To think my landlord is a spiteful dickhead

They have legal rights and a procedure to follow
The LLs next step is yo go back to the courts ( not in person ) for an eviction order and right to use bailiffs.

OP should be prepared for a two week notice

Some areas have long wait times for this to happen.

Yet it’s been approved and passed already.

Clearly the judge, in this case, doesn’t agree

S21 is passed if all procedures have been adhered to. Therefore, given the protections already in place for tenants, all procedures must have been agreed as correct

A landlord would be stupid to remove asbestos with tenants in place. No insurance company for landlords would agree to this. No tenants either should want to be in such a dangerous environment. Asbestosis down the line 20/30 years and they’ll be taking the landlord to court.

Subsidence is another potential issue that is dangerous enough to warrant work done without tenants in place. A landlord would be putting tenants in possible danger every day if he is aware of it. With asbestos present anyway it’s irrelevant

S21 is a no fault eviction. Landlords can take their property back without reason. Judges do often ask why though even though the reason is irrelevant. maintenance and repair is a normal reason. ( with most it’s to sell )

If OP wants to claim for damages she can do this. Not, however, now the end of the s21 period has passed.

No the landlord does not have recourse to a S21 if environmental health have issued a notice. I'm surprised the court did not flag this as a retaliatory eviction. It should have invalidated the S21.

Wherever possible repairs should be carried out without the tenant having to leave. It's very often possible to seal off a small area and safely remove asbestos while still allowing access to the rest of the property. In any case it wouldn't take longer than a couple of days.

If there is subsidence then some trees may need to be removed or other causes dealt with, followed by a very long period of crack monitoring before anything like underpinning is considered. Usually it's not necessary but if it was then she would need to vacate for a couple of weeks.

It's not reasonable or legal to evict in these circumstances.

Technically you are correct that the LL does not have to provide alternative accommodation although LL insurance will often cover the cost for a hotel or B&B in these circumstances. However, where the LL has failed to meet his obligations for repairs, as in OP's case, the tenant can pursue a claim for damages to recover the cost of alternative accommodation.

But very little power.

Under the ‘revenge eviction’ rules I believe you cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice if there is an improvement notice from the council in force.

If it wasn't for my children, id absolutely be doing the van thing! I contacted an agency about a property this morning...they had to give me a second email address to email for the application form to view it (yep, form with all our income details on etc just to view it!) Because their primary email inbox had been filled by people enquiring about it. Its insane.

@pokewoman sounds exactly like my area. The number of people living in vans has increased probably 50-fold in the last 10 years or so.

I think they are doing it on purpose.

We will be in a smiliar situation. We have received a s21 no fault eviction because I believe the landlord is selling up. We have until February, but I can almost guarantee we will be staying until the bailiffs come whether the landlord likes it or not. We are looking multiple times a day and applying for every single appropriate home that comes on the rental market. But we literally have to APPLY via a form just to be in with a chance of viewing a house. There are 70 or more people looking at each (rare!) House that comes in the market, so while we would ideally ly want to move ASAP (as our house is also very poor, not our fault!), we are likely ended up going down the council route. If we leave the house before bailiffs literally come, we would have made ourselves 'intentionally homeless' and the council would not help. Staying there until the last minute is literally what you HAVE to do if you need help getting a new home...

And no, we dont rely on benefits. My husband works full time, and we are still struggling to find a private rental.

I agree that is alternative
However you are assuming that the landlord has an alternative empty property

He is also under no obligation to do this either
His only recourse given the potential for asbestos and it looks like movement ( possibly underpinning needed ) is to issue a s21. He could, of course, have offered that the tenant would get first dibs when the property is completed. He is under no obligation to do this either of course

What he shouldn’t be going is hassling the tenant now
If he wants the property back he needs to action an eviction process

I still blame the legal set up - its cumbersome, deliberately confusing and intentionally requires a £300 per hour solicitor. And the same people benefit when the new system comes in.

Courts always grant s21 as long as procedure is followed. That’s legal procedure and has nothing to do with the condition of a property

They can’t immediately instruct bayliffs without it going back to court

I would imagine you haven’t heard anything further OP because there are long wait times in most areas for these cases
However
When the landlord gets permission for an eviction you will be given two weeks to move by the bayliffs.

Im afraid there’s nothing you can do about that

Suggest you get a solicitor to write to your landlord in the meantime with a cease and desist letter to put a stop to his harassment

Because affordable housing when you're a single mum of three kids is so easily come by. Which is presumably why she put up with the slum property as long as she did.

I know though - she's just being lazy not being on a £200K salary like the right sort of hard-working MNers.

Not when its the only way the council will house you it isn't. Shelter advise to remain for bailiff action.

What a nasty response! Are you always this horrible? Ops LL only evicted her after she reported him to environmental health & he has to carry out repairs to the property. She has managed to get social housing so has not just been sitting moaning & not doing anything! It’s not always just as easy as finding a new rental & moving! Maybe theres been nothing suitable in her area that she can afford? Has kids in school & a job that means she can’t just relocate miles away?

OP hope you got your keys today or get them asap & enjoy your new home with no slum landlord to deal with!

what a hateful nasty string of replies you've made. Do you kick puppies as a hobby?

And the biggest issue is landlords like the OP's

Regardless of the OP's decision to go through the full process of legal eviction he has no right to turn up banging on the door. No right to let themselves in with keys.

And has no right to be renting out a property in such a poor state of repair as the photos the OP posted.

Shitty landlords like that cause problems for everyone, and diversions onto the rights and wrongs of the eviction process end up taking attention away from the issues with slum landlords.

Yes it came off bad, I meant irresponsible people you can’t trust to fulfill their side of obligations. I wouldn’t class myself as a private landlord really, it was just one flat when working abroad in different places for years at a time.

You were private landlord if you rented a property. People not considering themselves actual landlords is actually a huge part of the issue with rentals.

Irresponsible people come from all walks of lives, and actually people on benefits long term (for reason of being unable to work due to disability or caring responsibilities for example) are often a better bet as tenants because their situation is less likely to change than someone who gets sacked from work or gets made redundant.

Only tenant I've ever had to evict was the highest earning tenant I've ever had.

@ByMerryDeer you suggest OP “just rents somewhere else”
as per my pp that isn’t always a simple or affordable option for anyone.

I didn’t rent to those types of people

I’m almost lost for words here. All sorts of people can end up qualifying for social housing. Everyone I know who’s got HA or council homes has been employed, in professional jobs with degrees. I know more homeowners with criminal convictions to be honest. What a horrible phrase to use.

Do you need a bigger spade @ByMerryDeer ?

The myriad insults from someone like you.

Yes it came off bad, I meant irresponsible people you can’t trust to fulfill their side of obligations. I wouldn’t class myself as a private landlord really, it was just one flat when working abroad in different places for years at a time.