Landlord Building New House On Property I Rent - What Are My Rights?

RAS

Ring Shelter now, they are open until 8pm. Ignore the inconveniences the plans will lead to and concentrate on whether the LL is allowed on your property to build their house.

OK, planning permission is granted for 3 years. If you fail to start building before the three years are up, it lapses and you have to re-apply.

My guess is that the urgency is because they've realised that PP is about to or has lapsed. It  would be worth you checking the precise date PP was granted, via the Council Planning Portal.

If it was over three years. I'd also give the Planning Department a ring in the morning, or at the very least inform the LL that you will do so unless they remove all their posteriors first thig tomorrow.

marbled

canaldumidi said:

marbled said:

Slithery said:

marbled said:

I get from what you've said I can put my foot down, but I don't know what I'd be able to do then, as I would have no choice but to move before being evicted?

Tell the LL that either they agree to an early surrender on your terms plus a payment of say £10k for the hassle of having to move or the build won't be happening until you're evicted which could take them at least a year.

Are you on a fixed term contract still or is it periodic?

I need to double check, but I think it's a rolling 6 month contract

A rolling 6 month contract is highly unusual. Do you pay rent 6 months at a time?

Have you been signing fixed term contracts? Every 6 months? Every year?

What was the original contract you signed? For 6 months? A year? 3 years? Or was NO time-period specified in which case it was periodic(rolling) from the start?

The above questions are relevant as the answer determines how/when you can be evicted.

Meanwhile, you clearly are paying for & renting the entire property - house and garden - and the garden cannot be built on as it forms part of your home.. You can lock the gates and deny access. If the builders break the lock to gain access, that would be breaking and entering so call the police.

At that point the LL's response may be determined by your tenancy type!

Note: change of agent is irrelevant to anything.

Six months initially, and it's been rolling ever since. Rent is monthly, and the agreement says they need to give me 2 months notice.

marbled

RAS said:

OK, planning permission is granted for 3 years. If you fail to start building before the three years are up, it lapses and you have to re-apply.

My guess is that the urgency is because they've realised that PP is about to or has lapsed. It  would be worth you checking the precise date PP was granted, via the Council Planning Portal.

If it was over three years. I'd also give the Planning Department a ring in the morning, or at the very least inform the LL that you will do so unless they remove all their posteriors first thig tomorrow.

It runs out mid Dec, and they've started by putting a fence up in the back garden.

The landlady said to me last week she wanted to wait and re-apply, as it felt too rushed after Covid, but the builder told her to go through with it. 

RAS

Ring Shelter as per the edit in my message. And tell the LL that illegal eviction costs money.

Our free helpline - Shelter England


She needs to take proper legal advice for a LL association or her own lawyer, not a builder who know F A bout tenancy law.

Section62

marbled said:

I get from what you've said I can put my foot down, but I don't know what I'd be able to do then, as I would have no choice but to move before being evicted?

You could expect some significant 'help' towards finding somewhere else to live?

It does sound like the landlord is not overly clued-up.  Planning consents can be extended relatively easily, and the conditions imposed are usually worded in such a way that the development has to start by a date rather than be completed by a date.

With some decent advice and lateral thinking the landlord could have preserved their planning consent with minimal cost to them, and minimal disruption to you.

But I guess at some point in the not too distant future they would want to get the building done and cash out, so longer term you would probably be in just the same position you are now.

canaldumidi

marbled said:

canaldumidi said:

marbled said:

Slithery said:

marbled said:

I get from what you've said I can put my foot down, but I don't know what I'd be able to do then, as I would have no choice but to move before being evicted?

Tell the LL that either they agree to an early surrender on your terms plus a payment of say £10k for the hassle of having to move or the build won't be happening until you're evicted which could take them at least a year.

Are you on a fixed term contract still or is it periodic?

I need to double check, but I think it's a rolling 6 month contract

A rolling 6 month contract is highly unusual. Do you pay rent 6 months at a time?

Have you been signing fixed term contracts? Every 6 months? Every year?

What was the original contract you signed? For 6 months? A year? 3 years? Or was NO time-period specified in which case it was periodic(rolling) from the start?

The above questions are relevant as the answer determines how/when you can be evicted.

Meanwhile, you clearly are paying for & renting the entire property - house and garden - and the garden cannot be built on as it forms part of your home.. You can lock the gates and deny access. If the builders break the lock to gain access, that would be breaking and entering so call the police.

At that point the LL's response may be determined by your tenancy type!

Note: change of agent is irrelevant to anything.

Six months initially, and it's been rolling ever since. Rent is monthly, and the agreement says they need to give me 2 months notice.

So you now have a Monthly Contractual Periodic Tenancy. Does it say exactly "2 months notice", or "2 calender months" or 2 months aligned with the tenancy periods", or....?

Though it makes minimal difference. It seems likely that assuming you stand up for your rights ie deny access for the builders and insist on retaiining the full garden, you will be served notice.

