Tenant refusing to move

theartfullodger

Agreed: Ask to see copy of s21 served and proof of service by agent. After this is all sorted you might have a case against agent for ***king things up.

canaldumidi

donovan5 said:

pinkshoes said:

I suggest you invite the tenant for tea and cake, and offer to pay all their moving costs as well as a lump sum but ONLY if they move out by <date in 2 weeks>.

After that date you withdraw the offer. 

Is the person even named on the tenancy?

....
As of today the letting agents have informed us they did issue section 21 which has now ran out and a section 6a needs to be issued(which I believe is just the same thing)
They also told us he now has to move by March the 1st which I don't believe is true....

Form 6a IS a S21 Notice. See example here.

A S21 Notice runs out if a possession order is not appled for within 6 months of the S21 being served. What date was it served?

Get hold of a copy of the notice they originally issued and check the dates.

If they have re-issued it, get that too.

Check that one or the other or both are valid by going through this checklist :

S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)

If one or other notice was served on 1st Jan, then the 2 months expires on March 1st, but that does not mean "he now has to move by March the 1st". It means that after March 1st the landlord can make an application to court (which will take months), but meanswhile the tenancy continues.

The agent is either lying or incompetent (could be either or both!).

Given the unreliability of the agent, you need to go through all 84 questions in the checklist above. If there is just one error, then when you finally get to court in 9 months, the application could be dismissed and the whole process needs to start again. Another 9 or so months......

donovan5

Thanks will be asking for a copy and checking tomorrow. If the s21 was issued as requested them it work have been beginning of October ,though I'm seriously beginning to doubt it was ever done. If it turns out they haven't issued it and we are at square one she may just use a company to make sure everything is correct.
I'm still hoping tenant will take an incentive as it's the simplest solution

74jax

If the person in your property is not tenant, who are the agents contacting? The person in the property or the tenant who moved out? 

macman

If the tenant has moved out, then the remaining occupier is not a tenant and there is no requirement to evict them.  They are an illegal occupier, with no right to remain, unless a tenancy has somehow been created by them paying rent and the LL/LA accepting such rent from them?
The LA appears to be utterly incompetent. I would give them immediate notice and either deal with this yourself, or employ one who has a clue what they are doing. How can an agent a) not know who the tenant is and b) not know if an S21 has been served or not?
As said above, all this should have been resolved before the property was even marketed as being sold with vacant possession.

theartfullodger

If agent has served s21 on occupant a sensible judge would probably conclude there was an AST between you & occupant.  But you've no paperwork!! e.g. Agreement, GSC, EPC, How 2 rent etc etc etc.

Oh dear!

Do let us know, good luck!

canaldumidi

Yes, a lot could depenf on what name was put on the S21. See Q4 on he checklist!

Marie569

It's a tricky situation. If the lettings agency won't cooperate, you may have to go it alone. Have you tried contacting the tenant personally to offer the incentive? If worst comes to worst you may have to alert authorities that they have been living there past tenancy since December and you need them to leave. 

saajan_12

Marie569 said:

It's a tricky situation. If the lettings agency won't cooperate, you may have to go it alone. Have you tried contacting the tenant personally to offer the incentive? If worst comes to worst you may have to alert authorities that they have been living there past tenancy since December and you need them to leave. 

Yeah no.. not how it works. Which 'authorities' are going to make a peep about the tenants doing what they have a perfect right to do?

[Not sure what you mean by 'past tenancy' - the AST is perfectly valid & in progress. ]

canaldumidi

saajan_12 said:

Marie569 said:

It's a tricky situation. If the lettings agency won't cooperate, you may have to go it alone. Have you tried contacting the tenant personally to offer the incentive? If worst comes to worst you may have to alert authorities that they have been living there past tenancy since December and you need them to leave. 

Yeah no.. not how it works. Which 'authorities' are going to make a peep about the tenants doing what they have a perfect right to do?

[Not sure what you mean by 'past tenancy' - the AST is perfectly valid & in progress. ]

think Marie569 means t'cownsil who will spring into action, call the local fuzz, and drag the naughty tenants off to do some well-deserved porridge.