Section 21, landlord selling, wants early settlement

Hoping4Help

My partner had his employment(high end gardening) terminated 30 October 2020-out of the blue, no rights as employed less than 2years
We have tied accommodation with his job-section 21 served on 4 Nov-expires 6 May. Tenancy begin 11/2/2019- NO gas safety/EPC/Tenants rights given.
We began moving our belonging in before this date, moved in 28/1/19.Tenancy not signed by me not witnessed and initialed by someone but not us.
Nominal rent to be paid in Tenancy agreement but never asked for or paid.
Landlord/ex employer has offered a settlement agreement of 3 months salary(plus pay in lieu of notice) to vacate property by  end January
Landlord has sold/is selling the estate on which the property we rent is part of.They are moving abroad April?May to a new home they have built
Assume landlord wants us to vacate because sale is conditional on us leaving(ie not sitting tenants) 
There are other employees also with tied accommodation-with more than 2years service-dont know if they have been served notice
We have had complaints to landlord from them & neighbours regarding loud arguments/shouting/swearing.
Mostly about our situation before termination of employment- not being treated equally at work-employee under influence of alcohol at work & on public highway( not proven- treated as unfounded accusation and told to retract. NO formal disciplinary procedure against employee that we know of)/intimidating behaviour from employee.
Renteees pulling up our plants, unfounded accusations, camera put up opposite our home, that when activated can see into our home 2 bedrooms/living room (we have a child also)
We have not made formal complaints about these, fearing more reprisals, but others have made them against us-basically everyone here has got together against us.
We want a better settlement Its not worth us leaving early as it could take until March/April earliest for my partner to find permanent work in a similar position with housing/without housing. We can hopefully find temp work  in the meantime
As we lose our home as well as his job his employment could be anywhere in the country
So we cant just move and hope something turns up-in all likelihood we would have to move twice & incur significant costs in moving/ tenancy termination if necessary

Basically we don't want to surrender our tenancy unless we are offered substantially more money- but how do we work out what is reasonable?
Rent for 1 year of a similar property +moving costs?
I have seen on other threads here that around £10,000 would be appropriate to surrender tenancy early(6mths) If we leave end January that would be 3 months without going to court & the time that will currently take-into end next year?
To rent a similar property to what we have & have had in the past is now £1200 pm-£14,400pa(current market rent for our property is £1600pm)
We want to leave asap, as this is not a healthy environment for any of us or a child

Our landlord is a wealthy individual, we are looking to cover what could be significant costs if we have no work/home which I feel is justified-
For us its about covering costs for him its not

Also if we have a new landlord (have to be told this within 2 months of property sale)- they have to start a new tenancy?-so where do we stand there legally-does section 21 still continue?
Any advice appreciated

dimbo61

So much to read and not all of it housing related.
Landlord has made your OH redundant and with less than 2 years he gets No redundancy pay.
Harassment is separate from S21 and should be reported to the police.
So do you want to stay or leave ?
It's going to be very very tough for hundreds of thousands of families in rental properties and home owners with mortgage arrears.
You may need to consider a much cheaper property to rent.
What have you done with the money you saved by not paying any rent for the last 2 years ?
You don't have to move out unless you can agree a settlement with the Landlord

NameUnavailable

dimbo61 said:

So much to read and not all of it housing related.
Landlord has made your OH redundant and with less than 2 years he gets No redundancy pay.
Harassment is separate from S21 and should be reported to the police.
So do you want to stay or leave ?
It's going to be very very tough for hundreds of thousands of families in rental properties and home owners with mortgage arrears.
You may need to consider a much cheaper property to rent.
What have you done with the money you saved by not paying any rent for the last 2 years ?
You don't have to move out unless you can agree a settlement with the Landlord

Hmmm.......maybe their pay takes into account the fact that accommodation is provided? Just a thought?

penners324

3 months salary sounds quite generous as an offer to move out of the property. You could request the employee makes it 6 months....

Slithery

Hoping4Help said:

NO gas safety/EPC/Tenants rights given.

Then the S21 isn't valid. To evict you properly will probably take until 2022.
Does your LL know this?

