Staying in rented accommodation after being given notice

[jpringle819]

Never thought I would be asking advice about this or even considering it. I understand all the risks and disadvantages around renting but I am not currently in a position to buy. Yesterday a thick envelope dropped through the letterbox advising us that our landlord was no longer renting the house we live in and we have to vacate by 18th January. Two months notice, fairly normal although never happened to us in 10 years of renting.

I am currently working away from home until we fly to Canada to spend Christmas with my wife's family for 2 weeks. This gives us about 7 days to move out when we get back. We have tried to view houses this weekend but there is nothing available for a couple of week to view.

We are doing all we can to find somewhere to move to but it is looking unlikely that will happen before the 18th January. We don't intend to stop paying rent where we are, how bad is it going to be if we do not vacate by 18th? Will this stop us renting elsewhere due to bad references?

[jpringle819]

Thesprucegoose said:

you could try negotiating wuith the landlord, why not explain situation first. It is difficult to evict you without a court order.

We are renting through letting agency that just tried to force us to sign for another year at a huge cost. I am a little bit wary about the timescale of things to be honest. I assume the letting agency will get another fee from letting it again. The landlord is local so I might take the mail around tomorrow and ask what their plan is

[jpringle819]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

I might be looking at this over simplistically, but why is everyone so quick to jump into the legality of whether he can force you to move out of HIS property?

From what I can see the OP has been given 2 months notice to leave the house. That seems relatively fair to me, it's not the landlords fault that he is working away and then flying off to Canada for two weeks at Christmas.

If the OP has been given the chance to re-sign for another year (at a higher price) but has declined not to, then he has two months to find somewhere that he is happy to rent.

I'm sure that the landlord knows the value of his property and probably feels that he can rent it out at the higher rate quite easily. The OP has had first refusal but declined the offer. So on what moral or legal grounds has the OP got to still be living there after 18th January?

There was no mention of a rent increase from the landlord, it was a £200 fee from the letting agent just for changing the date on the tenancy agreement, Apparently they can still charge a fee on renewals until next year. There is no guarantee that the landlord would have agreed to an extension anyway as they were probably already thinking about giving notice.

You would be surprised how short 2 months is to find a new property, having been looking for 3 days I have 7 properties to view but the first one isn't until Friday 22nd. That 8ish weeks notice is now down to 7 before we have even been able to view.

[jpringle819]

Thanks for all the replies, I believe the landlord wants to renovate and sell. They have a number of properties including next door, the letting agent let slip that next door are late with their rent every month and have had numerous complaints. Unfortunately they have longer left on their lease lease and our 1 year is coming up to an end. Could be that our landlord is selling up all his properties and retiring to somewhere in the sun. The letting agent is supposed to be negotiating on our behalf but I don't see there is anything in it for them so they probably aren't trying too hard.

[jpringle819]

I have been renting for years, have always paid my rent on time and got my deposit back. This is the first time a landlord has ever given me notice. It has been a shock to be honest, found a nicer and cheaper house in the next town but we are going to be the second viewing. A lot of the properties we have called about we are about 20th inline

[jpringle819]

For everyone that suggested 2 months was plenty of time see timelines below. For everyone else thank you for your advice, hopefully we won't have to go down the route of staying after the notice period although it is still touch and go at the moment.

Called various agents to see 15 houses, 7 of those had between 15 and 20 people in line to visit. Organised to see 8 houses, 5 of those were cancelled before we got to view due to other applying. 2 of the remaining involved almost an hours commute each way instead of 15 minutes currently. The final one had not been marketed yet, I saw it and immediately paid the holding deposit. 8 days later the landlord still hasn't completed the referencing.

If we pass the referencing process ( no reason to think we won't as we have had to go for a house significantly cheaper than where we are) we have used 1 month of our 2 just trying to find somewhere ( I cannot collect keys until Friday due to working 200 miles away).

Due to being abroad at the inlaws over Christmas that leaves 2 weekends to move if we can get the keys on Friday. House is 1/2 packed already, we normally go all out at Christmas decorating feels a bit strange to be in a house full of cardboard boxes.

[jpringle819]

xjay1337 said:

Haven't ever thought about it but wonder what the cost would be to effectively rent a room in a Premier Inn for a few weeks, I'm sure it won't be as expensive as you think. Maybe worth speaking to your local friendly chain hotel manager, if you run out of time and need somewhere to go??

This would work out very expensive, you would struggle to find somewhere for less than £50 a night. Also you would have to rent storage for all your goods and removal cost to move everything twice. I have a big car so will be moving most things myself but I can't move the large fridge, washing machine and super king bed. I am expecting at least 20 trips with a car full and 2 trips for a man with van,

The good news is we get the keys to the new place on Friday. It has given us the kick up the ass we needed to get rid of some crap and have a good look at our finances. Don't want to be in this situation again this time next year when the tenancy agreement expires.