How much time, on average, for the landlord to evict me?

macman

Your LL really is a clueless amateur. Serving it by hand means he can't prove service, unless he photographed it in your letterbox or got you to pose for a pic after handing it to you. personally.
Just sit tight, pay your rent on the dot, and wait for a possession order hearing. Tell the judge that you have not been supplied with a current GSC, ask him to reject the application and award you costs: end of. Once he has supplied a GSC, he will resubmit an S21. Simply rinse and repeat on the grounds of absence of an EICR/EPC/How to Rent booklet.
Is your deposit protected? If not, then that is the next best grounds to use for rejection, as you won't have to try to remember if you were ever supplied with the documentation-you can simply check yourself online with the schemes.
On this basis, he might get possession around 2025...

stranglekelp

macman said:

Your LL really is a clueless amateur. Serving it by hand means he can't prove service, unless he photographed it in your letterbox or got you to pose for a pic after handing it to you. personally.

While that may be true, he did serve it and I did receive it, therefore I can't in court say "I didn't get it" when in fact I did! So on that note I have been served a S21 notice. Whilst I will certainly be a pain in his !!!!!! through the proceedings, I do not intend to lie and cheat!

macman said:

Is your deposit protected? If not, then that is the next best grounds to use for rejection, as you won't have to try to remember if you were ever supplied with the documentation-you can simply check yourself online with the schemes.

I can only assume so, but I am unable to check at the moment. I have a lot of stuff prepacked, and all the initial documentation I received with my tenancy is going to be there and I can't check at the moment.

I did try using the three online deposit schemes but not matter what combination of data I use (either my partner's surname or mine, or a combination of both, mine first or mine second, or if I use the date of the original tenancy in 2018 or the new fixed term in 2022) it just always fails to find my deposit. However, I am certain I received a deposit document of some kind on my original tenancy, I am just unable to find it at the moment, so I don't think it's the case of my landlord not doing it, I think the online deposit systems are just not finding my details.

stranglekelp

If any clarity is needed, here is the brief timeline of everything which happened:

December, 2018 - tenancy started as a two year contract. I can only assume I was given the Guide to Rent and the EPC at this time as I really can't remember. Also, the property either already had a gas certificate and one was given to me, or it didn't have one but one was then obtained within the next 30 days (because I remember the gas man coming around). Or the third option is that the property had a valid gas safety certificate, but it was expiring, so the landlord got a new one within 30 days. Either way, I really can't remember, so for the argument's sake let's just assume that everything done at the beginning was done flawlessly and I have no reason to dispute the S21 notice here.

December, 2020 - tenancy lapses to a periodic one on the same terms and the landlord is happy with that one, states he will be in touch when he wants to consider a new contract.

November, 2021 - landlord states he wants a new 2 year contract with increased rent. I agree to two years, but offer reduced rent to meet him in the middle. He refuses and states he wants the property back so he can rent it to someone else. No notice is served at this time. The property is advertised on the market at the price he wants, but there are no takers.

January, 2022 - landlord offers to extend on same terms for another 6 months on the same terms like the initial tenancy, and states after those 6 months he will consider further options. I agree to this and in January, 2022 we sign a new tenancy agreement which is the exact same copy of the 2018 one, with dates changed. New EPC and How to Rent guide are not given at this time, but I believe this would not be required anyway? However, no new gas safety certificate is given. At this point the gas safety certificate has expired around 2 years ago.

July, 2022 - the above tenancy expires and becomes a periodic tenancy. Landlord states he will be in contact about what to do next. Landlord is then silent for months and I continue paying rent as normal.

January and February, 2023 - landlord becomes demanding and keeps asking to sign a new tenancy agreement at a price which I do not agree with. I offer to mediate, he refuses.

15th February 2023 - I get served a S21 notice. At this point the gas safety certificate has expired around 3 years ago. It is my understanding that this notice simply cannot be valid no matter what, due to certificate expiring?

Now obviously there are numerous ways this can go, either the landlord is aware of his failings and is bluffing hoping I will just leave. I won't leave, so he will then either do the gas safety check and then serve a fresh notice, or he will go to court and this notice will always fail due to the lack of the GSC?

Either way, if I am not missing anything, I have not been served a valid S21 notice and I still have several months ahead of me to resolve this?

Thank you all for your time, it is really appreciated

dimbo61

So what do you want to achieve ?
Do you like the property ? 
The area ?
BOE Interest rates have gone from 0.1 % in December 2021 to 4% today.
Now you may think I don't care but many Landlords are now selling up and the result is less rental properties and increased demand as more people have to rent.

stranglekelp

dimbo61 said:

So what do you want to achieve ?
Do you like the property ? 
The area ?
BOE Interest rates have gone from 0.1 % in December 2021 to 4% today.
Now you may think I don't care but many Landlords are now selling up and the result is less rental properties and increased demand as more people have to rent.

