Section 21 Notice and Completion Date on a House

Floopy2009

In January I was given a Section 21 Notice as the Landlord wanted his house back, this ends in July 1st.

I am in the process of buying a house and we are now at the stages were searches are complete etc. I have raised this with my solictior that ideally i want to have the completion date before the July 1st.

At present this has not been set with my solicitor and the vendors hopefully in the next week or so my concern is what it it goes over that section 21 notice date ?

Shall i give the rental company a heads up now or wait until i get an actual date as i dont want to give them early ammunition to throw me out?

If it is after i will not be vacanting as i have nowhere to go, i presume then the landlord will proceed with a court summonds but if i can show evidence, etc regarding the house purchase i am sure it will be a legitmate reason to stay after the notice to an agreed date ?

Advice would be really helpful here especially people who have been in a similar situation

Many thanks

user1977

How much longer do you think you might need? Any court proceedings are unlikely to be swift. And I doubt they'd bother if you're not in breach of anything and obviously on your way out.

Floopy2009

user1977 said:

How much longer do you think you might need? Any court proceedings are unlikely to be swift. And I doubt they'd bother if you're not in breach of anything and obviously on your way out.

@user1977 I am hoping end of June cant be much more to sort now just last revised contracts to check and a date set,  btthe way the solcitiors are working its every 2nd and 4th week of the month they deal with my case, so i am thinking might be tight however i could be wrong it may be sooner than i think

Brie

Has the LL complied with every single regulation about gas certificates, deposit notices etc?  If not wait until 30th June to tell him and then he'll have to get that sorted before reissuing the S21.

If everything is valid it can take 6 months to get to court.  If you are close at the end of June that's when you might tell them and ask them to hold off so they don't incur any more fees than necessary.

BarelySentientAI

Floopy2009 said:

If it is after i will not be vacanting as i have nowhere to go, i presume then the landlord will proceed with a court summonds but if i can show evidence, etc regarding the house purchase i am sure it will be a legitmate reason to stay after the notice to an agreed date ?

No.  The court doesn't care whether you are trying to buy a house.

If the S21 was legitimate, they will grant the landlord possession.

The landlord might be reluctant to actually go to court if you'll be out in a couple of extra weeks, but not if you're just saying "we'll buy something eventually".

Floopy2009

BarelySentientAI said:

Floopy2009 said:

If it is after i will not be vacanting as i have nowhere to go, i presume then the landlord will proceed with a court summonds but if i can show evidence, etc regarding the house purchase i am sure it will be a legitmate reason to stay after the notice to an agreed date ?

No.  The court doesn't care whether you are trying to buy a house.

If the S21 was legitimate, they will grant the landlord possession.

The landlord might be reluctant to actually go to court if you'll be out in a couple of extra weeks, but not if you're just saying "we'll buy something eventually".

@BarelySentientAI lol no i have somewhere just getting everthing boxed off, totally get if i said the latter the courts would tell me to do one

propertyrental

How long is the chain- how many other buyers/sellers all trying to Complete at same time? It only takes one of them to have a mortgage problem or other issue for the whole chain to be delayed?

Until you Exchange, there is no guarantee of any desired completion date.

Your searches may be complete but how about Enquiries? survey? Finance in place? Is it a leasehold property and if so have you seen the freeholders responses?

Have you asked your conveyancer what other matters are outstanding - for you or others in the chain?

Having said that, you are under no legal obligation to end the tenancy on the date the S21 expires unless you want to (in which case, serve notice).

If the LL does go to court (which takes time) will his s21 be valid? Check

https://nearlylegal.co.uk/section-21-flowchart/

doodling

Hi,

Floopy2009 said:

In January I was given a Section 21 Notice as the Landlord wanted his house back, this ends in July 1st.

I am in the process of buying a house and we are now at the stages were searches are complete etc. I have raised this with my solictior that ideally i want to have the completion date before the July 1st.

