Rental contract and notice to end contract.

[rumbledethump]

I have personalised and changed location for privacy.

My OH and I have been renting a house here for 4 years due to his work contract and location.

We have been renting out our house in Brighton and for the last 4 years it has been rented to the same family on rolling contract. They have been excellent tenants.

We need to go back home as his contract is completed and gave the neccessary 2 months notice to quit to our tenants as per contract. Perhaps foolishly we have started to make clearance and moving arrangement to move back but holidays and his new contract actually mean we are "homeless "for a few weeks. This is our problem and we will deal with it.

Out tenants asked for a 3 month extention and we said we could not accommodate this. I will be at home (in Brighton) and he will have weekday accommodation near his new contract and returning home for weekends.

Now agent who has been in charge of rental of our home has said tenants have once again asked for extention as they will be leaving Brighton in 3 months and cannot find accommodation for this short 3 month period.

He said "he had to make us aware that there may may be an issue with them vacating in line with the notice issued."

I haven't replied to today's email from agent as my head is buzzing. I have every sympathy for excellent tenants but don't feel I should be denied the return to my home when I have complied with the technicalities.

PS I did try to make this as short and clear as possible.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

[dyslexicdespot]

While I appreciate that this must be very difficult for you, I think that your post really illustrates what is wrong with rental laws in the UK.

A family that has paid rent and lived in a house for four years should never have to vacate the property with a couple of months notice.

I hope you and your tenants are able to solve this issue without becoming homeless.

[rumbledethump]

I totally agree with you, Spot. When we hear of long term renters in Europe the owners are finance companies and not individuals whose circumstancies change due to work contracts and individual circumstancies. However I have been in my tenant's situation and know others who have been ..and even worse friend who came home to a do not enter sign who had paid rent every month but owner had not paid mortgage.

However I want to stress that I have done everything legal and above. eg I remember paying extra so that if my home flooded I had cover to rent a temporary home for tenants , This insurance plus gas service that means they make a phonecall and heating and hot water are dealt with immediately without any agency - owner -agreement having to wait for permission/agreement .

I don't want to disccuss this any more tonight as I am feeling so unhappy and worried but thanks for your reply, Spot. How sad is that ..I totally agree with your main point but I do not want to be homeless for three months.. I can sort something out for a few weeks but longer is too much to think about .

[dyslexicdespot]

I really did not want to make this more stressful for you! I hope someone will come along soon with some advice for you.

[rumbledethump]

Thank you. I can feel your empathy,

[Boomboomboomboom]

Are you going to apply for possession then when the s21 notice expires? I doubt you get them out much quicker than 3 months even if you issued tomorrow, and then you'd have the added costs of the proceedings unless you can recoup them from your tenants.

Have you threatened them with a possession claim and the costs of such proceedings?

You could have served a s8 notice on Ground 1 (mandatory ground for regaining possession of your former home because you want to go back and live there) but you normally have to wait 2 months before the notice and issuing proceedings. That said you can ask the court to dispense with the service of a s8 notice on the basis that it is just and equitable to do so - you can also ask the court to try and expedite the hearing (normally for s8 notice cases you wait at least 28 days between issue and the hearing).

So if you are desperate to get back in you could - apply for possession on Ground 1 schedule 2 Housing Act 1988 and in the alternative s21 accelerated possession grounds, with an application to expedite the first hearing to asap because you need to get back in to prevent your own homelessness.

Good luck

[rumbledethump]

Late but sincere thanks, Boom. We're looking at this now.

[SuedeEffectPochette]

Rumbledethump - there are all sorts of ways that you can get a s21 notice wrong if you do it yourself. It will be invalid if it does not end on the last day of a period of the tenancy, if you did not protect the deposit, if you did not serve the prescribed info about the deposit, if you put "on" instead of "after" in a critical place. To be honest I can find something wrong with every s21 notice that I did not serve myself and even agents get them wrong more often than not. If you want to be sure that you can get your property back when you want see a solicitor asap...