My rights without a lease

Poppadoodle

When I first rented my flat I had a lease with a rental company who stopped trading and took my rent and never forwarded it on to the landlord and never submitted the deposit into a scheme. They over looked this and were happy to let me stay there as long as I sent my rent directly to them.
We had no agreement in writing ( I know it was stupid not to so no judgement please )
Now the want to sell the property , what are my rights?
They haven’t said when yet but it will be this year.
Please can you advise.

Cakeguts

When did you start renting the property? Which year?

pinklady21

Whereabouts in the UK are you? The law is different in Scotland, for example.

G_M

Poppadoodle wrote: »

When I first rented my flat I had a lease with a rental company who stopped trading and took my rent and never forwarded it on to the landlord and never submitted the deposit into a scheme. They over looked this and were happy to let me stay there as long as I sent my rent directly to them.
We had no agreement in writing ( I know it was stupid not to so no judgement please )
Now the want to sell the property , what are my rights?
They haven!!!8217;t said when yet but it will be this year.
Please can you advise.

Assuming Engand/Wales:

1) are you sure you 'had a lease with a rental company'?? This is unlikely though possible. Who was named as 'the landlord' on your tenancy agreement?

2) if the person you now pay was originally named as 'the landlord' then you have (and always had) a perfectly valid tenancy agreement with him. The probems with his agent (note: his agent not yours) are irrelevant

3) even if your original contract was with the agency, the fact that the 'landlord' continues to supply you the property, and you pay him rent, means you have a valid tenancy agreement (though it may not be a written one).

4) please tell us:
a) date of original TA?
b) end date on the TA (or 'term' eg 12 months)?

5) Either way, to evict you the landlord will need to serve a S21 Notice (2 months).

6) However, as your deposit was never put in a scheme, any S21 Notice will be invalid unless the full deposit is first returned to you.

7) you could also claim (via the courts) a penalty from the LL for failing to protect your deposit (yes, it is the LL's responsibility, so if his agent fails him that is no excuse).

See

* 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?

* Deposits: payment, protection and return