My landlord has issued a Claim for Posession! HELP :(

whatajoke2016

FBaby wrote: »

Are you sure that's the case. In Croydon for instance, it has to be the landlord OR an agent working for the landlord.

A letting agent cannot be a blanket licenced trader as they do not own the properties. Only manage the property services. Each landlord is required to be licenced individually.

anselld

booksurr wrote: »

in simple terms if it is not licensed it his not legally let, therefore anything to do with a tenancy is invalidated by definition since there isn't one

That seems an over-extension of the quoted powers, however I can see that the power is indeed granted under s98(1) of the Housing Act 2004 ...

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/part/3

Miss_Samantha

booksurr wrote: »

in simple terms if it is not licensed it his not legally let, therefore anything to do with a tenancy is invalidated by definition since there isn't one

Penalties for letting without a license are statutory. A lack of license does not imply that there isn't a tenancy, there is a valid tenancy.

whatajoke2016 wrote: »

What does landlord licensing mean for me?
As a tenant you will receive better protection from eviction as a Section 21 Notice is invalid if a property is not licensed.

Yes. This has actually nothing to do with the council as this is statutory.

HappyMJ

A £750 fee to get a landlord licence seems excessive to me.

I wonder if potential landlords are put off investing into property in Croydon due to the cost and requirements of getting a landlord licence.

franklee

You probably know this already but for point 1. it sounds like you weren't given the deposit prescribed information. That would make the S21 invalid unless the landlord can show it was served to the judge's satisfaction. Also it opens up the chance for you to claim 1-3x deposit. I guess that would come out on the lower side if the deposit was protected in time and just the prescribed information was lacking.

To defend the S21 you fill in the defence form and return to where it says (probably the local county court). I've done this using lack of prescribed information as the defence and found it pretty straightforward following the guidance notes that come with the form. Don't forget to make a copy before you send it off.

As for the counter claim, I think you can do that, in my case I didn't have time to find out how so I didn't. I think I read mention of it on the landlordlaw blog so you could search there?

However the main thing is to get your defence in on time. You can ring to court to check it's arrived.

G_M

98 Other consequences of operating unlicensed houses: restriction on terminating tenancies

(1)No section 21 notice may be given in relation to a shorthold tenancy of the whole or part of an unlicensed house so long as it remains such a house.

(2)In this section—

a “section 21 notice” means a notice under section 21(1)(b) or (4)(a) of the Housing Act 1988 (c. 50) (recovery of possession on termination of shorthold tenancy);

a “shorthold tenancy” means an assured shorthold tenancy within the meaning of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of that Act;

“unlicensed house” has the same meaning as in section 96 of this Act.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/part/3

whatajoke2016

Thank you to all of you who have contributed. You have all been a huge help and it is really appreciated.

I will complete the form to a better standard and submit and prior, post here what I have written.