Revenge evictions - how do things stand ?

elsien

More curiosity on my part - this is in England.
My neighbour went to the council about the state of the house they rent. Council has given landlord a long list of work that needs doing to make the place fit to live in. (Neighbour says council also told them they couldn’t increase the rent - not sure about the accuracy of that bit.) Landlord has given neighbour 4 months notice. 

It’s definitely a revenge eviction - rent has been paid, neighbour has been doing some work in the house with consent to try to maintain it when landlord refused. Is there anything the neighbour can do to fight the eviction, given the circumstances that have led up to it? 
Landlord doesn’t need the house to live in.
As I say, neighbour is perfectly capable of getting the information they need, I’m just curious as to whether/how quickly they could be turfed out in practice. 

MaryNB

Depends what kind of notice the council gave. From Shelter England:
Revenge eviction if you ask for repairs

When and how long you're protected for

Your landlord can't usually give you a valid section 21 notice for the next 6 months if the council serves your landlord with either of the following:

• improvement notice

• emergency remedial action notice

But if the council take no action, or only serve a hazard awareness notice, your landlord can still give you a section 21 notice.

elsien

Thanks. It must be some sort of formal notice as the LL wouldn’t be spending anything unless forced to. So S21 would be invalid in those circumstances? - it was issued as soon as neighbour got the tenant involved. 

MaryNB

Was the s21 issued before or after the notice from the council? As in the neighbour told landlord they had contacted the council, landlord issued S21 before notice from council was received. Read through that link. That excerpt above refers to the scenario where the S21 was received after the council issued a notice. It may still be invalid if the S21 was received before the council issued their notice but only if it adheres to the following:

If you've already had a section 21 notice

Your section 21 notice usually becomes invalid if you got it after you wrote to your landlord about repairs or conditions and all of the following apply:

• Your landlord failed to respond adequately to your complaint within 14 days.

• You then complained to environmental health about the problem.

• The council served an improvement notice or emergency remedial action notice on your landlord.

ETA: If the landlord is genuinely going to sell the property the s21 may still be valid. Like I said, read the full page on Shelter.