So we're being evicted AGAIN!

[OnandOnItGoes]

3rd rented property in 7 years. Been here for 4 years. Had to leave the last two properties as landlord selling, now we're in the same situation again.

Rent always paid on time and properties always very well looked after so it's not that we're bad tenants, just the never ending game we're stuck in.

We left within the notice period of last 2 properties but can't with this one as rents are £500+ for similar properties and much smaller worse properties with no parking/horrible areas are £200-300 a month more and we simply can't afford it or find one which we are successful for as they seem to only want 'professionals' in high paying jobs.

Council have been no help and have said as both DH and I work, we need to find another rented property. I can only work part time in a low paying admin job due to caring responsibilities as need to be on hand for disabled DC for school drop/pick up and after school as no after school care (teens). We have no family support.

Also worried about being put in temp accommodation as around here it seems to be adapted office blocks with lots of anti social issues. Also as we work I understand we'll have to pay a lot for it!

Section 21 expires on 15th May and I'm aware Landlord will start court process for possession as he's very keen to get us out and get it sold. I assume he'll use the accelerated procedure as he's a professional landlord with lots of properties and is selling most of them I believe.

Does anyone know how long we may have before bailiffs? We're in the South East. I've already looked into storage facilities so we can empty the house but we have no family to stay with so not sure where we'll go from there.

Of course we will continue looking for a property and continue paying rent but any advice on timeline will be helpful if anyone has been through the process recently?

The stress is unbearable and much worse this time due to the current rental market!

@echt I know right who wants to live in an inferior home jeez you would think that we elect the government to work for us to do what’s in the nations best interest too busy point scoring and paying off their mates

@echt "Dog-box" is an excellent description for them unfortunately. I have a lot of family who live quite happily in flats across Europe but there they have things like lifts, and storage and underground parking.

Not really, she was aghast at the thought of the op staying put and inconveniencing the poor landlord. If a house really is an investment then it should be owned outright and a FAIR rent charged- regardless of the manipulated ‘market rates.’ If you do not own the house outright and have the audacity to call yourself a landlord while relying on someone else paying your debt, then you are the problem. Shame on anyone that lets out a house for profit, it’s utterly parasitic. BTL LLs are the true scroungers of the country.

So many of our builders have downed tools in Wales. There's no work. The big boys have shuttered their businesses. One has sold his house and moved into rental accommodation. Others who have nest eggs and working wives have paused building. There's work for extensions, new, kitchens, bathrooms but not a single new build on the horizon. One huge builder third generation went bump recently he did council work the delay in payments pushed him into bankruptcy. He was building social housing but the council ran out of money.

It's an unholy mess. As someone said the lowest building numbers since world war II

Agree!
for society to function people need secure stable affordable homes.
A landlord who (because they have had to borrow money to purchase their investment) is at the mercy of interest rates cannot provide this.
Ergo all BTL LLs are highly, highly problematic, the whole thing is a House of cards.

Move to the South West, builders have so much work on that they turn down new work. Cannot get one for an extension for months!

Theshark, well the problem is likely to go away as the state is choosing to ensure landlords sell for all kinds of new regulatory reasons and burdens. So when the buy to let landlord is no more there definitely be more houses for sale but not necessarily of the price the average tenant can afford. So those who feel affronted someone might make money from letting property (which I assume to be morally consistent they would also hate if their pension fund did it too of course....) will be happy albeit it happy but with few properties to rent.

@Xenia its so true no BTL no rentals except commercial businesses renting out then what ?

So those who feel affronted someone might make money from letting property
for me it's more that if you want to be a landlord you should be required to do it in a responsible way, if you have borrowed to fund your investment then you are not in a position to provide a stable & affordable home and should not be eligable to do so

@Thesharkradar so property becomes even more elitist ? Why shouldn’t someone take a risk and invest in property ? Why can’t you do it responsibly through borrowing z?

On the borrowing point most businesses borrow so I don't really see why we would single out landlords to say no borrowing.
I wonder if those who are not keen on landlords agree that landlords should be able to reject tenants who fail a credit check?

So are people going to be prevented from renting out their own homes when they need to due to changes in circumstances because they don’t own it outright?! I rented out my house when I moved 200 miles away for work. My brother rented his house out when he went back to Uni. I know people that have rented out their houses when they have moved abroad for a period of time for work.

This. I'm sorry for your situation but it's unfair to blame the LL. They have had you as a tenant for about four years you said so a fair amount of time before telling you they are selling (although I appreciate it doesn't feel like it to you). You don't know what is going on in their life that is necessitating the change.

I wouldn't be a landlord for all the tea in China.

Surely the issue is the price of houses/mortgages overall? Our monthly mortgage payment is small because we have a fixed deal and a tiny house for our family (kids share bedroom etc), even to move to a new deal with this tiny house this monthly payment leaps up to nearly a grand and that's in the North too. Then add landlords costs and I can see why rents are so high.

Spot on!!!

Because homes aren’t businesses. An investment- if owned outright- but to call it a business when the so-called Landlord is using someone else’s hard earned money to buy it is a joke. Yes there are accidental landlords and exceptions but if you knowingly take out a buy-to-let mortgage then you’re nothing but a thief.

homes aren't businesses

Housing has been a business in the UK for the past thousand years.

That’s a bit of a stretch

(To straggletag)

@Straggletag housing associations have loans on their property portfolios. So do other corporate landlords. In fact, Councils borrow money for capital projects including housing.

If Landlords set out their business as a limited company they are treated as a business for tax purposes.

Motability is high rate motbility only, very very hard to get.

How many people have 250k,more or less sitting in their back pocket?

And that’s the issue.
it is an incompatible cross over.
homes are where y ou raise your children, where you bring them home from the hospital, where they have parties, where you should feel safe a sanctuary. Not concern that you could be evicted with two months notice. That you can send your kids to the same school, that they get to follow their friends into secondary. Where they can decorate their rooms as stroppy teenagers. Where you can have pets, plant flowers and see them grow, where you can fill the walls with pictures.
Not have every single decision in your life effectively owned by someone else. From what size trampoline you get.
“well this fits in this garden, but might not the next”
to if you can offer long term volunteering to the brownies
”contracts up for renewal in a few months, I’ve a feeling we are moving”

it’s all consuming when you rent as it’s an unstable home yet someone else’s spreadsheet.

@VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji I can see this but not all landlords are created equal I’ve been in rented same place 12 years same rent my tenants are all over 8/10 years minimum rent increases but it’s not sustainable any more my one mortgage gone from £350 to £1600 it’s not good