Had a move in date for for rental property (renting whole house, ex houseshare rental)

Slithery

seatbeltnoob said:

It's a small 3 bedroom flat and we're a young family - I can't fathom sharing it with an adult stranger who we've never met before. 

Then find a different property to rent. This one isn't happening.

Annisele

seatbeltnoob said:

I am hoping this tenant moves out, not sure if I should move in and take the house which might prompt her to leave (if she had plans of overstaying her tenancy).

I doubt it would prompt her to leave. She apparently hasn't paid anything at all towards her rent for four months. So - either she wont pay her rent (which suggests she's entirely unreasonable and she'll be horrible to live with), or she literally can't pay her rent. I strongly suspect it's "can't" - in which case she's not going to be able to pay the rent anywhere else either.

Her choices may end up being:

• Stay in the house, where she at least has her own room that nobody else is allowed into - but she has to share bathroom and kitchen with a young family she doesn't know.
• Move in with family/friends/partner - which will be more or less attractive as an option depending on how much space those people have, where they live, and how well she gets on with them.
• Become homeless - but without the option of getting any support from the council because she's made herself voluntarily homeless when she could have stayed put.

If she can take the second option, she might well do that. But many people can't. And if she has any sense at all (and you're not a secret axe murderer or something) she'll take the first option over the third.

greatcrested

seatbeltnoob said:

The tenancies were seperate. .....

.....

I am hoping this tenant moves out, not sure if I should move in and take the house which might prompt her to leave (if she had plans of overstaying her tenancy).

Not sure what you mean by "overstaying her tenancy". Her tenancy has not ended, nor will it end on on 31st August.

Landlord gave 2 months notice

Presumably this was a) a S21 Notice and b) served on or around 30th June? If so, the S21 was invalid as it required 3 months notice, not 2. So valid notice has not been served and the tenancy will continue for some considerable time to come....

The offical end date for tenancy is 31st August, and we were meant to move in 1st September.

No. Even if the S21 had been valid (it isn't) it would not end the tenancy.It would simply allow the landlord to take the next step towards ending it. So for at least two reasons, 31st August is not the "offical end date for tenancy".

TheLL has a long wait before he can evict this tenant.

You have 3 choices:

1) take a tenancy based on sharing the property with the current tenant (which you don't wish to do)

2) find an alternative property to rent

3) pay the current tenant (either yourself and/or with the landord) enough money to pursuade her to voluntarily surrender her tenancy (and probably the LL will need to agree to write off her arrears as well).

seatbeltnoob

The tenants had a 1 year contract. That comes to an end on 31st August. The LL gave them a letter over 2 months ago  (I will refrain from using the word notice) stating that the LL intends to take poession of the house.

He needs to rent to family (to remortage the property), he was informed remortgage a property is much easier if he has a family in there..

Does that not hold any weight at all? What is the point of having a rental contract then?

seatbeltnoob

greatcrested said:

seatbeltnoob said:

The tenancies were seperate. .....

.....

I am hoping this tenant moves out, not sure if I should move in and take the house which might prompt her to leave (if she had plans of overstaying her tenancy).

Not sure what you mean by "overstaying her tenancy". Her tenancy has not ended, nor will it end on on 31st August.

Landlord gave 2 months notice

Presumably this was a) a S21 Notice and b) served on or around 30th June? If so, the S21 was invalid as it required 3 months notice, not 2. So valid notice has not been served and the tenancy will continue for some considerable time to come....

The offical end date for tenancy is 31st August, and we were meant to move in 1st September.

No. Even if the S21 had been valid (it isn't) it would not end the tenancy.It would simply allow the landlord to take the next step towards ending it. So for at least two reasons, 31st August is not the "offical end date for tenancy".

TheLL has a long wait before he can evict this tenant.

You have 3 choices:

1) take a tenancy based on sharing the property with the current tenant (which you don't wish to do)

2) find an alternative property to rent

3) pay the current tenant (either yourself and/or with the landord) enough money to pursuade her to voluntarily surrender her tenancy (and probably the LL will need to agree to write off her arrears as well).

I will need to reluctantly take the property as a shared property and see what the current tenant does in the next month or so. If they don't leave I'll need to find another way of getting a property.

I won't be paying the current tenant a penny - I'm a tenant. Problem is, I know the landlord and he's reluctant as hell and once we're in he's not going to lift a finger.

saajan_12

seatbeltnoob said:

The tenants had a 1 year contract. That comes to an end on 31st August. The LL gave them a letter over 2 months ago  (I will refrain from using the word notice) stating that the LL intends to take poession of the house.

He needs to rent to family (to remortage the property), he was informed remortgage a property is much easier if he has a family in there..

Does that not hold any weight at all? What is the point of having a rental contract then?

