Possible mis-sold tenancy?

km1500

this is exactly right - at the end of the fixed term contract the tenant can say I do not wish to stay there anymore and I'm leaving and in exactly the same way the landlord can say I don't want to rent it anymore please find somewhere else

theartfullodger

km1500 said:

this is exactly right - at the end of the fixed term contract the tenant can say I do not wish to stay there anymore and I'm leaving and in exactly the same way the landlord can say I don't want to rent it anymore please find somewhere else

But landlord saying this has no legal effect.  He needs to serve valid notice but only court/bailiffs can actually evict.

_Penny_Dreadful

Indeed, the landlord saying , “I do not wish you to stay living in the property beyond the end of the fixed term,” does not prevent the tenant’s legal right to remain living in the property once the fixed term has ended. Even if the landlord issues a valid section 21, which a number of landlords appear to struggle with, it does not take away the tenant’s legal right to remain in the property as the notice does not on its own have the power to end the tenancy.  

markb1_2

Thank you all for your input, it is much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I think the S21 is valid. It was done by their letting agents, so is probably water tight.

At the end of the day, either the landlord and/or the letting agent lied about offering an open-ended long tenancy to get us in, but there is no legal comeback on that and it highlights something in serious need of reform in rental law.

Lesson learnt - we should have asked for a longer contract. Will be advocating for rental reform going forward.

_Penny_Dreadful

markb1_2 said:

Unfortunately, I think the S21 is valid. It was done by their letting agents, so is probably water tight.

If the only reason you think the Section 21 is watertight is because it was issued by a letting agent then use the link I provided earlier to actually check. 

Hoenir

markb1_2 said:

Will be advocating for rental reform going forward.

Onerous regulation unfortunately would simply drive many smaller LL's out of the letting marketplace. 

theartfullodger

markb1_2 said:

...............

Unfortunately, I think the S21 is valid. It was done by their letting agents, so is probably water tight.

..........

A little amusing:

To be a letting agent in England requires no qualifications, no training, no criminal records check.  (Other countries do this better - Rishi please note..)  The office could be completely manned by ex-cons from Brixton on early release from their time in jail for GBH & fraud, no training... literally.

Two short stories: Some years ago my son & his two house mates were renting a house in London: Agent was "award winning!" (they were...)

Agent issued s21. Son sends me a copy, I point out it is invalid and why, he points this out equally to agent. Landlord/owner was selling, all going through solicitors etc etc

Agent swears blind it wasn't.  We go round in circles for a few weeks... The lads explained they would go for excellent references and a few thousand. 

It eventually came to near date when - house sale contracts etc etc -  landlord (decent chap..) wanted them out: Still in dispute:  Eventually agent's penny dropped.  Landlord goes round to house, provides excellent references and the aforesaid loot. Completely unnecessary. 

I've found my agent (been with them for 17 years) writing invalid tenancy agreements such that tenants did not have to pay rent (I was living in Scotland at the time & agent have given the address for serving notices as my Scottish address, not one in England or Wales..so "no rent due"!!!  )  ... (I like my agent, basically decent, we have lunch on me every year or so..)

I could go on:

Please, for your own sake, check s21 against "nearly legal section 21".