landlord wants to evict

JP08

Going to add my tuppence-worth on this one.

Irrespective of the legal arguments and all the personal details, you have a landlord who no longer wants to be a landlord. He doesn't want you out because he's annoyed about the rent arrears, or wants to get someone paying more in. He wants to sell up and get out. Sooner or later, you are going to be moving.

So the best thing all round is to focus on bringing that about with as little aggro for all concerned as possible.


For what it's worth, I suspect there are going to be quite a few people in the same boat pretty soon. Due to the upcoming tax changes, there are going to be quite a few landlords of marginally profitable properties who will just want out of the business. And on a house that is renting out for, at a guess from your comments about £400 being less than 2 months rent as opposed to just over one months or nearly two months, around £300 a month (you'd be hard put to get a bedsit round this neck of the woods for that money), you landlord is marginally profitable at best - and therein probably lies the explanation of the soreness about the arrears.

[Deleted User]

If you don't owe 2 months rent (unlikely if arrears are £400) the LL will have to issue you a S21, giving two months notice to leave. Once that two months is up he can go to court asking for a possession order. You will be sent paperwork giving you chance to make some kindof defence and you can ask for longer than the normal two weeks to move out.

The possession order is granted, giving a date when you should move out.(will cost you £280 if accelerated possession order)

To get you out if you don't leave voluntarily (and you can't if awaiting social housing) the LL then has to apply for a bailiffs warrant once the date on the possession order is gone. This will probably give you another two weeks. The bailiffs order, which you will have to pay for costs £110.

After the bailiffs order has been served, the council will start to take you seriously (sorry, its how they work). Once the bailiffs have been round and evicted you, the council will have to find you some kind of housing if you have a child.At some point in this process they will open a homeless case and investigate if you are homeless. Your rent arrears may muddy the waters a little so you will need to prove you did everything you could to pay them off (as already advised). I received my notification of being officially homeless about 10 days after eviction, while I was in emergency housing. Even if they decide you aren't involuntarily homeless (like for rent arrears) they will normally still give you a month of emergency housing but you can get advice on this from places like Shelter who may be able to argue your case for you and stop you being found voluntarily homeless, if this happens.

The only legal way the LL can get you to leave if you don't leave voluntarily is via this process.

My LL actually did try to employ bailiffs before the date given on the Possession Order and just had the paperwork returned by the Bailiffs. Not before he'd told me he'd done this and could do it which sent me into a right panic just before Christmas though. But he was wrong, thank goodness.

The whole process as you can see will take a minimum of three months after serving the S21. Two months for the S21 to be up, and two weeks each for the possession order and bailiffs warrants, with time in between waiting for court dates etc.

It sounds to me like you still haven't been to the council. They will probably offer you a loan to help with first month's rent and deposit at some point. Its worth going if you don't have this money as you say.

Its also worth reporting the state of the house to environmental health if the house is as bad as you say. The council may issue a prohibition notice preventing anyone else renting it until its in a decent state of repair. You have nothing to lose at this point.

I couldn't go into private rental because private rentals were considerably more expensive than LHA rates. From looking around when I was going through this, there are very few areas where you won't have to top up LHA rates to some degree. You may have problems too because of the arrears and the attitude of your present LL who may not give a good reference. You will need to be able to explain this. Take a budget to show you are sorting yourself out. It may be possible to get yourself another private rental if its not a high demand area like mine is. But you may have to be flexible as to area.

To add to what the above post says.., my LL made it clear that one way or the other I'd be out as he didn't want to be a LL anymore. It was better now rather than in a year or two as social housing availability definitely isn't going to do anything but continue going down, as I see it, 'low budget' (ignore my sarcastic laugh) private rentals are going to get rarer too because of finance changes.

Bordeuax

Get the gutter fixed, £20-30. No damp, no slugs.

Guest101

deannatrois wrote: »

If you don't owe 2 months rent (unlikely if arrears are £400) the LL will have to issue you a S21, giving two months notice to leave. Once that two months is up he can go to court asking for a possession order. You will be sent paperwork giving you chance to make some kindof defence and you can ask for longer than the normal two weeks to move out.

The possession order is granted, giving a date when you should move out.(will cost you £280 if accelerated possession order)

To get you out if you don't leave voluntarily (and you can't if awaiting social housing) the LL then has to apply for a bailiffs warrant once the date on the possession order is gone. This will probably give you another two weeks. The bailiffs order, which you will have to pay for costs £110.

