Eviction

[Gary C]

My son and his girlfriend want to move into her house which is currently rented, but the tenant is playing silly bugegers.

I believe they need to serve a section 21 notice then proceed to court for an eviction after two months ? (Monthly paid rent, initially a 12 month rental, but that's long since past and now just on a monthly renewal)

Thing is, it's done through a letting agent who doesn't seem interested in taking any action (there is a suspicion of a personal relationship)

Can they take any action against the letting agent? Does he have any responsibility as an agent to help remove the tenant ?

Any advice would be welcome.

Also local citizens advice bureau has refused to advise them as they say they won't make someone homeless, can they do this ?

[Gary C]

It does seem loaded towards tenants.

Just suprised the cab don't give impartial advice as I thought they were there to help anyone, oh well.

We think the letting agent is actually advising the tenant on how to stay, but at least they are still paying rent.

Would it be worth issuing the standard section 21 notice, I believe that can be done with a standard (downloaded) letter and it's needed before any legal proceedings.

They are getting married May next year and want their own home, and this property was left to his fiancée a few years ago. Originally wanted to sell and the tenant said they would buy it for their father, but started to lie about things and obviously was never serious.

Lots of stress to come I think.

[Gary C]

The Surveyor said:

Start from the perspective of what the lease says and what services the argent is appointed to do, the tenant isn't playing silly buggers they are simply following the procedures as outlined in the agreement they have with your sons girlfriends rental property.

It is the tenants home and they have rights.

The silly buggers was in regard to wanting to buy, then lying about several things, Ie actual silly buggers rather than just the wanting to stay in the house.

Yes, she has rights, but so does the owner of the house and ultimately, we will have the bailiffs forceably remove her from the house. Not nice and would like to avoid it.

But I think, yes, it's solicitor time.

[Gary C]

TooMany2cvs said:

Gary C said:

My son and his girlfriend want to move into her house which is currently rented, but the tenant is playing silly bugegers.

I believe they need to serve a section 21 notice then proceed to court for an eviction after two months ? (Monthly paid rent, initially a 12 month rental, but that's long since past and now just on a monthly renewal)

Given that they're not particularly familiar with the basics of running their business, are they absolutely squeeky-clean on the legals? Deposit protected, protection paperwork served in time, gas safety certs, etc etc?

If so, then, yep - s21. If it's a recent tenancy, they must use form 6a. Even if they don't need to, use it anyway. Once that expires - two full rent periods, not simply calendar months - then start possession proceedings.
If not, then the s21 would be invalid, and the possession claim would be thrown out.
https://www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants/section-21-and...

Gary C said:

Thing is, it's done through a letting agent who doesn't seem interested in taking any action (there is a suspicion of a personal relationship)

Can they take any action against the letting agent? Does he have any responsibility as an agent to help remove the tenant ?

The agent would be acting on their behalf anyway. If he's not helping, then perhaps they should simply fire him as agent.

Gary C said:

Also local citizens advice bureau has refused to advise them as they say they won't make someone homeless, can they do this ?

CAB aren't there to help amateurs run their businesses.

They are citizens, but they aren't allowed advice ?, anyway that's a side issue.

They have the gas certificate, the property is licenced under the Darwin council scheme, not sure about the deposit, it's got to be safe in an approved manner ?, will check.

Your right of course about business, no matter it was a house left to her and rented to provide a small income, but I really feel for them.

Need to read the letting agents agreement, but wouldn't they have some responsibility to ensure all letting requirements are met ? Not sure if it's a managed letting agreement or just introducing tenants.

Want to help them as much as I can, but don't want to do anything illegal. Imagine, put everything in writing and don't enter into any attempt to persuade her to leave (Ie like pointing out her chance of a reference is shot).

[Gary C]

Thanks to everyone for taking time to reply.

I have seen a service that issues the s21 for ~£90 then represents in court if necessary for £400 plus court fees.

Seems reasonable if it works.

However, I think the advice to see if they have actually sat down with her is the first call, see if we can work it out, and fir the letting agent !

[Gary C]

thanks again people, I think we need to talk to the tenant first.

Don't want it to get nasty, think it's important to know the legal requirements beforehand.

They are a very nice couple and this is causing quite a bit of stress to them too however, yes the tenant has rights and we are not going to ignore them.

Meeting my son on Monday and will go though their agreement and see where we are.

Will need to check for an EPC, a gas certificate, rental period, payment period, any agreed notice, anything else ?

Don't think the property has a mortgage.

I do wonder if they have been advised to wait for eviction.

Incentives to quite seem a bit dodgy but things like helping to move might be reasonable as it's an expense that is being incurred due to them wanting possession.

[Gary C]

Thanks bumble

[Gary C]

Paul the Painter said:

They could also use Ground 1, which is only available to an owner occupier returning to live in the property. The tenants would need to have been advised that this was a possibility before the start of the tenancy, but the advantage of this ground is that it doesn't carry the same obligations on the landlord that have been added to a section 21 over the years.

Of course if you have an incompetent letting agent who did not include it in the tenancy agreement in the beginning, this is of no use.

It is worth noting that you can issue as many notices on as many grounds as you like (that are valid)

For instance let's say you have a tenant who is 3 months behind with the rent. You could issue a section 8 notice alone. Then get to court and find they have brought their rent up to date (or less than 2 months in arrears) your action fails

If on the other hand you issued a section 8 ground 8, section 8 ground 11, a section 8 ground 1 and a section 21, you would have fall back positions.

In this situation your section 8 ground 8 would fail, but the judge would have discretion to evict on section 8 ground 11 if there were any arrears at all (TBH unlikely unless a history of arrears) but you would also be able to fall back on the section 21 (and potentially be able to utilise the accelerated possession procedure) if you've made an error in regards to (for instance) the provision of an EPC, then you could fall back further to the section 8 ground 1 that you were returning to your home. This ground does not require as much documentation as a section 21.

Thanks.

We are trying to remain amicable and ensure that the tenant gets another rental before any legal moves as my son and his fiancée have a bit of time before they ant to move in, but a line in the sand needs to be drawn. As such I wanted to know what the rules were
Rent payment has always been on time.

Got the gas certificate and the EPC, they have agreed to return the deposit to allow them to secure a new rental (not sure this was the best idea, but it's not my let)

Hope it will all work out ok.

[Gary C]

Right, all sorted. Tennant has moved into another let and is happy.

House is in a bit of a mess, but as they returned the deposit early to help the tenant find another place, that's not something they are going to worry about..

The tenant has had both meters changed to prepayment, they are a bit concerned but I've told them they can be easily changed back and it means there can't be any outstanding gas or electricity bills.

I think in the end it came down to time and talking.

Thanks for all the sensible comments and advice was useful to know what can and can't be done. Avoids getting into an argument and actually helped keeping things civilised
And to the sanctimonious ones (one?) some of the posts were actually quite shameful, ask questions before accusing people eh ?