So you'd receive a S21 Notice expiring at least 2 months later depending on the exact wording of the contract. After that, the landlord would have to apply to a court to end the tenancy, which could take another 4 - 8 months depending how much backlog there still is in the courts.

So it would take 6 - 12 months in all.

As alternatives, after explaining this to your landlord, you could offer to compromise eg

* agree to lose half the garden for a meaningful rent reduction

* agree to leave early (Early Surrender) if the landlord pays you, say, the eqivalent of 3 months rent (or whatever amount you feel worth your while).

marbled

canaldumidi said:

marbled said:

canaldumidi said:

marbled said:

Slithery said:

marbled said:

I get from what you've said I can put my foot down, but I don't know what I'd be able to do then, as I would have no choice but to move before being evicted?

Tell the LL that either they agree to an early surrender on your terms plus a payment of say £10k for the hassle of having to move or the build won't be happening until you're evicted which could take them at least a year.

Are you on a fixed term contract still or is it periodic?

I need to double check, but I think it's a rolling 6 month contract

A rolling 6 month contract is highly unusual. Do you pay rent 6 months at a time?

Have you been signing fixed term contracts? Every 6 months? Every year?

What was the original contract you signed? For 6 months? A year? 3 years? Or was NO time-period specified in which case it was periodic(rolling) from the start?

The above questions are relevant as the answer determines how/when you can be evicted.

Meanwhile, you clearly are paying for & renting the entire property - house and garden - and the garden cannot be built on as it forms part of your home.. You can lock the gates and deny access. If the builders break the lock to gain access, that would be breaking and entering so call the police.

At that point the LL's response may be determined by your tenancy type!

Note: change of agent is irrelevant to anything.

Six months initially, and it's been rolling ever since. Rent is monthly, and the agreement says they need to give me 2 months notice.

So you now have a Monthly Contractual Periodic Tenancy. Does it say exactly "2 months notice", or "2 calender months" or 2 months aligned with the tenancy periods", or....?

Though it makes minimal difference. It seems likely that assuming you stand up for your rights ie deny access for the builders and insist on retaiining the full garden, you will be served notice.

So you'd receive a S21 Notice expiring 2 months later. After that, the landlord would have to apply to a court to end the tenancy, which could take another 4 - 8 months depending how much backlog there still is in the courts.

So it would take 6 - 12 months in all.

As alternatives, after explaining this to your landlord, you could offer to compromise eg

* agree to lose half the garden for a meaningful rent reduction

* agree to leave early (Early Surrender) if the landlord pays you, say, the eqivalent of 3 months rent (or whatever amount you feel worth your while).

Thanks for all your advice. I am going to seek some legal advice, too. 

A concern I have is that the letting agency try to bully me into "I have no choice" or that as they've started building the fence and ripped up all the decking, that they have an updated contract or tenancy agreement from my initial rolling over. 

It's a small thing, but the amount of people who stopped to look at the work I'd done in my front garden, and how my other neighbour commented on how great it looked, etc. only for the landlady to look at all the work and say "oh, we'll concrete over all of this".

Right now, my bikes are in a shoddy shed and if they get broken into, the insurers will just say it didn't have a good enough lock on it and they won't pay out.

Jeez, the list of things about this now are boiling my blood. A phone call with the letting agency today, "you've had enough notice to clear the yard and shed.." - I've had the smaller shed for a week and "notice??" I rent the whole property! They've still not installed heating in the kitchen that's been pending since Jan, and they say I've had enough notice to downsize on what I am still renting. Sorry, rant.

marbled

Part of me thinks the landlord changed letting agency this year as the last one said they weren't allowed to just turn up out of the blue and say they're cutting off most of my garden, drive and building a new house on the property I rent.

marbled

Section62 said:

marbled said:

I get from what you've said I can put my foot down, but I don't know what I'd be able to do then, as I would have no choice but to move before being evicted?

You could expect some significant 'help' towards finding somewhere else to live?

It does sound like the landlord is not overly clued-up.  Planning consents can be extended relatively easily, and the conditions imposed are usually worded in such a way that the development has to start by a date rather than be completed by a date.

With some decent advice and lateral thinking the landlord could have preserved their planning consent with minimal cost to them, and minimal disruption to you.

But I guess at some point in the not too distant future they would want to get the building done and cash out, so longer term you would probably be in just the same position you are now.

Thanks for your advice. Is there a way I could find out what my legal rights are for getting significant help, seeing as they've thrown out the rule book. I work from home and the last thing I need are builders knocking on my door, ignoring them. 

If I'd known when I took the property that I'd lose most of the outdoor area.. well. Even getting notice, like "in six months we're doing this" rather than "people are coming around next week to start ripping up your decking and stick a fence down the middle of your garden, and then whilst you're working from home, they'll be ripping up cement for 3 days.."

theartfullodger

Landlords like this need banning, deporting (South Georgia or Syria I suggest).  Scum, and stupid scum at that.

Artful.  Landlord since 2000