Our landlord wants to sell! :( what's the rules?

[ghostcake]

Hi all,
Yes, still renting, for my sins!!
Single mum, two kids & we love our home. Landlord wants to sell to buy a place in another part of the U.K. they want it 'sorted asap'
I've googled a lot today (feeling really sad) and it looks like they have to give us 6 months notice from when written notice is given? Does anyone know if this is definitely right? Even if they're selling? And then if it goes on the market & someone buys it they'd get 'sitting tenants' aka US? 🧐

[Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd]

@SpookyNoise

I’m sorry you’re going through this - it really sucks.
We had the same about 18 months ago, and the landlady of that place made our lives hell.
We’ve been in our new place for 18 months, and now this landlady wants to sell up, following the breakdown of her relationship.
I hate the fact that I can’t offer my son a stable home.

This is why buying to let needs to be far more heavily licensed.

[ghostcake]

@WheresTheEvidence - thanks.
I'll have a read later when the kids are in bed.
Have been through similar before. Really wish it wasn't happening but I know we've been great tenants with all rent paid, arranging workmen when various jobs needed doing, keeping things really clean & well maintained & presumably the reference is about all that which yes, I do think I should get @yawnsvillex
As I said, I came here to check our rights, not to try & look at ways to make my landlord's life difficult.

[roarfeckingroarr]

It's six months??! I thought it was 3?

Christ. Need to get moving as aiming to sell and buy before stamp duty holiday ends.

[StarShapedWindow]

@Choosingmyring

Just wanted to say we had exactly the same experience as you, it was years ago and I’m still very bitter! Hope you’re settled now

[Choosingmyring]

@StarShapedWindow thanks for the solidarity. Ours was about 4 years ago now and I’m the same, still bitter. We’d made the fatal long term renters error of doing the place up too so we effectively helped the buggers sell it!

[AnotherEmma]

OP, the legal process by which your landlord would evict you is a Section 21 eviction. There are several stages to this kind of eviction, giving you notice - which has been increased from 2 months to 6 months due to covid - is only the first stage. If you haven't found a new place to live by the end of those 6 months, you have the legal right to stay - your landlord would then have to go to court to get a possession order. Obviously it would be better and less stressful to find somewhere else by then, but the important point is that if you haven't, you won't be evicted and homeless. You can stay longer.

As a single parent you will be eligible for homeless assistance from the council, both advice and actual housing if it comes to it, but not if you leave before they agree that you have to. (Some councils accept leaving when the S21 notice expires.)

I advise you to wait until you have received the S21 notice and then seek advice from your local council and/or Citizens Advice.

Lots of helpful info about section 21 evictions here:
england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/section_21_eviction

[purpleleotard]

If you landlord want you to leave quicker than the legal 6 months then you are open to negotiate a fee for leaving early.
Maybe half a months rent per month to vacate early.

[ghostcake]

Thank you everyone. I didn't know a lot of this.
Really grateful for the solidarity, support, advice & links 💚

[Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd]

Really hope this one won't take the piss with viewings, but I have yet to see a one who doesn't, sadly. The agents are often total twats.

[Choosingmyring]

Stick up for yourself at all time’s and use the law that is there to support you.

[wedidntstartthefires]

I am currently selling a share of a BTL.
The first buyer pulled out over issues with the tenants, who were/are happy to stay.
It's a difficult situation because probably we should have asked the tenants to leave, but they asked us if they could stay (and then sabotaged the first sale).
We tried again and got a better offer (post Covid rise) and are again trying to sell with the tenants in situ - if they sabotage it again, they will be asked to leave, Covid or no Covid.
I need to sell the place to cover a large tax bill, I don't have a choice.

[MissEliza]

@SpookyNoise

I’m sorry you’re going through this - it really sucks.
We had the same about 18 months ago, and the landlady of that place made our lives hell.
We’ve been in our new place for 18 months, and now this landlady wants to sell up, following the breakdown of her relationship.
I hate the fact that I can’t offer my son a stable home.

That is really sad. We own a buy to let. We've actually jumped hoops recently (I won't go into detail as it's potentially identifying) to make sure the lady who lives in it can continue to live there with her dd. She's happy and her dd are happy. It's their home. Unless financial disaster happens, we won't sell until she wants to leave. I actually feel happier knowing I'm renting to someone who sees the property as their home and wants to stay long term.
Also, when we bought it, we both agreed we wouldn't be putting people on the street if we wanted to sell in the future.

[GreyishDays]

Don’t think anyone answered, IIRC is if I recall correctly.

[Ilovesausages]

I’m so sorry OP.

