Restrictive Covenant

cannyberry

My solicitor is confident that the covenant is being breached and is enforceable and furthermore, having looked with an expert eye at all the conveyancing and mortgage documents, thinks it possible that the purchaser is in breach of the mortgage agreement by ever putting a long-term tenant in the property in the first place.


So all good news so far. The owner will receive a letter tomorrow or the next day which should give her a good fright. She will then have to decide whether to contest on very dubious grounds the assertions being made or to give in without a fight and get rid of this objectionable tenant in favour of someone who knows how to behave in a decent community.


Once again, than you everyone for your helpful comments.

libf

cannyberry wrote: »

My solicitor is confident that the covenant is being breached and is enforceable and furthermore, having looked with an expert eye at all the conveyancing and mortgage documents, thinks it possible that the purchaser is in breach of the mortgage agreement by ever putting a long-term tenant in the property in the first place.


So all good news so far. The owner will receive a letter tomorrow or the next day which should give her a good fright. She will then have to decide whether to contest on very dubious grounds the assertions being made or to give in without a fight and get rid of this objectionable tenant in favour of someone who knows how to behave in a decent community.


Once again, than you everyone for your helpful comments.

You have copies of your neighbours mortgage agreement? Weird...

G_M

cannyberry wrote: »

My solicitor...... thinks it possible that the purchaser is in breach of the mortgage agreement by ever putting a long-term tenant in the property in the first place.


......The owner will receive a letter... She will then have to ..... get rid of this objectionable tenant in favour of someone who knows how to behave in a decent community.

Well your solicitor is right that 'it is possible....', but the opposite is also possible. Without access to the confidential agreement between the lender and mortgagee how can anyone know?

Getting rid may be a challenge depending on the tenancy agreement.

But nonetheless, well done. Let us know.

moneyistooshorttomention

Fingers crossed for you then.

That sounds pretty hopeful then. Possibly the easiest/most hopeful aspect is that the owner of this house is breaching their mortgage agreement - ie their loan company will hopefully deal with them (ie make them get rid of this troublesome tenant) and so you may not have to.

Right now - I'd be mentally preparing for seeing a "For sale" sign go up next door (as the landlady probably wont want this house any more - once they cant make income from it).

Fingers crossed for a decent person/couple/family being the ones to buy it if so.

chris_m

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Right now - I'd be mentally preparing for seeing a "For sale" sign go up next door (as the landlady probably wont want this house any more - once they cant make income from it).

Just so long as the present tenants don't buy it.

moneyistooshorttomention

chris_m wrote: »

Just so long as the present tenants don't buy it.

This is obviously a risk - but fingers crossed they couldn't afford it.

If/when it goes up for sale, then I would be keeping a very close eye on proceedings to check whether it was on the market in the normal way/at the normal price etc.

However, IF by any chance they wanted to buy it - then the same thing would apply to them as to the landlady. That being that mortgage companies wouldn't be very happy at that sort of business being run from home I would assume. Easy enough to find out who the mortgage company is - ie just pay out a few £ and get the (full) Title Register from the Land Registry.

When I've got this Register entry for a previous and current neighbours house through I've been surprised to find that those accompanying details give details of whether there is a mortgage held on the house and who its with. The main part of the surprise being how often things are rather different to what you think they will be - ie someone I felt sure would have a mortgage hadn't done when they first bought their house, but acquired one subsequently. Someone else who I really thought would own their house outright by now (considering their age and how long they've had it) does have a mortgage on their house and it was taken out in recent years at that.

cannyberry

Once again, thank you everyone.


There's no likelihood that this tenant will be able to buy the property. He is on housing benefit at the moment - probably having fiddled his stated income - so I believe (hope?) I can discount that one.


I've yet to discover more about tenancy agreements - that's the next on my "to do" list. It may mean that he will hang on in there, literally, and assuming he is given notice and subsequently refuses to go, thus presumably becoming a squatter, I think I and my neighbours can live with that in the knowledge that he will be forced out eventually. Should it come to that, and costs the landlady, then it's no more than she deserves.


And I do know that no legal action taken, however reasonable and within the Law it appears to be, is guaranteed of eventual success, but if we were all to turn a bright shade of yellow and take to our heels as soon as there is the smallest amount of risk, where would our self-respect go? As someone said a couple of days ago, some things you just have to do.


In any case, apart from that aspect, my dearly-loved and cherished small home lo longer feels like a refuge. Rather it feels somewhere I don't want to be.


I will keep people who have been kind enough to give their opinions information on the eventual outcome.

macman

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Maybe so. But it certainly is relevant as to whether the owner of the house wishes to keep renting to them. If I were a landlady and found I'd been inadvertently renting to criminals I would be mortified. There would be shock at my bad character judgement, followed by my next thoughts being how to protect myself from them during the eviction process I would start against them. Why house dishonest people - when there are plenty of honest people around needing a home?

LL's don't usually conduct a CRB check on prospective tenants though, and about 9 million adults in the UK have criminal records-they still have to live somewhere. And on what basis is she going to evict them based on the irrelevant fact that they have criminal records? You need to concentrate on prospective breaches of their tenancy agreement and restrictive covenant, not moral outrage against having to live next door to some ex-cons. And as suggested above, do a title search, find out the mortgage holder, and then dob the LL in with an anonymous letter to them.
However, I wouldn't get my hopes up, as the LL does not seem remotely concerned about the state of the property as long as the rent is paid.
How exactly do you know that the tenant is fiddling their income to get HB?
If the tenancy is legally ended they won't be 'squatters', they can be evicted if they refuse to surrender, although that will take a couple of months at least.

G_M

cannyberry wrote: »

....

I've yet to discover more about tenancy agreements - that's the next on my "to do" list. It may mean that he will hang on in there, literally, and assuming he is given notice and subsequently refuses to go, thus presumably becoming a squatter,
:rotfl:

I think I and my neighbours can live with that in the knowledge that he will be forced out eventually. .....

Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants This thread is intended to provide information to both landlords and tenants relating to Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales.

Topics covered:

* Repairing Obligations, (draft in progress to include new 1/10/15 rules banning retaliatory eviction)

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

* Repossession: what if a LL's mortgage lender repossesses the property?

* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?