Landlord defaulting

stats_2

Hello,

My daughter and her boyfriend are renting a house for which I am a guarantor.
Yesterday they received a court order that the house needs to be made vacant by November 7th.
They have an ast until 1-4-2008 and have no arrears regarding rent or anything else.
They have spoken with the letting agent, and were assured that nothing is wrong, but the bailiffs confirm that the eviction will take place.

Does anybody know what their legal rights are? Can they really be evicted in such short notice?

moneysavinmonkey

Call Shelter on 0808 800 4444
They can provide you with legal advice in realtion to housing
and are usually really good in my experience.

Is the court order to evict from the landlord or from the lender?
Had your daughter and boyfriend previously been served notice.

I'm not sure exactly what the situation will be as I didn't think that you could be evicted during an fixed period AST... the only thing I can think was that the landlord didn't have permission from the mortgage lender to let the property and therefore the AST was invalid?

barnaby-bear

stats wrote: »

Hello,

My daughter and her boyfriend are renting a house for which I am a guarantor.
Yesterday they received a court order that the house needs to be made vacant by November 7th.
They have an ast until 1-4-2008 and have no arrears regarding rent or anything else.
They have spoken with the letting agent, and were assured that nothing is wrong, but the bailiffs confirm that the eviction will take place.

Does anybody know what their legal rights are? Can they really be evicted in such short notice?

The AST is only valid if LL had permission to let from mortgage lender, if not they don't have any rights as he had no right to issue tenancy. They aren't being evicted if this is the case as they had no right to be there from the owner (i.e. the mortgge lender). They do have comeback via courts system on the landlord for costs involved for him issuing non-valid AST however if he's being repossessed they maybe at end of long line of lenders. The only thing they can do is beg the mortgage lender for a bit of time/mercy. They should stop paying rent quickly too - perhaps even offer to pay directly to mortgage lender.

Guy_Montag

Yeah, you need to find out who is evicting them, it sounds like the mortgagee (the bank). If it is, I'm not sure there's much that can be done.

If I were them I'd start looking for a new place, NOW. But call Shelter & see what they say.

stats_2

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

Call Shelter on 0808 800 4444
They can provide you with legal advice in realtion to housing
and are usually really good in my experience.

Is the court order to evict from the landlord or from the lender?
Had your daughter and boyfriend previously been served notice.

I'm not sure exactly what the situation will be as I didn't think that you could be evicted during an fixed period AST... the only thing I can think was that the landlord didn't have permission from the mortgage lender to let the property and therefore the AST was invalid?

Thanks for the advice, I will tell them about shelter. The court order is from the solicitor of the claimant. I don't even know whether this is a lender or somebody else who claims money from their landlord. They were not notified earlier, other then about a month ago a guy showed up, asking for the landlord.

Guy_Montag

Sounds like he's been letting without permission from the lender then. I'd like this to be considered fraud & dealt with in the criminal courts, but then that would make people realise that being LL brings responsibilities.

I'd also call the solicitor & ask who the claimant is. He may be able to tell you (well them).

stats_2

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Sounds like he's been letting without permission from the lender then. I'd like this to be considered fraud & dealt with in the criminal courts, but then that would make people realise that being LL brings responsibilities.

I'd also call the solicitor & ask who the claimant is. He may be able to tell you (well them).

But doesn't the letting agent check for the validity of the AST?
This really shows that private renting in this country is in shambles and should be much more regulated, with more rights for tenants.
As it is now, good willing young people, who cannot afford to buy ( which is the vast majority in the south east) are being messed about.

Guy_Montag

Can you keep us up to date with what Shelter etc say? Please.

No, apparently only tenants are untrustworthy enough to need checked up on. You'd a thunk they might at least check the LL has permission to let & is up-to-date with their mortgage payments, but this, it seems, is too much for them.

mightymouse

Hi

This is a criminal offence already.

The criminal offence of Unlawful Eviction was set out in the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and has been subsequently amended by the Housing Act 1988. The offence will occur when your landlord, his/her agent or, any other person, forces or attempts to force you to leave your accommodation without first following the correct legal procedure to end that particular type of tenancy.

It will take a while before it is used more often.

barnaby-bear

stats wrote: »

Hello,

My daughter and her boyfriend are renting a house for which I am a guarantor.
Yesterday they received a court order that the house needs to be made vacant by November 7th.
They have an ast until 1-4-2008 and have no arrears regarding rent or anything else.
They have spoken with the letting agent, and were assured that nothing is wrong, but the bailiffs confirm that the eviction will take place.

Does anybody know what their legal rights are? Can they really be evicted in such short notice?

The AST is only valid if LL had permission to let from mortgage lender, if not they don't have any rights as he had no right to issue tenancy. They aren't being evicted if this is the case as they had no right to be there from the owner (i.e. the mortgge lender). They do have comeback via courts system on the landlord for costs involved for him issuing non-valid AST however if he's being repossessed they maybe at end of long line of lenders. The only thing they can do is beg the mortgage lender for a bit of time/mercy. They should stop paying rent quickly too - perhaps even offer to pay directly to mortgage lender.

irnbru_2

stats wrote: »

But doesn't the letting agent check for the validity of the AST?

That's a cracker! :rotfl: