Has anyone stayed beyond a Section 21 notice? What happened?

[MooChops89]

LL is selling and issued our Section 21 a week or so ago - expires on 30th August.
Their decision to sell came completely out of the blue, we've been renting here for 4 years and they were looking for tenants to stay long term.

We were initially going to buy this house but the mortgage payments will be hundreds more than we currently pay in rent, plus it needs a bit of work doing and we'll never afford to do it on top of the extra payments.

So we're buying another house, moving to a different area as there's nothing for sale around here within budget. We've had about 3 weeks to find somewhere - taking our pick of what's currently on the market rather than somewhere we actually want to move to.

We had offered on a house but after 3 days the vendors decided they didn't want to sell any more. So we frantically looked for somewhere else and thankfully have had another offer accepted a few days ago.

So we are making an effort to move but obviously it's extremely unlikely completion will happen in the next 6+ weeks. There are no short term (1 month) lets anywhere around the area.

We have 2 small DC (2&4) and do not want to be homeless while we wait for the mortgage to complete.

I understand that we do not have to leave on the date the Section 21 expires and we plan to stay until the mortgage completes (hopefully only an extra few weeks) - if it falls through then we will have to rent longer term.

Should we let LL know our intentions? We absolutely plan to be out before the new buyers move in.

Has anyone stayed beyond the expiry of a Section 21? What happened?

Anybody? Hopeful bump!

Have you discussed all this with the LL? I can't see why he would want you to leave before the new buyers want to move in

Check out Shelter's website. I know it's a different situation as you're going on to buy but it advises what happens after a Section 21. Basically you don't have to be out by end of Aug. If you're not gone LL has to apply to the courts to evict. If it ends up looking like a case of you being there for a few extra weeks LL may decide not to bother with the hassle/expense.

Have an open conversation with your landlord.

You do not need to leave on 30 August and he will need to get a court order to evict you. But this will be stressful for everyone, so I’d say it’s far better to be open and try and agree a later date. If the landlord is arsey about this then your legal rights still protect you, but best case scenario is everyone knows where they stand and can agree an extension up front.

I would discuss it with the landlord because I know that the normal process is that the landlord applies to court to have you evicted and you then have to pay those costs. This is only the normal procedure that the council advise you to do to be accepted into emergency accommodation. If you discuss this with your landlord and explain you are buying but need more time and you are going, they may hold off going to court. It’s best to work together rather then against each other if you can as court can take a couple of months for an application for eviction.

Absolutely nothings happens. Section 21 is just the landlord telling you he/she wants the property back. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to. If you don't go, the LL will need to apply to the court and get an order. With that order, the LL needs the bailiffs to.actually evict you. You need to continue paying your rent during all the process.

Explain the situation to your landlord. Hopefully he will agree to you staying until your completion date. The worst case scenario is that he will apply to the court for a possession order (which he can't do until after 30th August) and assuming the notice he served you was valid, the order will be granted, with a date for you to leave the property by. If it did get to that point you could make your case at the hearing and would hopefully be closer to exchange/completion - if the date is not too far off, the judge might even agree to use that date for when you need to leave by.

There is a third stage which is an eviction warrant but that's the stressful bit so I would advise vacating the property by the date on the possession order if it gets to that point.

Lots of helpful information about the whole process at england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/section_21_eviction

for goodness sake talk to your landlord - it may have financial or personal reasons - it will cost him to go to court & get the bailiffs out - its possible that if you talk to him tactfully & state you will be moving by set date & sign a note saying that he might let you stay longer - I seem to remember that their is paperwork (one of those bailiff programs mentioned this) that he can get. He may need to sell or get the house vacant. perhaps he has to increase the amount of rent for all the new rules or he cannot upgrade the property to a c or whatever.

Definitely talk to the landlord - if his buyers need a mortgage it's likely his exchange may be delayed until he has vacant possession of your home so he will want to be aware of your dates to give his buyers as much notice as possible. They may be in a chain as well.

I was in a similar situation to your, I was handed my notice which came completely out of the blue. Had been renting for 4 years with no problems. Our eviction date was December 22nd, not a great time to move with small children and I actually gave birth to my little boy on that day. We stayed put, explained to our landlord that the time wasn't great and we were looking for a place to buy asap. Unfortunately my little boy became extremely ill over Christmas and had to be hospitalised at 2 days old and we almost lost him. Obviously we didn't look for anywhere to move too during this time as we were back and forth to hospital and our mind was a fog. Our landlord took us to court for an accelerated eviction and won the appeal as we were coming up to a month past our original eviction date. We were issued with 10 days to find somewhere to temporarily rent as our local housing association couldn't house us together and move out. Some how we did despite having to leave all of our furniture behind and put what would carry or put in the back of our car into a storage unit. We are currently in a temporary accommodation with the most ridiculous rent while the sale of our house goes through. The house we were renting is currently on the market for sale after we were told the landlord was moving back in. I've spoken to old neighbours who said she was lovely and kind when she lived in the property so couldn't believe she could be so heartless during a really stressful time for us.

I really hope your landlord is way more understanding than mine was. I don't see how 2 months notice is enough time for anyone during a housing crisis to find somewhere to live and the prices of rent are ridiculous.

Talk to the landlord. They may well extend another month/ two months if they don’t have a completion date.

Thanks everyone - yes I will speak to LL - suppose we are worried he might just say no! He is hoping for a quick sale, he has just accepted an offer and I've no idea if they are cash buyers or in a chain etc.

@sheildmaiden I'm so sorry you were in that situation, it sounds awful

I keep thinking, yes I know it's LL's property and they have no personal responsibility towards us and it's the risk you take when you rent but it's like he has no regard for our situation at all - I've had to take time off work recently as I had a panic attack on shift due to the stress of all this and feeling like I was wasting time at work that could be spent finding a home for my family as we're on such a tight deadline.

We've had to borrow the mortgage deposit (if we had it ourselves we wouldn't be renting!)

We're having to move area completely as there's nowhere affordable nearby, DD starts primary school in September and it's looking like she'll have to start locally and then move a few weeks in which makes me so sad for her. We're going to be paying hundreds more a month, our lives have been upended and none of this is our choice!

(digs in memory about that tv program about those sheriffs) I THINK what happened was the landlord agreed with tenant that they would transfer to holiday let for specific set of time - this meant the tenant had no right beyond that time & the landlord didn't have to go through eviction process - whether this still legally valid or helpful for both you & the landlord I do not know
The new laws starting (probably) in 2025 (or 2028 for current tenants if they are there in 2025) is that all rental properties have to be a C -this means, for most properties) retro fitting wall insulation. If the property is pre 1930 ish they have solid wall so this is difficult & expensive & tricky. There are laws in the pipeline from our dear government where they want to make mortgages for older or lower than c rate have a higher interest rate than the new ones or those who have been updated to c or above.
As many rental properties are either Victorian cottages or flats who are all difficult to update (if not impossible) you can actually do so - is the reason why so many landlords are selling ( combined with vague ideas of replacement of section 21 etc etc)