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!

We need rent control.

You would not be able to make over a certain % in profit from rent payments.

I am not against private landlords but that I can stand behind. It works like that in Sweden, you can charge 10% over your cost or 15% if the property is furnished. If you charge more the tenants can contacts the authorities and you will be forced to reimburse the tenants what you overcharged.

This will leave us with zero landlords

Why bother for minimal profit? Nah, I'd sell up in case something like that is brought in....oh! Wait!

Zero private landlords would be great, as long as we had enough quality social housing.

@Puppers we don’t have anywhere near enough housing stock you are crazy to think the government cares one jot they don’t and now large corporations are buying up housing it’s going to get worse. Dealing with a large body to get best returns for their investments what a joke the rental market will be then

There are plenty of LL not making profit from rent, because the building is their long term investment to make money, my FIL being one of them.

There are literally LL and estate agents causing bidding wars on rents to maximise profits and causing problems now like the OP is facing.

OP, I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. The UK housing market is utterly broken. I don't know that I have much useful to suggest except:

• get a reference from your current landlord and/or letting agent NOW - make sure it details what excellent tenants you've been and how you've never missed a rent payment and kept the property in good order, worth also noting the length of your stay as tenants (many landlords won't wish to pay managing agents to find them a new tenant every 6 months) so tenants looking for a long-term let who can back up that intent with a reference will be looked on favourably
• keep an eye on Rightmove for properties that have hung around on the market for a while. Of course, there may be a very good reason why they've not immediately been let, but you never can tell. Properties in locations with limited transport links or in very rural areas are sometimes not as popular - of course, I don't know how being in a rural area or without good transport links might work for you.
• it's ALWAYS worth speaking to a financial advisor as regards your suitability for a mortgage. I bought my current house, having been off the property ladder for well over 15 years, with a small loan as a 5% deposit and moved to a place still within my home county but in an area with not-very-good transport links and a high proportion of 'cheap' housing. At the time I purchased my house, I wasn't considered the best candidate for a mortgage, but the financial advisor I used was brilliant and found me a deal well within my range of affordability. He was also realistic about my choices and took the time to answer all of my questions. Happy to pass on his details by DM if you like? His fee was transparent and was derived from his placing of my business with the lender - I didn't pay him anything myself.
• likewise, shared equity or part-buy-part-rent schemes could be worth looking at.
• start formulating a plan, or a set of plans. Flexible plans that can be adapted as opportunities present themselves; I think there's a huge amount to be said for coming up with three different sorts of plans for any scenario - the 'best' option (eg: the one you'd really love to happen) / 'Plan B' (eg: the next best thing) / then, finally, 'if all else fails' - even if you have to go with the 'if all else fails' scenario, you'll have planned for it, so it won't necessarily be a shock or unforseen.

Also, previous advice of downsizing (your possessions and living space alike), is good advice - travelling light, even for a little while, makes you more confident about a move that could be something completely out of the realms of what you'd originally planned to do.

Finally, as a word of caution regarding any new rental property - make sure you check the current EPC rating and energy costs associated with the property - and ask for the previous Tenant's experience in this respect. A friend has just spent an appalling tenancy in a wholly uninsulated flat that was, it transpires, illegal for the landlord to have let in the first place and, it transpires, the EPC contained fraudulent information. This was a 'professional' landlord who owns multiple properties in and around Southend on Sea in Essex.

So if landlords don't make profit or make very minimum profit.... how are repairs, maintenance and all the paperwork and fees etc etc ....all paid for?

From the rental payments....?

Social housing is being sold off regularly still

Andvv CV I don't think new developers HAVE to create social housing anymore....

So social housing is nobodies solution it seems

But rental payments cover mortgage?

You are mixing up turnover and profit.

From the rent. If you're going to be a landlord, you should at the very least understand your responsibilities and work out that, if you're using all of the incoming rent to service a mortgage or other loan on the property, that doesn't exclude you from having to pay for "repairs, maintenance and all the paperwork and fees etc etc".

