattinLondon wrote: »

She's not being thrown out tomorrow. She's been given the notice period that is agreed upon in the contract that she signed. What's the point of these contracts if she can now decide she doesn't like those terms.

You've misunderstood what the section 21 notice means, see this thread for more details:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/44107874#Comment_44107874

45002

MattinLondon wrote:

She's not being thrown out tomorrow. She's been given the notice period that is agreed upon in the contract that she signed. What's the point of these contracts if she can now decide she doesn't like those terms.

Good job she's not been thrown out at All that would be a Criminal offence.
If that did happen it's up to 2 years in Prison, Fines or Both for LL.

LL would have to apply for possession order after s21, if Tenant didn't leave by date ordered by court, LL would have to apply for warrant and only then bailiffs could remove the tenant...

Lord_Baltimore

kwmlondon wrote: »

The thing is that LL can't hurry the tenant out. The tenant will take as long as they need, or until the judicial process has concluded. If you REALLY want to get in, and get in sharpish then you cold stump up a grand and the LL can chuck in a grand and get the tenant out quickly, if they'll play ball. But if you can't stomach the idea of paying the tenant off them that's your choice.

I got stung for £10k the week I was meant to exchange by a greedy vendor. Nothing I could do as it was a rising market and he was right - the property was worth more than when I'd had my offer accepted, but I could either walk away and lose a bargain (even at £10k more) or swallow the horrible taste and pay the extra.

Buying a property is absolutely horrific.

Well, I didn't say the LL could hurry the tenant out but the LL can instigate the process for getting the tenant out. She will go eventually, whether she likes it or not. The problems this might cause are of no concern to the OP. I certainly wouldn't pay a penny toward encouragement.

Like I said, if I felt someone was making life awkward for me, I'd return the favour by pressing for vacant possession and when it became available in a few months time, I'd pull out of the deal.

Buying property can be horrific but not if you remain emotionally detached.

Ulfar

I am going to restate the obvious as it is very important, I am sure it has been said before.

There is no guarantee the S21 is valid. A major factor in this will be if the landlord protected the deposit in accordance with the law.

Given that the landlord has shown their greed this is not something that can be assumed. If he didn't then getting the tenant to leave could be very tricky.