That would be a 1 year fixed term, effectively serving as a minimum term. The contract ie tenancy extends indefinitely until either the tenant agrees to end it or they are evicted by a court. That was automatically the agreement whenever a residential tenancy is granted, so that's what holds weight. The LL's plans about remortgaging or you as a third party don't affect that contract. 

seatbeltnoob said:

greatcrested said:

seatbeltnoob said:

The tenancies were seperate. .....

.....

I am hoping this tenant moves out, not sure if I should move in and take the house which might prompt her to leave (if she had plans of overstaying her tenancy).

Not sure what you mean by "overstaying her tenancy". Her tenancy has not ended, nor will it end on on 31st August.

Landlord gave 2 months notice

Presumably this was a) a S21 Notice and b) served on or around 30th June? If so, the S21 was invalid as it required 3 months notice, not 2. So valid notice has not been served and the tenancy will continue for some considerable time to come....

The offical end date for tenancy is 31st August, and we were meant to move in 1st September.

No. Even if the S21 had been valid (it isn't) it would not end the tenancy.It would simply allow the landlord to take the next step towards ending it. So for at least two reasons, 31st August is not the "offical end date for tenancy".

TheLL has a long wait before he can evict this tenant.

You have 3 choices:

1) take a tenancy based on sharing the property with the current tenant (which you don't wish to do)

2) find an alternative property to rent

3) pay the current tenant (either yourself and/or with the landord) enough money to pursuade her to voluntarily surrender her tenancy (and probably the LL will need to agree to write off her arrears as well).

I will need to reluctantly take the property as a shared property and see what the current tenant does in the next month or so. If they don't leave I'll need to find another way of getting a property.

I won't be paying the current tenant a penny - I'm a tenant. Problem is, I know the landlord and he's reluctant as hell and once we're in he's not going to lift a finger.

If the landlord doesn't do anything, there's nothing you can do. Its only the landlord who can serve valid notice and apply to a court, incuring court costs etc. Meanwhile if you sign a 1 year contract for a couple of rooms, you'll be liable for the rent for the whole year.. Even if the landlord takes action, it could easily take a year to evict, so would you be happy living together that long? 
The suggestion about paying the current tenant isn't that you have any obligation to.. nor does the landlord. It was just a suggestion on how you could get what you want to avoid the lengthy court route. 

greatcrested

seatbeltnoob said:

The tenants had a 1 year contract. That comes to an end on 31st August.

The one year fixed term ends on 31st August, but the tenancy does not.

The LL gave them a letter over 2 months ago  (I will refrain from using the word notice) stating that the LL intends to take poession of the house.

A letter has no legal force at all. The LL must serve a S21 Notice, giving (at that time) 3 months notice. And after the 3 months the tenancy still continues till a court ends it.

He needs to rent to family (to remortage the property), he was informed remortgage a property is much easier if he has a family in there..

All irrelevant so far as the tenancy is concerned, and so far as the tenant is concerned.

Does that not hold any weight at all? What is the point of having a rental contract then?

No weight at all.

Tenancies are regulated by law (mainly the Housing Act 1988). The rental contract can add certain rights and obligations, but cannot over-ride the Housing Act.

From what you say, the landlord has very little understanding of the law in this area which is worrying......

If you want to know more, read:

Post 4: 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?

Voyager2002

So much wrong information on this thread...

The three people who were previously in the house could not have had an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy), or they would have had "joint and several" liability for the rent, meaning that if this lady failed to pay then the other tenants would have been responsible for the shortfall. No, they were three separate households sharing living facilities, and as such have far fewer rights than do tenants with an AST. So the discussion about Section 21 notice and whether or not it was valid is moot.

As for the suggestion that she might stay in the property until evicted by a court in order to be eligible for council housing: the council is not required to house single people, so unless she has a child this point is not applicable.

The best source of advice is Shelter.

greatcrested

Voyager2002 said:

So much wrong information on this thread...

The three people who were previously in the house could not have had an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy), or they would have had "joint and several" liability for the rent, meaning that if this lady failed to pay then the other tenants would have been responsible for the shortfall. No, they were three separate households sharing living facilities, and as such have far fewer rights than do tenants with an AST. So the discussion about Section 21 notice and whether or not it was valid is moot.

As for the suggestion that she might stay in the property until evicted by a court in order to be eligible for council housing: the council is not required to house single people, so unless she has a child this point is not applicable.

The best source of advice is Shelter.

How ironical! The most erroneous post in this thread is yours! This is totally inaccurate.

There is no reason 3 separate occupants of a property cannot each have a separate AST, giving them exclusive use of a room plus shared use of common areas. This is precisely what happens in most HMOs.

S21 Notices would apply, but in order to evict, each of them would need to be served a separate S21 applicable to their individual AST.

They would each have all the protections afforded by the Housing Act, and subsequent Acts applicable to ASTs.