[VanCleefArpels]

Have a look on the Citizens Advice website which sets out clearly what your landlord must do to evict you. To cut to the chase you do not need to leave the property until such time as a Bailiff turns up at your door with a Warrant for Posession. Given the current 6 months notice period and backlog in the courts this might take up to 12 months.

So don’t panic! Take your time in finding somewhere else to live, but keep paying your rent regardless of any action being taken against you - arrears can be recovered from you later.

As PP have said it might be a good idea to change your locks (but keep the old ones to replace when you leave).

[shivermetimbers77]

Going through similar OP. Renting a lovely flat which I had hoped to stay in until my DS finished primary school (he is now in year 2). However landlord let me know last December that they wanted to sell and gave 6 months notice. Then lockdown happened which slowed everything down, so we are still here although I have now been accepted for a mortgage on a shared ownership place .. I don’t want to leave this flat as I love it a lot more than the place I am moving to. However at least with the new place I won’t be told to leave after 2 years because the landlord wants to sell (which also happened with the last flat we rented , argghh!). I have allowed viewings but only when my DS was at school as I didn’t want to cause him any more disruption than necessary. It’s a pain OP but you’re not alone!

[SarahAndQuack]

It's really stressful when anything happens to your home - but, I have been in this position and it was sold to another buy to let LL, so don't forget that this can happen!

It's silly for people to make a fuss about tenants allowing viewings - yes, some tenants are in a position to do this, but if you're not up for it, you're not. It is part of what the owner took on. If they're any good, they will understand. I've been in rented places where I couldn't allow viewings because the hours I was working meant I had to sleep in the period when people would have come around. It was totally fine, and everyone involved understood that, while the LL/agent would have preferred to do viewings, it was just the way the situation was.

[Shizzlestix]

It makes me wonder why people advise waiting for the bailiffs to turn up. Why would you do this? Does it not affect your reference for the next place? Surely 6 months notice is more than enough?

[SarahAndQuack]

I think people only do that when they're desperate. I believe (stupid as it sounds) that you're not considered eligible for certain kinds of housing support unless you've actually been kicked out, as opposed to going when the tenancy was up.

[Whatisthisfuckery]

That’s shit OP. I had exactly the same 15 months ago. I was informed by the agent at my last tenancy renewal that the LL would be selling up after the 12 mont term was up. I found somewhere else to live but stayed on an extra mont, which the LLs agreement, until my new place became available. I was rather pissed off and you can imagine but the LL was lovely and it was just one of those things I guess. My next LL was not lovely though, sadly. I’ve now moved yet again.

Your agent/LL needs to serve you with section 21, form 6A. Also to make the sec 21 legal they have to have issued you with all the correct documentation, gas cert, EPC, possibly electrical cert now as well. The Tenants Voice website has a lot of useful info and they also have a facebook group that you can join to get advice.

[VanCleefArpels]

@Shizzlestix I’m a landlord. The references I give are not a comment on my tenants’ character. They merely state they lived in my property from x till y similar to employment references. When I take a new tenant the most important reference is from employers who confirm income.

[VanCleefArpels]

If my tenant had waited to be evicted from their previous property thus would not be a consideration for me as I know what the law and procedure is and there are lots of reasons why people can’t move out the minute the landlord wants them to. As a landlord I take the risk that I will have to take proceedings against tenants if they don’t move out. It’s part of the business plan.

[CasuallyMasculine]

OP, have you joined your council’s housing register? It could be years before you get offered somewhere, but as a single parent you would stand a reasonable chance. Even if you’d prefer to stay in the private rented sector, there’s no harm in putting your name down to see what’s available. You only have to bid on a couple of properties every month in my area.

[makingmyway10]

I am sorry you are losing your home and hope that the LL is reasonable re viewings but I don’t understand some of the hatred here for LLs! The bottom line is that you don’t own the property and a risk of renting is that the LL has the right to sell his/her property. His circs May have changed and selling is his right.
Why should people not buy to let? If nobody did this then renting would not be an option for people who are not in a position to buy.
You would not rent a car for six months and then refuse to return it to the rental company. I understand that the property is your home but it is only this until the agreement ends!

Good Luck though.

[Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd]

Large scale individual buy-to-let without more stringent regulation and licensing does lead to increased homelessness and lack of stability precisely because it means more of them are unable to weather personal storms and having to sell because 'circumstances' changed or their relationship broke down, etc.

If nobody did this then renting would not be an option for people who are not in a position to buy

How do you think it works in other countries where there is far, far less of individuals buying to let? Works perfectly fine. In such areas usually what happens is corporations own large percentages of the housing stock. Renting tends to be far more stable in such places as you don't have all this selling up and there's more centralisation for repairs, disputes, etc.