Kinda Sensitive - Landlord Issues

Nimbus65

Nimbus65

Active Member
Aug 15, 2005
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I'm hoping you guys can help me and my family. We are a family of four (my husband, me and two teenage girls) who have rented a private home for the past 10 years without ever falling arrears in rent. My husband and I are both professionals. We have always kept the property in good order and when it flooded back in 2007 we worked hard to get the property dry and keep it secure until the insurers could assess it . . . even living in it while it was drying out.

Our tenancy runs from October on an annual basis, but in February of this year our landlord executed a "break clause" stating he and his family wanted the property back w.e.f. 29 April (two months' notice). I have a busy, international marketing job which takes up alot of my time (including international travel) and we are fond of our home so it has taken us a while to find somewhere else to live (we weren't just looking for a house, we were looking for another home) - and we have put a deposit down on another home that we cannot take possession of until 20th May. Despite our willingness to pay our current landlord for the additional three weeks' rent, he is refusing to grant us an extension and is additionally refusing to take our calls or discuss the matter with us.

I have already contacted the CAB, and am thinking about talking to a solicitor, but would really appreciate some guidance here as to our rights. We understand that it's the landlord's right to have his house back, but we only need an additional three weeks and are fully prepared to pay rent for those weeks. Can our landlord evict us? How long will that take? Where do we go in the meantime? What recourse do we have?

I so hope you can help us . . . as you can imagine, this is very stressful for my daughters.

Thanks in advance . . .

N
 
Oh dear, well, i dont know for sure, but i would have thought your landlord owed you a bit more notice than this?
You have lived there a long time and honoured your agreement (paying rent on time, making the property good when in need of repair ect ect)

I think what i would do is telephone the Citizens advice beureu (sp) and ask for advice before you start lashing any money out on a solicitor, it may be that you have to eventually, but i would certainly give them a call and see what they suggest.

Have you had a good relationship with your landlord in the past?

It seems very unfair that he will not even answer your calls.
Do you have to deal with him directley or have you got a letting agent who could mediate for you ?

Google tenants rights and see if that can offer any help.

What does your contract say about notice to leave?
 
CB - thanks for your response and how lovely to hear your voice again.

He has to give us 2 months' notice (i.e., he doesn't have to give us any more) but legally it seems we can refuse to leave at the end of the notice period and then he has to get something called an Order of Possession from the Courts - and then (if we still don't go), I think he has to get an eviction order (which could take us up to 21st May). That's our understanding . . . I just wondered if anyone here had any other words of wisdom . . . or advice.

Yes, we have a letting agency but they are stuck in the middle and next to useless (although they feel bad for us) . . . and I wouldn't say we have had a bad relationship with our landlord but that's largely because we don't have one with him . . . he has always been unresponsive . . . it's often taken 3-4 weeks to get a washing machine or dryer fixed because the letting agency couldn't get hold of him to get approval or things, for example. But, as I said, we've been model tenants - always paid the rent (on time), taken care of the property, etc.

Sigh. I hate that my girls have to go through this. :(.

N
 
Personally, I would just move out somewhere on a temp basis. Having court orders against my name would be the last thing I would want, and it could affect my future (ie:refs in the future etc). Especially as he has given the correct notice etc.

Is there family you can stay with? A cheap b&b local? Or even can the house your moving too be ready early?
 
My understanding is that he gave you 2 months notice, which is probably a condition of your lease so he hasn't done anything wrong. You've asked him if you can stay extra time and he's said no. I'm not sure there is anything you can do about that. Bit like insisting you move in three weeks early in the new place (which I suspect is impossible due to current tenants?) You *could* squat... by the time he's taken you to court and everything, the three weeks will be well up BUT you will have blotted your copybook in terms of references etc which could affect potential new homes if the new one doesn't work out to be long-term after all.....

It is tiresome but the only thing I can suggest is that you put your stuff into storage and phone round a few local pubs or B&B's to see if there is anywhere that can accommodate you on a self-catering basis for the three weeks. You may get lucky as it's still fairly low season.
 
nat17 said:
Personally, I would just move out somewhere on a temp basis. Having court orders against my name would be the last thing I would want, and it could affect my future (ie:refs in the future etc). Especially as he has given the correct notice etc.

Is there family you can stay with? A cheap b&b local? Or even can the house your moving too be ready early?
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Both our families live in the US, and the house we're moving into cannot be ready any earlier (otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess). If we moved into a B&B for three weeks, what would we do with our stuff - we have a three-bedroom house full of furniture, etc.

Any court orders, etc. would be from a civil court - rather than a criminal one - so no criminal record.

