Landlord wants garage back

corrinney

Hello,

I was wondering anyone can help me? I have been living in rented accomadation for two years, we have a standard tenancy agreement but my landlady spoke to me a few days ago and said she may need to take the garage back as she has a car she wants to store there!
We have quite a lot of items in there including lawnmower, bikes etc, so we would not have room for these in the house and I wouldn't want to store them inside anyway!
Is she allowed to do this? The garage isn't stated as an add on in the agreement but there are 4 purpose built flats, each with a separate garage.
Any clarification would be great!

Thanks in advance!

nidO

I would tell her to do one, or tell her she can have it for a 50% reduction in rent.

Unless your tenancy agreement specifically states that the garage isn't usable the garage is part of your tenancy, purely from the fact that you've been using it for the past 2 years without complaint from the landlord, so a tenancy for it exists through actions, if not on paper. Presumably you were also given a key of some kind for it.

For clarity, your approach shouldn't be "oh, thats really akward, i'd rather not give up the space please", its "while i'm living in the property the garage is mine, if you attempt to remove anything from it i'll be calling the police to report your attempted illegal eviction & theft".

goodwithsaving

I assume you are renting the whole property, including the garage. In line with the above post; either you get a discount or tell her 'no'. I'd go for the latter to be honest.

[Deleted User]

Totally understand why you would not want to let go of a garage you've been using for two years, and still need.

But do it with your eyes open. You could find yourself being given notice as soon as your fixed period is up. Bit silly over a garage.., cars do survive without.., but logic doesn't always come into it. Sometimes LL's seem to think the law is what they want it to be and very changeable depending on their needs (not all obviously).

Could u ask her to sort a shed so you can still store what you need to store. A clear out might be good. I recently purchased a good second hand shed for £62 on ebay., would cost £200 plus new. Perfectly ok to use and very good quality construction. I did have to get a friend to get it to me though. As your LL seems to have an excess of cars., perhaps she could sort that?

corrinney

Yes we have a key which we were given when we took out the tennancy, so just presumed it was ours for the duration of us staying here. The house is lovely and have never had any problems with her before, I just didn't want to say no, if there was any chance she could throw legal stuff at me!

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

You have a deal for a fixed period. They want to end this deal and start a new deal with different terms. If the terms are acceptable than go with it. If the terms are unacceptable start looking for a new place to live once your deal comes to an end.

RAS

Assuming England or Wales

Are you in a fixed term rent agreement or periodic? If fixed when does that end?

If fixed term she cannot start action to remove you during the fixed term.

If periodic, she can issue an S21 any time, assuming that she has correctly protected the deposit. Which scheme is that with and did she provide the prescribed information with the deadline?

AdrianC

The tenancy doesn't mention the garage - did whatever original advert or details you saw?

fairy_lights

If she wants to start a new tenancy that no longer includes use of the garage, I'd be expecting a considerable reduction in rent to compensate.

nzseries1

Since you were given a key, I can't believe the answer here is anything other than "no, of course not!!!"

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

nzseries1 wrote: »

Since you were given a key, I can't believe the answer here is anything other than "no, of course not!!!"

Or, as they have a "standard agreement" probably rolling monthly, of course she can. It's up to the tenant whether to accept the new terms or move on, of course.