At present this has not been set with my solicitor and the vendors hopefully in the next week or so my concern is what it it goes over that section 21 notice date ?

Shall i give the rental company a heads up now or wait until i get an actual date as i dont want to give them early ammunition to throw me out?

Your approach to this should be entirely driven by the attitude of the landlord (or their agent) and how you think they will react.  If you have a good relationship and don't think they will be silly about things then there is no harm in telling them now.  If the relationship isn't good or you think they are likely to behave as if they don't understand your right to remain beyond the S21 date then I would wait until nearer the time to say that you will not be leaving by the date mentioned in the S21 - I'd probably tell them one to two weeks before - i.e. mid to late June.

If it is after i will not be vacanting as i have nowhere to go, i presume then the landlord will proceed with a court summonds but if i can show evidence, etc regarding the house purchase i am sure it will be a legitmate reason to stay after the notice to an agreed date ?

Advice would be really helpful here especially people who have been in a similar situation

Many thanks

You don't need a reason to stay beyond the date in the S21, it is your legal right.

The landlord doesn't need a reason to issue a S21 and it is their legal right to apply to a court to end the tenancy if you stay one day beyond the date quoted in the S21.

Ideally you would explain to the landlord what is happening with your purchase and they would act in an understanding manner if you are going to be moving out not long after the date on the S21, perhaps delaying taking court action to the date you are planning to leave anyway, if it is not much later than the date on the S21.  Not all landlord/tenant relationships work like that though.

If this gets as far as a possession hearing in a court, the court won't care why you want to stay, they will only care that the S21 has been correctly issued and, if it has, will order the landlord to be granted possession, irrespective of the reason why you want to stay.

saajan_12

You'll still have to leave on the date a court determines and cover court costs following a fully complaint Section 21 notice. It may however be a good idea to keep the LL informed of progress if you have a good relationship, although without committing to dates until you have exchanged. This MIGHT encourage them to hold off on starting the court process for a matter of days, which would save them fronting the court costs. Note it might not (and they don't have to wait). Further comments in line:

Floopy2009 said:

In January I was given a Section 21 Notice as the Landlord wanted his house back, this ends in July 1st.

I am in the process of buying a house and we are now at the stages were searches are complete etc. I have raised this with my solictior that ideally i want to have the completion date before the July 1st.- what about the survey, mortgage offer, other enquiries? Until the whole chain is ready to exchange, they won't really be able to work towards any particular date. 

At present this has not been set with my solicitor and the vendors hopefully in the next week or so my concern is what it it goes over that section 21 notice date ?- you either stay put until a court possession order or you leave and find temporary accommodation. Note if the purchase does take even longer than the possession date on the order, then you will have to find alternative accommodation, there's no right to have a single smooth move, as the purchase could fall through, etc. 

Shall i give the rental company a heads up now or wait until i get an actual date as i dont want to give them early ammunition to throw me out? - If you can informally mention an expected date, that might have no effect or it might encourage them to hold off on court proceedings for the sake of a few days. As long as you make it clear you are not committing to a later date, they won't have any more power than they have now.  

If it is after i will not be vacanting as i have nowhere to go, i presume then the landlord will proceed with a court summonds but if i can show evidence, etc regarding the house purchase i am sure it will be a legitmate reason to stay after the notice to an agreed date ? - The LL may agree to an extended date at their absolute discretion. If not and they proceed to court and if the paperwork is all in order, then the possession order is a mandatory result.  The court MAY adjust the dates for a small difference, but again don't have to. You would still be liable for the court costs. 

Advice would be really helpful here especially people who have been in a similar situation

Many thanks

GDB2222

If the landlord uses a solicitor, it will cost him several thousand pounds in fees. He can only reclaim a few hundred pounds from the tenant. 

So, the landlord will be reluctant to start court proceedings if you are leaving but just a bit late. Nearer the end date of the S21 notice just keep the landlord informed of how things are going with your property purchase.