Weird rent contract, need immediate help please

Rocksolid

Hello,

I've got a rent contract where it says the following:
The dwelling-house is held for the purpose of being available for occupation by a minister of religion as a residence from which to perform the duties of office and:
a) not later than the beginning of the tenancy the landlord gave notice in writing to the tenant  that possession might be recovered on this ground; and
b) the court is satisfied that the dwelling-house is required for occupation by a minister of religion as such a residence.

What the hell is this?

LizzieM16

Is it a church or religious institution that owns the house (presumably it is)? If so, a chat with the local minister of that church or institution may be able to shed some light on this. 

Rocksolid

LizzieM16 said:

Is it a church or religious institution that owns the house (presumably it is)? If so, a chat with local minister of that church or institution may be able to shed some light on this. 

Thanks, but it's not mentioned, it says only Minister of religion...
I mean, it may be a kind of okay, but I think this is a trick from the landlord to avoid taxes, due to some tax relief for religion activities...

Or, worst, they may have the power to do whatever they want, whenever they want.

It's also bad if this is target of low income people and people in need, I'm not, but I wouldn't like to be kicked out because someone else needs it, I'm supposed to pay a lot here and I'm quite sure someone needs it right now, eventually.
I don't want to be selfish, but be kicked out because I was meant to, it's something I need absolutely to avoid.
There is a fixed term of 12 months, so I guess before that date it's not possible, there is nothing mentioned about it for religion or council reasons.

pphillips

Sounds like you're renting a vicarage, as the clause means you may be evicted if a minister of religion needs to occupy the property.

pphillips

Rocksolid said:

LizzieM16 said:

Is it a church or religious institution that owns the house (presumably it is)? If so, a chat with local minister of that church or institution may be able to shed some light on this. 

Thanks, but it's not mentioned, it says only Minister of religion...
I mean, it may be a kind of okay, but I think this is a trick from the landlord to avoid taxes, due to some tax relief for religion activities...

I believe it's a council tax relief for when the property is empty.

bouicca21

It’s a section 5 ground for ending the tenancy.

Rocksolid

bouicca21 said:

It’s a section 5 ground for ending the tenancy.

What does it means precisely?
Can he evict me without respecting the 2 months notice as stated in the contract?

macman

So you've already signed this contract and occupied the property? In which case, it's maybe a little late to be concerned about this clause?
What date did you sign it? Notice is now 6m under the terms of the CV Act 2020, and has been for some time now.

bouicca21

section 5 is a no fault notice ending the tenancy on the normal 2 month notice, extended now to whatever the Covid regulations say.  It can only be used, as it says, when the intention is to rent the property to a minister of religion.

princeofpounds

Don't worry. 

This appears to be a clause that allows the use of Section 8, Ground 5, as previously mentioned. It refers to the Housing Act 1988, which sets out how landlords can recover possession of a property on an AST. 

There are two types of notice - Section 21, crudely speaking, allows the landlord to terminate the tenancy because the contract has passed the end of its fixed term. It's the more normal way of pursuing possession.

Section 8 deals with all the other miscellaneous reasons. It's mostly used when tenants e.g. fail to pay rent, but it covers about 17 different situations. https://www.bradysolicitors.com/brady-blog/grounds-of-possession/

There are a couple of grounds that give special right to landlords where the house is particularly important given its status to them. The obvious one is Section 8 Ground 1 - where the property has been a principle residence for the LL - a good description of which is here: https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/information/ground-1-notice/. The important thing to note in this description is that except in exceptional hardship situations (something I am sure happens but I have never actually heard a practical example of) this ground cannot be used during the fixed term of the tenancy. I believe Section 5 is similar, although I'm not 100% certain on the timeframes.

So in a way, it functions similarly to Section 21 and is largely redundant. Section 21 is preferred because there is no need to provide proof of anything except perhaps service of a valid notice, and an 'accelerated procedure' can be used in court. But it's considered good practice to keep it in the contracts because if Section 21 is changed by the government, it may still be possible to rely on these grounds instead.

https://landlordlawblog.co.uk/2016/02/24/grounds-for-eviction-ground-5-lettings-to-ministers-of-religion/

Comms69

Obviously the standard process of ending a tenancy still applies - as in court. And yes, if subsequently the property is not let to a minister etc. you can take action. (it becomes effectively an unlawful eviction)