Rented house problem

[Adamp]

Hi Guys I am posting my current housing dilema on here in search of advice of what to do next any way here goes.

I am currently living in a cottage which is the gardeners cottage to a bigger house which is empty and have been living in the cottage for the past 5 years. I pay a small amount of rent and bills for the cottage and in exchange for cheap rent look after the gardens and drive way on the weekend. Really quiet area and has been working well for me obviously until the past month.

The property has been in the current family for nearly 100 years and as the big house has been empty for the past 6 years they finally decided to put it up for sale about 2 1/2 years ago, there has been many viewings over the years with no success until the past month. A family from a few miles away from the village put in an offer and it got accepted I then recieved a letter on the 21st of Jan asking me to leave by the 21st feb as the new owners wanted to exchange contracts for the first of march giving me one months notice. Even though it says in the letter my contract states two months notice. Also the current oweners live near this house and see them regular and this has all been taken care of by there solicitors when I showed them the letter they contacted the solicitor in front of them to express they felt it was too quick for me to move out.

Now in the mean time I have been told by a few people that the new owners are tidy people and may be interested in keeping me on but the solicitors have said I have to be out to exchange cotracts. I have spoken to the solicitors and they arent to helpful towards my cause. So in my eyes basically the solicitors are causing me a giant pain in my bottom.

short of looking for another property not sure what to do next. any ideas

[fatboy b]

Surely contact the new owners asap and get it from the horses mouth. If they want to keep you on, then a letter from them to the solicitor should enough to enable contracts to be signed/completed. If they don't want you, then stand your ground on the 2 months notice.

[Adamp]

fatoboy thanks for your response but how on earth am I meant to get the new owners details and which way to contact them. I have asked the solicitors for contact details but said I have to go through them.

[fatboy b]

Adamp said:

Now in the mean time I have been told by a few people that the new owners are tidy people and may be interested in keeping me on

...

[Adamp]

Good point.

Development though have just spoken with the estate agent and he thinks they may stay in the cottage before moving into the house as the house needs work but the cottage is a two bed and not exactly spacious and they have three kids jesus what a squeeze.

[Jobbo]

You're entitled to two months' notice - they can't evict you. They need you to be helpful because if you're not, they've got a problem. Speak nicely to the owner (via the solicitor) pointing this out and say you don't intend to move out - bear in mind that if you leave it a few days/weeks before speaking to them, they will then have to wait 2 months from the date of a new, valid notice to get you out as well...

[Wings]

Jobbo said:

You're entitled to two months' notice - they can't evict you. They need you to be helpful because if you're not, they've got a problem. Speak nicely to the owner (via the solicitor) pointing this out and say you don't intend to move out - bear in mind that if you leave it a few days/weeks before speaking to them, they will then have to wait 2 months from the date of a new, valid notice to get you out as well...

Absolutely correct, two months is the limited legal Notice the OP you accept, and as you rightly pointed out, it is in both the seller and the purchasers interests that the OP is not upset. Both sets of solicitors will know this, so will both be crossing their fingers that the OP cooperates.

One might be able to offer the OP further help, if one knew what type of contract/tenancy agreement, details date, length, terms etc. etc.

[davidjpowell]

Also, if you have a decent relationship with the current owners why not have a chat direct with them. They may be able to speak to the new owners, if they feel so inclined.

Otherwise it seems that your cheap rent days maybe over, and they may need to 'entice' you to leave quicker than two months....

[Adamp]

Thank you guys for your replies I have a funny feeling myself my cheap rent days are over. I have now made an attempt to contact the new owners through the estate agents to try to arrange a new contract of some kind.

How much will it be relavent for me co-operating as in moving out on 20th feb rather than staying for the 2 months as agreed. The only reason I ask is that I spoke to one of the solicitors acting on behalf of the current owners and she was a right snotty cow not helpful at all and basically tried bullying me into moving out as soon as possible with no thought to the reality of the situation. Whats the best way of dealing with the solicitor fighting fire with fire or bending over?

[davepen]

Jobbo said:

they can't evict you.

Well they can, but it will take at least 3 months. They will need a court order for possession. To get it granted they will have to show that they have served a valid notice to quit - which as people has said should give you two month notice. The landlord doesn't have to give any reason in any notice to quit, so the sale of the house is to some extent a red herring. So no they can't evict you this month - but you need to start looking for alternatives...

