landlord wants to evict

dancingfairy

Why am I being to wonder if your landlord is legit?
No deposit taken.
Leaking boiler that hasn't been repaired ( am willing to bet no gas safety certificate).
Refusing payment of arrears
Neglecting repair obligations.
He/ she sounds dodgy from what you've said.
Df

joesab

before all this we paid into his bank account. Im not entirely sure if its the boiler or the water tank thats leaking. He said a while back that he had sent a plumber round a few times to fix it but we were never in... thatll be because we were both at work and they were turning up on spec

It s been the same owner throughout
I will double check if we had any paperwork from him when he took it off the agent. I dont think we have.

Someone at work has pointed this out - apparantly by April, all rented properties have to be up to at leasr C for the EPC. Our central heating is one of those systems where we have to reach under the gas fire in the back room and switch it on whihc i believe is quite outdated,. So that may be why he is in a rush to sell it

bigfreddiel

AnotherJoe wrote: »

All this is why I am glad I got out of being a landlord, albeit it was in a very small way. And gives me a wry smile when I see all these posts about "I dont have any money how can I buy a house for BTL"

My experience as well, but you can't convince people who think it's easy!

Cheers fj

[Deleted User]

Hi.., I'm the deannatrois that went through all this last year up to January this year.

First of all.., tidy up the house and while you are doing this, look for any paperwork at any time relating to renting the house. You might be surprised what you find hidden away. Anything will help.

However, unless you pay by cash, the fact that you pay rent each month should show through your bank statements. This will show unquestionably that you have a tenancy, albeit a periodic tenancy.

Do you have any paperwork showing you have tried to pay the arrears and the LL has refused, even texts? These can be used as evidence that you have tried to sort the situation out. If you don't obtain it pretty quickly. WRITE A LETTER offering to pay the money back, obtain proof of posting (free certificate from the post office). Write texts as well if you want as he might reply to those, which will act as back up proving you've done everything you can to sort the arrears.

You DO need to approach the council re social housing. Now, they may well say at first, you have made yourself voluntarily homeless through rent arrears. They tried this with me for a different reason. Its called gatekeeping. See it as a knee jerk reaction from a council that does not have enough social housing available so they try to put people off even beginning to apply. Persist. Don't let it upset you.

You have a child, and regardless of what they say, they DO have an obligation to help. I used to get so stressed dealing dealing with my local housing department but it did all work out ok in the end. It was very scary. But they do have an obligation to help.

Depending on your councils policy re homelessness, they may offer a loan to help you pay deposit and a month's rent up front (which you will have to pay back), this would be their preferred option as it will keep you off their homeless and social housing lists. Depending on your area, this may be of enormous help.

If this isn't an option (it wasn't for me, so few LL's who will accept benefit recipients as too few private rentals and lots of working tenants) you will have to wait for the eviction process to take place and seek emergency accommodation from the council. With most councils, this will consist of B&B accommodation, with mine, it was policy to place families in single room hostel type accommodation and then after a few weeks put them in a one bed flat. I managed to avoid this completely with the help of medical reports showing both my sons had special needs and this sort of accommodation would cause harm. We were actually placed in a two bed maisonette, which is like heaven compared to the private rental house we were in (dangerous electrics, gas that didn't work, boiler that worked when it please, the list is endless). If you need to get any information like this together to help you 'upgrade' the emergency accommodation, start the process now. It took me a year to get referrals acted upon and professionals involved. Pure luck that I had them on board in time really.

The situation isn't as hopeless as it seems. It is very very stressful, I know. I know you have done your best (been there) to deal with the LL but he isn't fulfilling his responsibilities. Look at this as an opportunity to move on to something more stable and better. Not easy I know.

You do not have to allow anyone to view. I did at first but it was so intrusive, I stopped after about 2 or three. I didn't even allow the LL to bring the repair men in he wanted to (to replace the floor I'd been asking to be replaced for four years, replace the electrics, sort the gas, he even spray painted the place lol etc) as I was so stressed and struggling with packing up as it was. It won't make things any worse. Change the locks. Then no one can get in. What's the worst the LL can do - evict you? He's going to do that anyway from the sounds of it.

The bad news is, I am afraid, that you will probably have to pay for the court proceedings and bailiffs to come round (in my case it was £390, £280 for the possession order after the S21 notice and £110 for the bailiffs warrant). You can ask the court for time to pay the fees. Without this paperwork, the council won't regard you as homeless. My council would not do anything until 28 days before I was due to be evicted (bailiffs coming round) i.e. until a bailiffs warrant with a date of eviction on it had been issued and didn't offer me emergency accommodation until later in the day of eviction. It didn't help, but you just have to deal with it, I'm afraid.

I hope this helps.

PasturesNew

If he does try to 'insist' on viewings, then make sure your OH has a big loose dress - and shove a cushion up it so she looks closer to 9 months.

Then pick up a cheap children's paddling pool and fill it with water just before the viewing and say "Oh, mind the birthing pool" as your OH grunts and does breathing exercises in the corner.

I doubt they'll arrange many more

joesab

Landlord has arranged the viewing for 11.30 on friday. We will not be there as we are viewing a house then seeing the council . Ive arranged for my mother to be there (not sure how much of a good idea this is... she's understandably furious and if LL shows up, I dont fancy his chances of an easy time).

One question though - what exactly is the process of removing us? I would have thought that before he applies for an eviction he would just have to serve us with a notice to quit

Pixie5740

Regardless of whether or not a landlord uses an agency your contract is with the landlord, not the letting agency. When the landlord started managing the property himself there was no need for him to issue a new tenancy agreement.

Read the link G_M provided you with. It explains how an AST can be ended. Your landlord could serve you with either a Section 8 (because of the arrears) or a Section 21 (no reason needed). If he opts for the Section 21 then providing it has been served correctly there is no defence against it, the court will issue an eviction notice and you will be liable for the court costs. If he needs bailiffs to physically remove you from the property then you will be liable for that cost too.

Sooner or later your landlord is going to get you out. The best thing you can do is make it as stress free for yourself. Start looking for somewhere else to live, look at into the bond guarantee schemes which are run by some councils, housing associations and charities. Would anyone lend you money for a deposit? You do have arrears so if a future landlord requests a reference from your current landlord then it's not going to look great if he tells them about the £400 arrears.

Edit: What good will your mother do if she kicks off tomorrow during the viewing? The place doesn't sound great and you have a better shot at social housing if you are made homeless (although the arrears could complicate matters) so just focus on finding somewhere else to live before your child is born. That's what's important.

Poppie68

Regarding the slug issue.... This won't be down to any damp, slugs can sniff out a crumb from a fair distance, as you have pets they will be attracted to the smell of their food....As they have no skeleton they can squeeze through the most tiniest of holes. You need to make sure pet dishes are cleaned straight after use,crumbs swept and block any possible entry points.

joesab

the slugs were there before we had pets. We feed the pets twice a day and dont leave any food down. The reason I thought it was to do with damp is because they always seem to be in the small entarnce hall where the carpet is drenched when its been raining - there is a gutter issue between our house and next door, the rain runs down the adjoing walls like a waterfall and neither landlord is accepting responsibilty, But thanks, while we are still there I will double check there is no food about and seal where I can to stop them - never seem,to see the little ****s!

Poppie68

I find trails in my conservatory and have never once caught one in the act...they really are slippery little blighters.