I just want to be sure of the amount of time I have. I am looking at houses to buy, but am currently working 60 to 70 hours a week, so it's not entirely easy in terms of time management. If I can know for a fact that I have got several months in front of me that I can still stay here, then that makes things easier.

The whole interest rate raise worked well for me as the market has come to a grinding halt where I am, so where I before I could not even manage to get viewings, I am now getting emails and calls to view properties that are coming back on the market with reduced prices. I had no chance at buying before due to my circumstances, however for me it has now become a lot easier to complete in the market (I am buying with 50% LTV)

The lack of rental properties is not something that affects me as I am looking at leaving the rental market.

macman

You don't have to prove anything in court, and while no-one is suggesting that you should 'lie and cheat', the burden of proof is on the plaintiff.
Regarding the GSC, whether it was issued or not in December 2018 is now irrelevant, as it has expired. Unless you've got one issued in February 2022 or later, then the LL has committed an offence and this is another reason why the S21 is invalid.
If you intend to use the S21 invalidity as a repeating defence against a possession order, then you really do need to sort out your paperwork, as no judge is going to be impressed by 'I can't remember if I got it or not and now I can't access the paperwork'.
Luckily for you, it sounds as if the LL is disorganised too.
If a new tenancy was commenced, then all the prescribed info must be supplied again. Not necessarily a new EPC, as the original was valid for 10 years.
I'm also going to hazard a guess that the LL has not supplied you with an EICR either, which became a legal requirement on 1/4/21?

MobileSaver

stranglekelp said:

he will go to court and this notice will always fail due to the lack of the GSC?

You do need to be aware that there are of course risks for you in following this approach quite apart from the simple if unlikely one of you being mistaken and a valid GSC existing.

Courts frown upon litigants trying to ambush their opponent. If you let this get all the way to court without informing the LL beforehand why you are not leaving (i.e. that the S21 is invalid) then you run the risk of "winning" the case but having costs awarded against you.

Admittedly the costs won't be huge (court fees, travel costs, loss of earnings etc.) and it's a small risk but they are completely avoidable by the simple expediency of giving the LL reasonable notice.

stranglekelp

macman said:

Regarding the GSC, whether it was issued or not in December 2018 is now irrelevant, as it has expired. Unless you've got one issued in February 2022 or later, then the LL has committed an offence and this is another reason why the S21 is invalid.

No, I've never had anything new issued and the gas man has never been around again since the very first time in 2019.

macman said:

If you intend to use the S21 invalidity as a repeating defence against a possession order, then you really do need to sort out your paperwork, as no judge is going to be impressed by 'I can't remember if I got it or not and now I can't access the paperwork'.

I've got it in one of the boxes, I'll have a look through the weekend to find out what I have been given initially.

macman said:

If a new tenancy was commenced, then all the prescribed info must be supplied again. Not necessarily a new EPC, as the original was valid for 10 years.
I'm also going to hazard a guess that the LL has not supplied you with an EICR either, which became a legal requirement on 1/4/21?

Yeah, I didn't get anything supplied again when I renewed the tenancy / signed a new fixed term. No, there was never an EICR, however as far I understand, EICR has no bearing on the S21 notice?

Thanks for your time, I appreciate it

stranglekelp

MobileSaver said:

stranglekelp said:

he will go to court and this notice will always fail due to the lack of the GSC?

You do need to be aware that there are of course risks for you in following this approach quite apart from the simple if unlikely one of you being mistaken and a valid GSC existing.

Courts frown upon litigants trying to ambush their opponent. If you let this get all the way to court without informing the LL beforehand why you are not leaving (i.e. that the S21 is invalid) then you run the risk of "winning" the case but having costs awarded against you.

Admittedly the costs won't be huge (court fees, travel costs, loss of earnings etc.) and it's a small risk but they are completely avoidable by the simple expediency of giving the LL reasonable notice.

The reason why I am not leaving is that I currently don't have anywhere to go and I am not required to leave until I am able to do so, simple as and the landlord has been told that clearly, it's not being hidden from him. The fact that the S21 is invalid is secondary and is only there to give me more time. As soon I have my own home, I'm leaving, but until such a time the S21 notice is just that, a notice to me that he wants the property back.

Any such costs are going to be lower than a month or two of increased rent anyway, so I see no major risk there.

born_again

Just remember that buying a house can easily run into 6 months or more. Especially if a chain is involved.