Landlord not paying Mortgage!!!!

prudryden

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Get real Pru - this is not your 10' springboarding rabbit now.

Not police business.

It's a LL not paying the mortgage and going moody, not an episode of Taggert.

You have got to be the dumbest barbarian ever on any forum!!!

prudryden

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

No different now - yet millions more people seem to be in the kaka even without the interest rates going up.

I wonder what 10% would bring?

How moronic!!

zzzLazyDaisy

Shelter are the experts. They have loads of experience of dealing tenancy related problems, so follow their advice. With-hold the rent and keep it in a separate account.

The landlady is legally obliged to give you a contact address. She hasn't done this, so you have no way of contacting her. Suppose you wanted to give notice to terminate the tenancy, how would you do that?

As a matter of law, if you have an AST, the landlord must give you TWO months notice. If you fail to move out, she has to take you to court to get possession, and that takes time. If she simply changes the locks, that is unlawful eviction and a criminal offence.

With regard to the lender - if there is a clause in the mortgage contract preventing her from renting the house without the lender's permission (that would be normal) then the lender can repossess, but again, they would have to go to court to evict you.

Please don't be worried about the references to court - it is normal practice for most local authorities that a (potentially) homeless person must sit it out until the landlord has obtained a court order, at which point the local authority has a duty to re-house you if you have a child. The court knows this and so is used to these cases going to court and you will not be criticised for sticking it out. Also, given that the landlord seems to be in arrears with her mortgage, it is unlikely she will take court action because this would mean providing the court with her name and address - and from what you say, it seems likely that she does not want to be found.

One final thing - have you considered texting her to say 'the mortgage company have been to visit me and are threatening to evict me, please contact me as soon as possible'. If she doesn't contact you, it seems a fair bet that she isn't going to chase the rent or lock you out either, as she will have gone to ground.

It is a horrible situation for you to be in, but please try to use this time wisely to put enough money away to cover your deposit, and to start making enquiries about alternative accommodation.

prudryden

Daisy
Pretty much covered it all. Well said!

elisebutt65

prudryden wrote: »

Maybe something has happened to her. Follow Shelter's advice for now.

Actually that's what I thought - what if landlady's ill or dead - what happens then??? Would be a good reason not to contact tenant?

zzzLazyDaisy

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Actually that's what I thought - what if landlady's ill or dead - what happens then??? Would be a good reason not to contact tenant?

Except that OP says that when she phones on the number LL gave her, it rings out no reply, and when she phones again it is busy (taken off the hook?). However, since OP has no forwarding address for LL, she will just have to wait for LL to contact her (or someone on LL's behalf, if she is ill or dead)

Trollfever

My guess is that the LL has done a runner.

silvercar

The quickest way to get her to contact you is to withhold the rent, though daisy's idea for the text message is a good one.

I would follow Shelter's advice but put the rent money aside, so that if it ever went to court you can show that the rent money is available.

If she is clearly not using the rent money to pay the mortgage it is reasonable to set it aside until the position is clearer. If it was just a case of the landlady having her own financial difficulties I would say that you not paying the rent increases her difficulties and makes you losing your home more likely. If it is a case of her doing other things with your rent money then her priority is not fulfilling her landlady obligations so you need to act in your interest.

As to where this is going - the landlady has disappeared, the mortgage is in arrears - time for you to move on.

If the landlady had behaved totally correctly and served you with notice to move, you would only be given two months notice to end on a rent day. In that time you would need to find a deposit and rent and a place to live. You couldn't rely on the landlady returning the deposit until a few days after the move out day. Now you are in a similar situation except you cannot guarantee the deposit return. Financially you are better off as withholding the rent means you can give a deposit and (eventually) tell the landlady to take the last one or two months rent from your deposit.

Take control, find a new place with a decent landlord now.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

Somerset wrote: »

You can try the lender again as Ian suggested, but personally I can't see them 'renting' to you - it's not their business plan. But who knows?

The lender wouldn't be 'renting' the house to the OP as such, more like collecting the mortgage payments that are due, but fron an alternative source of funds.

They would simply be bypassing the Landlords account.

Joyful

A member of my family was in exactly this situation last year. They had a visit from someone on behalf of the mortgage company as the Landlord had defaulted. They then got a court date for approx 6 weeks after that. As they were renting from an agency they were found another property to rent. Very soon after that the house was sold on behalf of the Mortgage company. The Estate agents had tried contacting her for problems in the house and at this point stopped paying her the rent so trying to force her to contact them. I don't know if it worked though.

I would say in your situation that you are probably going to lose your house if it gets to court so keep your money aside for now. If she contacts you get her to prove that all problems re Mortgage have been resolved.This would include permission for her to let.