After the bailiffs order has been served, the council will start to take you seriously (sorry, its how they work). Once the bailiffs have been round and evicted you, the council will have to find you some kind of housing if you have a child.At some point in this process they will open a homeless case and investigate if you are homeless. Your rent arrears may muddy the waters a little so you will need to prove you did everything you could to pay them off (as already advised). I received my notification of being officially homeless about 10 days after eviction, while I was in emergency housing. Even if they decide you aren't involuntarily homeless (like for rent arrears) they will normally still give you a month of emergency housing but you can get advice on this from places like Shelter who may be able to argue your case for you and stop you being found voluntarily homeless, if this happens.

The only legal way the LL can get you to leave if you don't leave voluntarily is via this process.

My LL actually did try to employ bailiffs before the date given on the Possession Order and just had the paperwork returned by the Bailiffs. Not before he'd told me he'd done this and could do it which sent me into a right panic just before Christmas though. But he was wrong, thank goodness.

The whole process as you can see will take a minimum of three months after serving the S21. Two months for the S21 to be up, and two weeks each for the possession order and bailiffs warrants, with time in between waiting for court dates etc.

It sounds to me like you still haven't been to the council. They will probably offer you a loan to help with first month's rent and deposit at some point. Its worth going if you don't have this money as you say.

Its also worth reporting the state of the house to environmental health if the house is as bad as you say. The council may issue a prohibition notice preventing anyone else renting it until its in a decent state of repair. You have nothing to lose at this point.

I couldn't go into private rental because private rentals were considerably more expensive than LHA rates. From looking around when I was going through this, there are very few areas where you won't have to top up LHA rates to some degree. You may have problems too because of the arrears and the attitude of your present LL who may not give a good reference. You will need to be able to explain this. Take a budget to show you are sorting yourself out. It may be possible to get yourself another private rental if its not a high demand area like mine is. But you may have to be flexible as to area.

Can I just say it's great that you are able to use your experiences to reassure people in similar situations.


I can say all the same stuff, but it doesn't really have the same meaning.

joesab

Thanks to everyome for their advice and comments -it's invaluable. Been to the council today, they will help with the bond.

The viewer tomorrow is another BTL investor - the road we live on already has five 'to let' properties which have been available for a good few months.

We have a few houses to view tomorrow. Its been (and still is) a stressful time but looking objectively we were going to have to look for somewhere else anyway as current house is two bedroomed. And, not that we can do anything about this, my partner doesnt like the stairs where we are - they are very steep, the treads are narrow. Carrying a baby down them would be tricky - our nine year old has had a fall down them.

We are a little bothered that if LL is asked for a reference he will either not respond or give a bad reference, even though up until last few months we were no trouble with rent, house in nice tidy state etc.

Will let you know how it goes

RAS

You may need to point out to the LL that with a decent reference you will find it easier to move out when he wants.

joesab

UPDATE - thanks for all the above advice/ The landlord served with an S21 Notice and the council have agreed to loan a deposit and bond. We have found a suitable property and fingers crossed will be moving in shortly.

Had a meeting with current landlord. He said we pushed him over the edge and he took a quick decision to ask us to leave - he isnt a full time landlord he is in the roofing trade so was often on a site and if there was, for instance, plumber there, he would just give him the address and ask him to call round on his way home!. Said he was fed up trying to get the repairs done on the house and not being able to access the property. I explained that the contractors turned up randomly when we were at work but he didnt seem to think that was a problem. I told him there was even a time when my mother had called round to feed the cat and a contractor turned up demanding to be let in - we werent contactable at work so she couldnt check with us therefore wouldnt let him in.
I think, in all honesty, LL is regretting this. He has a part time assistant and it looks like a lot of the info she should be passing between us and him isnt getting passed on
Anyway he is drawing up a document for us to sign to agree to pay the arrears on an installment basis and to confirm that we will leave the house clean, tidy and empty. If necessary he will tell the new agent that in the past we have been reliable and conscientious.

Thank you for your advice - would have been lost without it!

Pixie5740

Thanks for the update, I'm glad you found a new home.

If your requests for repairs tipped him over the edge then he's probably not cut out to be a landlord. He will end up being tipped over the edge by the next tenant too.

Red_Spider

So the LL is a roofer, but he couldn't find time to drive past and have a look at the leaking / blocked gutter on one of his own houses...?

[Deleted User]

Glad to hear you've been able to get the help you need and find somewhere else to live. I hope your LL realises its better to give notice before calling round if he wants his tenants to be in.