N
 
I can understand it's frustrating, especially if you have been good tenants AND long term good tenants - they're not always easy to come by!

However, being a 'landlady' myself (I hate the expression) there may well be valid reasons you cannot stay on, including implications if the mortgage is a buy-to-let (if the lender has not agreed for a buy to let mortgage to continue) or for insurance reasons, the property has sold, the home owner is in arrears with their mortgage, and such like.

As much as it is a pain for you, the owner may be feeling bad enough as it is that they have to evict you which is why they might be avoiding you. A bit of a cowardly approach but nobody likes to have to negotiate with a family over their home if there really is no room for budging. They may also be embarrassed as to the reason (if they're in financial difficulty - being a landlord is by no means a get rich plan, despite what people think, especially with the way lenders behave the current climate).

Personally I would say yes it is a bit of an arse but your tenancy agreement will say how much time your landlord has to give regarding an eviction notice. The standard is 2 months (for the landlord, usually tenants only have to give a month which believe me is not very fair when you only have a month to find somebody new!) so doesn't sound like s/he is doing anything untoward.

I'd be surprised if there's anything you can legally do about it as your landlord is not obliged to find you a new home if they have given the appropriate notice.

Sorry! I do hope you find another lovely home for your family! :happy:
 
Nimbus65 said:
Both our families live in the US, and the house we're moving into cannot be ready any earlier (otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess). If we moved into a B&B for three weeks, what would we do with our stuff - we have a three-bedroom house full of furniture, etc.

Any court orders, etc. would be from a civil court - rather than a criminal one - so no criminal record.

N
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It would not be a criminal record Nimbus, but it could lead to a bad credit rating , unfair as that is seeing as you have been the perfect tenants.

You could put your furniture in storage (as someone already said) i think it will be around 30-40 pound a month for storage, but i would still ring Citizens Advice, it is just the price of a phone call and a few minutes of your time and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

How rotten for you and your Daughters xx
 
Nimbus65 said:
He has to give us 2 months' notice (i.e., he doesn't have to give us any more) but legally it seems we can refuse to leave at the end of the notice period and then he has to get something called an Order of Possession from the Courts - and then (if we still don't go), I think he has to get an eviction order (which could take us up to 21st May). That's our understanding . . . I just wondered if anyone here had any other words of wisdom . . . or advice.
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NO words of wisdom but if you fancy chancing it you have a good chance of getting away with it, have been in a similar position from a landlords side of things and the law is an ass when it comes to landlords rights, I feel for you totally and know if you were my tenant I would happily let you stay for the extra few weeks, ( we evicted for none payment of rent) but how do you know he isn't facing being homeless himself, it can happen and he could have nowhere else to go but his old home which he gave you two months notice to leave?
I really do feel for you, but have to look at it from a landlords point of view also.
 
Roxy's Mum said:
I'd be surprised if there's anything you can legally do about it as your landlord is not obliged to find you a new home if they have given the appropriate notice.

Sorry! I do hope you find another lovely home for your family! :happy:
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But that's the point - we HAVE a new home . . . I'm certainly not expecting landlord to find us one - we've done that on our own. In fact, when letting agent first rang him to say we'd found somewhere but couldn't move in until three weeks after end of tenancy and could we have an extension his response was: "Well, there's a house up the road for rent available now, they can rent that . . . " which REALLY got my back up.

Apparently he and his wife are divorcing and they can't afford to buy each other out so must sell - this house isn't currently for sale so I can only assume he plans to live here (or perhaps his wife and children do) pending the sale. They rent their current home, so perhaps have given up the lease/tenancy on that which would explain the urgency . . . but it would be helpful if he would communicate with us.

If he had been a kind, sympathetic landlord I'd probably be inclined to feel differently . . . as it is he's been at best useless and at worst an arse but we've stayed because we love where we live. I think it's his rigidity that's upsetting me the most.

Sigh.

N
 
Kite_Rider said:
NO words of wisdom but if you fancy chancing it you have a good chance of getting away with it, have been in a similar position from a landlords side of things and the law is an ass when it comes to landlords rights, I feel for you totally and know if you were my tenant I would happily let you stay for the extra few weeks, ( we evicted for none payment of rent) but how do you know he isn't facing being homeless himself, it can happen and he could have nowhere else to go but his old home which he gave you two months notice to leave?
I really do feel for you, but have to look at it from a landlords point of view also.
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Sorry , but that does not seem to make sense to me??
You said you were evicted for non payment of rent? That is a totally different situation.

Am i reading your response wrong?

Yes, i am editing to add that i did read your response incorrectly, i thought you meant you were evicted, sorry I am a fart!!
 
