Landlord selling house

macman

Your LL is clueless. The buyer won't exchange before you vacate, and you won't need to do that until a minimum of 8 weeks after notice has been given. But, since the deposit was not protected in 30 days, the S21 will be invalid. Allow another month for them to resolve that. So you have at least 3 months even if you leave 8 weeks after the S21 is correctly served. If you decide to sit tight and make her apply for a possession order and then bailiffs, then that's another 3 months minimum.
It's entirely up to you how you want to play this, but I would be dictating your own terms to the LL in return for co-operation re. your departure date. And that negotiation should include your terms for compensation for non-protection of the deposit, unless she wants to do that via the court.
This isn't an anti LL stance, it's an anti unprofessional LL stance.

CarrieVS

lookstraightahead wrote: »

I don't think anyone is against the landlord selling the house, I think they are against the landlord breaking the agreement, treating the tenants like second class citizens, and completely disregarding the tenants rights to peace. The tenants are paying rent to use the house as THEIR home. The landlord isn't doing them a favour. Would you let strangers in your house without any notice?

That's so (more or less), but a lot of people have jumped straight to proposing obstructive tactics like trying to put potential buyers off by making the house look bad, apparently before the OP has tried normal, civil approaches like politely informing the landlord that "the proposed time isn't convenient, can they come at XYZ times; in general for future viewings ABC times would be convenient, and [OP] needs to be there during viewings to supervise the dog." If OP is concerned about whether they'll be expected to vacate the property for viewings, they can discuss that as well, and if LL objects then politely point out that it says nothing about that in the relevant bit of the agreement and they would rather not.

If I read this correctly
- LL's given advance warning of the viewing, offered the tenants a choice of days, and not proposed anything that's unreasonable in general terms - it just happens not to fit in with OP's schedule, which he presumably has no reason to know.
- The agreement obliges OP to allow viewings if they're reasonable and with 24 hours notice in writing.
- Notice hasn't been given in writing yet but as I understand it the date hasn't been agreed and it's well ahead of the 24 hour period, so there's no reason to suppose it won't be. Written notice of intention to sell could also still be given.

It doesn't seem to me that LL's done anything particularly unfair yet. If they're unreasonable upon the appropriate, polite, adult response from OP, then let's talk about what OP can do to make it harder for them.

lisyloo

I agree with Carrie.
I am suprised that the advice is to force landlords to take someone to court when a contract is in place. I appreciate there are circumstances where this is unavoidable i.e. someone is prevented from making themselves intentionally homeless, but for normal wage earning people it's immoral to just shrug of a contract simply because the law makes it's hard for a LL to enforce (I'm not a LL BTW).

DottieDam

Such bizarre views, especially since OP is a LL themselves and no injustice has been served (only a technicality on a late deposited deposit!).

5:30 - 5:45 pm isn't a "ridiculously inconvenient" time - 5 am or 10 pm would be! It's just not a great time for you but then if you gave them a time (after 5pm or weekends) that worked for you then I'm sure they would oblige!

The issue seems to be you don't want viewings because you aren't ready to move, which is inconvenient but so would the stress of court proceedings and constant fights with your LL!

Maybe try and see the positive and view it as kick to get your house back on the market?

Or approach LL and mention concerns about having to move just prior to Christmas? Based on what I've read on here, if you are in England or Wales, a pre-Christmas exchange sounds pretty unrealistic when it has just gone on the market.

Marvel1

Okrib wrote: »

Why is everyone so against the landlord? It's their property, and if they want to sell it they should be able to.

Trying to find ways to get round this by a form being incorrect is wrong in my opinion. How would the OP feel if their tenants did the same to them when they want to buy a house and need to sell theirs?

I don't envy landlords having to deal with people who are effectively looking to game the system to find ways to delay them doing what they want with property they own.

You had planned on being there for 6 months. The landlord might originally have wanted someone to make a longer commitment to stay, but took you in on that basis. You both agreed to this. You were open about the fact it was probably only going to be for 6 months. Had you found a place to buy you would have happily served him notice to leave, meaning he had no income. Presumably you would have served notice on your tenants (thus potentially upsetting their plans if they wanted to stay longer?).

Then landlord should service notice, wait for tenant to leave then market house for sale.

Kim.wigley

We don’t yet have a tenant in our house - our plan is to leave that house be until a tenant hands their notice in, to then sell again. I’ve budgeted for a void period to do this.

My issue is not that the landlord is selling the property. It’s that they put the house on the market, after telling us they were about to give us a 6 month tenancy, and didn’t tell us because they don’t want us to put our notice in and leave their house empty. We’ve only been told because they have someone wanting to view - and have told me it must be one evening next week between 5.30-5.45 (the exact time I arrive home from work with 2 children who need feeding/bathing/bed).

The more I’ve thought and pondered this, the more it’s irked me. She had our deposit money from the beginning of the tenancy, undeposited and able to do what they liked with it. It may have been an admin error, but that error allowed them unfettered access to OUR deposit. Given everything I have been told, I expect she is going to want to extract as much back as she can at the end of the tenancy (especially if there is a void period).

This tenancy is a business transaction and not personal. If emotion is removed from it, we are paying for a home and the landlord has not fully followed the rules. I intend to as a landlord.

lisyloo

and have told me it must be one evening next week between 5.30-5.45 (the exact time I arrive home from work with 2 children who need feeding/bathing/bed).

If you are not expected to do the viewing can you not just carry on as normal with them there?

CarrieVS

Kim.wigley wrote: »

They ... have told me it must be one evening next week between 5.30-5.45 (the exact time I arrive home from work with 2 children who need feeding/bathing/bed).

Is there any reason they should have known that that's an inconvenient time for you? In general I wouldn't expect landlords to know their tenants' daily schedules. You sound like you feel they're doing this on purpose to make life hard for you but are you sure you aren't attributing to malice what is due to ignorance?

Have you told them it's not convenient and they have refused to budge? If so then you have a fair reason to be upset, but if you're assuming that "they want to come at X time" means there's no possibility of rearranging, then I'd still urge you to ring them up and explain that that's a really bad time of day for you. (If they're reluctant, I suggest adding why it's inconvenient, i.e. let them know that you'll be in the house and very busy with activities that aren't conducive to having the place tidy.)

Kim.wigley

It’s currently all very polite, but they are aware that’s when I arrive home (the house was valued back in July so we had to organise times then for the estate agents, and it’s unchanged). I’ve said it isn’t a particularly convenient time, explained my reasoning, but she is still expecting me to do something.

I will offer some convenient times for us (weekday daytime on days my husband has a day off), but I don’t think this is going to be suitable - it seems they want to view outside of normal “office” hours.

Pixie5740

I imagine a lot of potential buyers will want a viewing outside of normal office hours.

You can't have it both ways. You were offered a new fixed term but declined. A periodic tenancy gives you more flexibility but less security.

Regarding your plan to let out your current home and leave a tenant be are you aware you'll have to pay the higher rate of SDLT when you purchase your next home and will have a limited timeframe in which to reclaim the additional SDLT?