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

canaldumidi

marbled said:

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.

Look. At present you have the law on your side. Yes, the agent can try to 'bully' you, but why give way to bullies?

You DO have a choice other than rolling over. It's up to you to decide whether to take it or not. 'Starting building' does not alter your tenancy agreement!

So to protect your bikes, put a 2nd lock on the garden access. If they get stolen, it's a police matter.

Section62

canaldumidi said:

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).

I'd add the option of a meaningful rent reduction for allowing the landlord to do enough 'work' to secure the planning consent and then leaving the OP in peace.

Although I'd have some doubts whether the landlord/builder are capable of that, and whether they could be trusted to stick to the agreement.


I can't really believe the landlord has sat on a planning consent for 3 years and only started building when the cost of materials and labour is at crazy levels.  More to the point, I'm amazed there are builders out there encouraging reluctant clients to start building projects now, rather than pleading with them to wait until things have quietened down.  Presumably this one wasn't busy for some reason?

lookstraightahead

Oh my goodness op, what a nasty piece of work your LL is 😕

RAS

Section62 said:

I can't really believe the landlord has sat on a planning consent for 3 years and only started building when the cost of materials and labour is at crazy levels.  More to the point, I'm amazed there are builders out there encouraging reluctant clients to start building projects now, rather than pleading with them to wait until things have quietened down.  Presumably this one wasn't busy for some reason?

I'd bet you that he'd do just enough to claim he'd started building and burger off for months, secure in the belief that an owner stupid enough to allow him to start in these circumstances wouldn't be clued up enough to kick him off the job.

And if he's got the capacity to take on new work when everyone else is booked up for months....................

deannagone

So that's your answer.  The boundaries of you tenancy have been outlined clearly in your TA.  Its just a case of if its worth challenging what the LL is saying/doing.  Yes, it will risk losing the tenancy (how long does the tenancy have to run?).  Personally, I'd point this out to the LL and try to move.  You might have to move areas though.  But I personally could not put up with the invasion of my privacy and the noise that will be going on if the redevelopment happens.  But long arguments ahead with the LL if you try to assert your TA, and when the TA is to term, you will almost certainly be told to leave.

FreeBear

marbled said: 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. 

Unless you have had sight of this "updated" agreement and signed it, the document is just another worthless bit of paper.

penners324

I'd request they return the garden to it's condition before they ripped up the decking. If not then the LL should compensate you on top of the £10k moving out bung.

nyermen

OP - +1 for contacting shelter.
They note the following: https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/possession_and_eviction/illegal_eviction_and_harassment/harassment_by_a_landlord_or_letting_agent

The section about "The Protection from Eviction Act 1977" notes this:
"the offence is committed if the offender knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the conduct is likely to cause the residential occupier to: give up part of the premises, or refrain from exercising any right in respect of all or part of the premises, or refrain from pursuing any remedy in respect of all or part of the premises"

That sounds pretty clear an offence has been committed?  Landlord can't claim they didnt have reasonable cause surely?

ps. Sorry if this has a better answer as a sticky somewhere on the forum, I miss G_M who'd have already replied

canaldumidi

Sadly G_M can't either reply nor keep his sticky up to date with changes to tenancy law....

bap98189

Thanks for your reply. The landlord/letting agency don't have keys to the property, as a new front door was fitted two weeks ago and I've not seen anyone from the letting agency to give them a key - so it's easy enough to lock the back-gate and not give them access. The issue is, to what ends?

Everything is negotiable and you have some leverage here. 

It sounds to me that what you want is to move out and find somewhere else to live. That usually costs money. 

The landlord wants instant access to the property so he can get on with building but you have the ability to stop that access.

You could offer to grant them immediate access to the building site in return for the landlord agreeing to end your tennancy early and a contribution towards your moving costs + the inevitable letting agent fees on your new tennancy. Seems like a resonable compromise.