Kite_Rider said:
NO words of wisdom but if you fancy chancing it you have a good chance of getting away with it, have been in a similar position from a landlords side of things and the law is an ass when it comes to landlords rights, I feel for you totally and know if you were my tenant I would happily let you stay for the extra few weeks, ( we evicted for none payment of rent) but how do you know he isn't facing being homeless himself, it can happen and he could have nowhere else to go but his old home which he gave you two months notice to leave?
I really do feel for you, but have to look at it from a landlords point of view also.
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We have offered (through the letting agent as he won't talk to us direct) that he is welcome to stay here with us if he has nowhere else to go . . . not ideal for either party (trust me, I'm a VERY private person) but no response to that one. As I've said in a previous response, it's his lack of flexibility that's really put my back up. Scratch that, it's not only that . . . it's also his lack of willingness to even talk to us.

N
 
I would personally move into a premier Inn or local B&B for 3 weeks and put my stuff in storage. I wouldn't like the landlord to get the better of me but that is just me.

Hope you get things sorted out x
 
Cleanboots said:
It would not be a criminal record Nimbus, but it could lead to a bad credit rating , unfair as that is seeing as you have been the perfect tenants.

You could put your furniture in storage (as someone already said) i think it will be around 30-40 pound a month for storage, but i would still ring Citizens Advice, it is just the price of a phone call and a few minutes of your time and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

How rotten for you and your Daughters xx
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CB - I have already contacted CAB and am waiting for them to get back to me. As much as it galls me, you (and the others) may be right and we may need to live somewhere temporarily and put our stuff in storage. This sucks.

N
 
Innocence said:
I would personally move into a premier Inn or local B&B for 3 weeks and put my stuff in storage. I wouldn't like the landlord to get the better of me but that is just me.

Hope you get things sorted out x
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One small wrinkle . . . what do we do with the dogs? Kennels I 'spose. More £££££. I know, I know . . . we had two whole months . . . and the man is entitled to his house back . . . :(.

N
 
It all sounds a right pain in the backside for you and your family - unfortunately, I dont think there is anything that you can do - he's decided that he wants his house back and is being totally inflexable about the whole thing.

Hope you manage to find somewhere for the three weeks for you and your family and also the pets.
 
I don;t know how you stand legally. I suspect you'd just have to go to meet with the legalities of the situation and that the process the landlord would have to go through to evict would take longer than the 3 weeks although you'll open yourself up to having black marks against you for doing so.

Also I don't know what the differences are between a short term assured tennancy and a longer term agreement. I suspect there might be some legal diferences?

Whist I don't have answers for you. I do have a fab forum I can recommend for you :wink:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/forum.php

I have to say that as a landlord myself I'm with Roxy's mum on this one. I too loathe the fact that I would only receive a months notice from my tennants and there's no saying I can market the propery and show people round even if it's in the contract. What's in a contract and what's enforceable are 2 separate matters.
 
I would see if you could get half an hour free with a solicitor, taking your contract with you to see if its enforcable on both parties sides.

I would suspect by the time the landlord has got forms filled in and lodged with the small claims court and actually got a date for a hearing you would have been moved out and settled, however I wouldnt know what would happen if he decided to proceed with court actions for something such as loss of money...... Also if you were to "squat" what would happen to your deposit, would the company be sneaky and say you had caused damage and you would then have to drag it out via the deposit tribunal people which again can take months.

Why wont the bloke just speak to you or at least give you an explanation as to why you need to be out and he cant allow you a few extra weeks, I take it there is no way you new property could be sped up by say a week and see if landlord would give you a week extra ?

Does the agency your renting the new house through know and have anything that you could sign a short term contract on as a guesture of goodwill ?

It might be worth a call to the breed society for your dogs to see if they have foster carers, explain the situation and someone might be able to help, or what about renting a caravan (some allow pets) make a holiday kind of thing out of it ? Any friend have a caravan ?

How bloody stressful for you all, hope you get some resolution soon xx
 
Libbylou said:
Why wont the bloke just speak to you or at least give you an explanation as to why you need to be out and he cant allow you a few extra weeks
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Because landlords pay agents a heck of a lot of money to manage a property so they don't have to deal with tennants. Dealing with tennants is the job of the agent.
 
Id hang on in there - by the time it gets to court to evict you, the chances are it'll be time to move out anyway. If its a case of having to live out of bags and have dogs in kennels then much better risking doing that for maybe a week than planning on doing it for 3.
Realistically with 3 bank holidays this month everything is going to be backed up and itll take them a while to get organised again - the odds of you being able to hang on in for a few weeks are extremely good.
I know its 'unfair' on the landlord but after 10 years he needs to cut you a bit of slack.
 
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