Moving Home

Miss_$

Hi All,
Just after a little advise regarding our landlord.
We are currently in the process of buying a house, we are in a rented house at the moment and the house we are buying is no chain as they are moving into a rented house.
We told our landlord last week that we are buying a property and would give them minimum 4 weeks notice when we find out a moving date, we told them it will roughly be around a month or two but nothing is set in stone yet.
The day after we told our landlords, the house was up for rent on rightmove, and a viewing took place on Monday, the viewers are happy with the property and will rent the house after us.
However we now potentially have a delay on our house we are buying due to the owner being in hopsital and needing an operation.
We have advised our landlord that there may be a delay now and we will stil give them 4 weeks notice when we know more.
The landlord has just rang us this morning saying she is conerned the new tenants could be homeless come 1st April as the house they are currently renting is being sold and they need to move out, she is wanting us to chase our solicitor and push for a moving date, we did this yesterday but because the owner is in hospital we need to wait and find out whats happening.
My question is, we havent yet given our notice to the landlord, can they actually go off and find new tenants without knowing when we will be moving out? I feel like now they are trying to push us out of the house!

Your opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Sarah

saajan_12

Whether your LL plans for after your move out or not isn't really your concern. If they agree a tenancy with new people before you move out/are evicted, your LL may be liable to the new people for breaching a contract, but they can't get you out sooner because of the new people.

If you don't serve notice and continue fulfilling your obligations as a tenant, the LL would have to evict you to get you out. Assuming you are on a rolling SPT tenancy, your LL can serve you Section 21 notice, giving you 2 months notice before they can go to court and get an eviction notice, before instructing bailiffs. All in all, likely to take 3-6 months.

So make sure you don't serve notice until you have exchanged on the purchase and you'll have 3-6 months buffer.

hazyjo

Average purchase takes 12 weeks. tbh, it was way too soon to have said anything to the LL. I've taken 5 months before, and two others took a year or so in total as I lost a couple of houses, had a rethink, and both times had long gaps/delays inbetween.


Your LL may serve you notice (prob 2 months). I'd get a Plan B together if I were you (or tell your LL that the new tenants need a Plan B as it's unlikely you'll be out by 1 April).


Jx

Pixie5740

You've been a premature with telling your landlord that you'll be moving out and I'm not sure where you are getting this 4 weeks notice from. If you pay your rent monthly it's one tenancy period (month) of notice you must give that corresponds to the date your tenancy started. See G_M's guide to Ending/Renewing an AST for further information.

The fact these new tenants will be homeless 1st April is not your problem. Your landlord shouldn't really have gone advertising the property until she definitely knew (you had given proper notice) when you were leaving. Hopefully (for her sake) she hasn't signed a tenancy agreement with the new tenants but again this is not your problem.

AnotherJoe

Miss_$ wrote: »

My question is, we havent yet given our notice to the landlord, can they actually go off and find new tenants without knowing when we will be moving out?

Yes they "can", but its a foolish thing to do if they committed to a date, as you are under no obligation to move, and the LL and new prospective tenants problems are not your concern or responsibility.

I feel like now they are trying to push us out of the house!
Certainly sounds like it !

Your opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Sarah

Tell them your date is delayed and you will give them one months notice in due course.

Have you heard the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" ? This is what happens when you try to do the decent thing and tell your LL, you shouldn't have done anything until exchange.They may now issue you with notice. Though you dont actually have to leave when they stipulate if you want to play hardball.

Miss_$

Well we've just had a call saying the sale has fallen through as the vendor is too ill to sell! Wonderful!

ST1991

Miss_$ wrote: »

Well we've just had a call saying the sale has fallen through as the vendor is too ill to sell! Wonderful!

Sorry to hear that
Don't get disheartened though, keep your head up and inform the selling agent you are still interested in buying should their circumstances change. In the meantime go and have a look at what has popped up on the market since.

I guess the good news is that you can go back to your landlord and inform them that you won't be giving notice.
Although they have new tenants lined up, it is much easier for them to keep you there instead of you moving out, returning deposit, cleaning, inventories, new contracts etc.

Marvel1

ST1991 wrote: »

I guess the good news is that you can go back to your landlord and inform them that you won't be giving notice.
Although they have new tenants lined up, it is much easier for them to keep you there instead of you moving out, returning deposit, cleaning, inventories, new contracts etc.

However the landlord knows they are looking to move out, so may find it easier to evict now.

AnotherJoe

Yep, I think the LL is going to start eviction proceedings soon, ok it's a breathing space but obviously tenant will be leaving soon, might as well get a new one that isn't planning to leave.

Miss_$

All is good with the LL we can stay as long as we want

westernpromise

Let that be a lesson to you young lady :-)

Do not tell your landlord you are looking to move until you have exchanged. The next problem you face is that when your current tenancy expires he's going to want you to commit to a year. You won't be able to, as you still want to buy, so you'll either have to postpone buying or pay up to be on a rolling 2 months' notice.