Hoping4Help

Thanks for your replies,
Salary is/was similar to previous employment where we had no accommodation, the accommodation is a condition of employment and according to HMRC is allowed.So its a benefit instead of salary being paid
We've saved as much as possible from what was paid as rent in previous employment for a house deposit and want to try & save this as much as possible
I appreciate we are not in the dire straits many people will be in(my partners sister is on low pay and cant afford her rent& is likely to be homeless after christmas-unless she gets lucky with social housing) and will we will be looking for the cheapest property we can comfortably move into, We couldn't afford this property on the open market.£1000m is just affordable
Moving out with what has been offered will be more expensive than staying put for now & trying to find work, even if we eat into savings
So if he wants us out earlier I think 6months salary /1 years rental (which we would have to commit to or lose money if no break clause)

NameUnavailable

Ask for 12 months salary to vacate by January, or stay put. Maybe a buyer would want to keep your partner on?

Hoping4Help

Hi slithery
 I am assuming the landlord doesn't know section 21 invalid
Housing officer informed us they would have to prove a valid gas safety existed when we occupied tenancy-but wait until we get to court to tell them this. One done June this year but its the original missing one that counts
As landlord unaware do we tell them to get a better deal or sit tight hope either of us get work and avoid moving stress
As I said earlier its got to be enough more money for us to leave earlier, otherwise why am I moving?
Anyone know what happens if we get a new landlord re tenancy??Another thing to worry about?!

greatcrested

Hoping4Help said:

We have tied accommodation with his job-section 21 served on 4 Nov-expires 6 May. Tenancy begin 11/2/2019- NO gas safety/EPC/Tenants rights given.
So S21 is invalid and can simply be ignored till May.

We began moving our belonging in before this date, moved in 28/1/19.Tenancy not signed by me not witnessed and initialed by someone but not us.
Nominal rent to be paid in Tenancy agreement but never asked for or paid.

Rent does not have to be 'asked for'. If the tenancy agreement specifies rent, the tenant has anobligation to pay it, and the LL an claim arrears up to 6 years later.

Landlord/ex employer has offered a settlement agreement of 3 months salary(plus pay in lieu of notice) to vacate property by  end January

Seems quite generous, but only you can decide if it's acceptable to you, or whether to decline, or whether to negotiate formore.

Landlord has sold/is selling the estate on which the property we rent is part of.They are moving abroad April?May to a new home they have built
Assume landlord wants us to vacate because sale is conditional on us leaving(ie not sitting tenants) 
There are other employees also with tied accommodation-with more than 2years service-dont know if they have been served notice

Interesting as back-story, but totally irrelevant in terms of tenancy law.

We have had complaints to landlord from them & neighbours regarding loud arguments/shouting/swearing.

Interesting as back-story, but totally irrelevant in terms of tenancy law.
We want a better settlement Its not worth us leaving early as it could take until March/April earliest for my partner to find permanent work in a similar position with housing/without housing. We can hopefully find temp work  in the meantime
As we lose our home as well as his job his employment could be anywhere in the country
So we cant just move and hope something turns up-in all likelihood we would have to move twice & incur significant costs in moving/ tenancy termination if necessary
Interesting as back-story, but totally irrelevant in terms of tenancy law.
Basically we don't want to surrender our tenancy unless we are offered substantially more money- but how do we work out what is reasonable?

There's no such thing as 'reasonable'. There's only the amount that to you makes it worthwhile to move, and the amount the landlord is willing to pay to have you move.

Rent for 1 year of a similar property +moving costs?

Well, would you be willing to move for less?

I have seen on other threads here that around £10,000 would be appropriate to surrender tenancy early(6mths) If we leave end January that would be 3 months without going to court & the time that will currently take-into end next year?

Would the LL be willing to pay £10K?

To rent a similar property to what we have & have had in the past is now £1200 pm-£14,400pa(current market rent for our property is £1600pm)
We want to leave asap, as this is not a healthy environment for any of us or a child
Which suggests you'd be happy to accept less, assuming the LL only offered you less. So - how much do you want o move? How much £ would satisfy you?
Our landlord is a wealthy individual, we are looking to cover what could be significant costs if we have no work/home which I feel is justified-
For us its about covering costs for him its not
Interesting as back-story, but totally irrelevant in terms of tenancy law.
Also if we have a new landlord (have to be told this within 2 months of property sale)- they have to start a new tenancy?

No. Your existing tenancy continues with a new LL.

-so where do we stand there legally-does section 21 still continue?

The existing S21 is invalid.

The gas report, EPC and Gov report must be given to you and then a new S21 served.

Once a valid S21 is served, it can be acted on by the current LL, or any new LL who takes over your existing tenancy.

Slithery

Hoping4Help said:

Anyone know what happens if we get a new landlord re tenancy??

Absolutely nothing. The current tenancy continues as-is just with a different LL.

Hoping4Help

Also Housing officer told us that landlord would have been better off NOT serving section 21 as its tied accommodation,
We have more rights under section 21