However the sellers (or their solicitors) have fked up. If the place has been for sale for 30 months they have had plenty of time to serve you notice. Now they want to sell the place with vacant possesion on completion. For safety any purchaser would want any tenant out on exchange so they don't have to apply to the court for possession. So as people are saying the vendor has a problem. They need you to move. So they can first try it on, then bully you, eventually they will try bribary, and eventually it will go to court. Sounds lke they moved from trying it on with the first letter to stage 2.

[s2sol]

I had a similar problem last year. My contract ran from the 1st of each month, and I was asked to leave within the 6 month assured tenancy. I agreed to a month's rental payment to me, and, since I was to be out on the 21st of the month, three weeks rent free.The agent was worried the landlord might not want to pay - I told her I would stay until the end of the 6 months if he didn't, which would have broken the chain.

I'd say your best bet is to be cooperative, keep emotion out of it (difficult after 5 years, I appreciate), but have a clear idea of what you want out of the deal before you start negotiating. Quantify any costs you will incur for moving early - Broadband or phone contracts, any time you need to take off work for viewing alternative properties, arranging to move at short notice, etc. Then add a bit on top for your inconvenience, and take it from there.

Your current landlord will not want to risk the sale for a couple of thousand pounds.

Shame about the disruption to your idyllic sounding life, but it sounds as though it's over. Good luck!

EF atrocious spelling. Think I missed one of them

Edited by s2sol on Wednesday 2nd February 19:22

[Jobbo]

davepen said:

Jobbo said:

they can't evict you.

Well they can, but it will take at least 3 months.

Sorry, correct - I should have added: 'on the date specified in the notice', though I think people have inferred that.

[Adamp]

I must be honest I did not expect such great responses with so much detail and good to see someone else out there who has been through similar.

Spoke with the estate agent this morning and it has been suggested to him that the new owners may move into the cottage first to do all the appropriate work on the house it needs quiet a bit of money spending on it. the thing that I thought was strange is that it is a a family with three kids involved all in school and yet the cottage is only 2 bedroom thats going to be compact to say the least.

After reading all the posts I am thinking there may be some good possibilities after all and has been said dont get to emotional.

[Wings]

davepen said:

Well they can, but it will take at least 3 months. They will need a court order for possession. To get it granted they will have to show that they have served a valid notice to quit - which as people has said should give you two month notice. The landlord doesn't have to give any reason in any notice to quit, so the sale of the house is to some extent a red herring. So no they can't evict you this month - but you need to start looking for alternatives...

However the sellers (or their solicitors) have fked up. If the place has been for sale for 30 months they have had plenty of time to serve you notice. Now they want to sell the place with vacant possesion on completion. For safety any purchaser would want any tenant out on exchange so they don't have to apply to the court for possession. So as people are saying the vendor has a problem. They need you to move. So they can first try it on, then bully you, eventually they will try bribary, and eventually it will go to court. Sounds lke they moved from trying it on with the first letter to stage 2.

This is an excellent post, although from my experiences in evicting tenants for rental arrears, eviction can take up to 5 months.

There are various scenarios that can now follow, some of your planning and choosing, and others, including the legal process of eviction, instigated by your present landlord.

As the above poster stated the present landlord/seller and solicitor have messed up big time, by not issuing the legislated Notice period of 2 months, which means you either gracefully accept their One month Notice without redress or financial reward for accepting the same. If you decide to appose the present Notice, then you might either accept their newly instigated 2 month Notice, either accepting the same without redress, accepting the same with financial reward, or simply refusing to vacate until a court repossession order has been obtained by the seller’s solicitors.

Certainly what ever the attitude of the seller’s solicitors are towards you, they have messed up big time, and you are in the driving seat to dictate on how the situation will unfold.

Lastly if you are not willing to accept their One month Notice, then you need to reply by recorded mail/letter, to that effect, stating that you require a Notice period of Two calendar months, as per the Housing Act 1988.

[fphsecretservice]

just as an addition to the above replies, the notice must coincide with your rental periods ie if you pay on the 1st of the month and notice is served on the 2nd they have to give 3 months, if notice is served on the 30th then it would be 2 months iyswim

[Wings]

fphsecretservice said:

just as an addition to the above replies, the notice must coincide with your rental periods ie if you pay on the 1st of the month and notice is served on the 2nd they have to give 3 months, if notice is served on the 30th then it would be 2 months iyswim

Agree, and also be via a Section 21 printed Notice form, and again as the above poster posted, correctly dated, correctly served and the prescribed 2 Months Notice as per above.