Landlords who can't afford to be landlords shouldn't be landlords. Not least because they're unlikely to attract a decent rental price nor particularly responsible tenants if they can't, quite literally, keep their house in order.

Renting out dangerous, ill-cared-for hovels to people who have no other choice of housing is reality in Britain today and landlords who subscribe to this model of stewardship over the homes they own need putting out of business. That goes for housing associations (see: Awaab Ishak) too.

Well either way it would surely need to be worthwhile to the LL

I'm in social housing. Option to buy.

I need to downsize but can't. It's a ridiculous situation whereby we have to find someone suitable....and eligible to swap with.

This thread is a microcosm of the wider problems in the market

OP is not mobile due to their child's needs, access to specialist education provision, access to specialist medical care and being able to access DP's existing work.

Relocating to another part of the country might work really well for some families; but its not an option here.

At a macro level; there's layers of complexity about market forces, state v private provision; house building; landlords running at a lost due to cost of living increases

At a micro level; there's a family working all the hours they can; and still not able to have a secure roof over their head

OP; I am so sorry about what's happening to your family.

For clarity, in my previous post - I wasn't suggesting that tenants who rent ill-cared-for properties are unlikely to look after them to the best of their own ability. More that there are some tenants who wouldn't look after a rental property anyway - regardless of how well-cared for it was when they took possession of it at the start of their tenancy.

The likelihood of a routinely ill-cared-for property being further ill-cared-for (by both landlord and tenant alike) is pretty high, though.

But people can move and if you read earlier post you can rent a 3 bed terrace house with Ofsted Outstanding school on your doorstop for £600 pcm. Even with a drop in salary, the saving on accommodation would be worth looking into.

The OP has disabled children. In my experience (I also have a disabled child), the only way to cope is to have a support network. If we had to move hundreds of miles away to rent a cheaper house we would lose our support network, and we genuinely wouldn’t be able to cope. There is so little support for parents of disabled children. I suspect it’s similar for the OP.

Really sorry you’re going through this 💐

We moved out of our rental property at the end of last year when we bought our house. We paid £1800 PCM for it (3 bedrooms, in Bristol). It was put back on the market after we left for £2,300 a month. Absolutely gross. And I know for a fact my landlords are living rent-free in an extremely nice house which comes as a perk of one of their jobs, and both are in high paying roles. The rental was bought many years ago for not much money so no way do they have a big mortgage on it. Just greed, plain and simple.

Didnt read all the replies so sorry if this has already been suggested but have you considered purchasing the house or is that not possible?. Maybe the landlord will agree a good price based on a quick private sale. I cant imagine the stress your going through.

I have been in exactly the same position. Get yourself on the council list - you will be low down and told that you may go to temporary accommodation. The council told me to sit tight - do not answer the door to anyone (I know, so stressful) and as soon as you have an eviction order then you take it to the council who will put you in the top band for housing. I contacted my landlord to tell him exactly what was happening and that I wasn’t being awkward and that I would continue to pay the rent. I also contacted our mp and he wrote to the council explaining how difficult it would be for my autistic son - the constant changes/uncertainty. Any additional needs your children have will also be taken into account. I wish you all the best - it’s incredibly stressful. Good luck!

The state has chosen to make letting property not profitable including taxing landlords on profits they do not make in the UK so they are selling up properties wholesale. This is the fault of the state (plus we have 1m people a year record immigration, 500k net immigration) so that does not help either - again the fault of the state.

In our family we have just about never had a tenant staying as long as we want as they are usually young professionals who move around or a young family who then leave to buy a first place.

Second that @HistoryFanatic, I took a £12k pay cut to move to Hull with my partner a few years ago. About 2 weeks after I moved there it was in the news that Hull had been identified as the worse place in the country to find a job (and the place I'd just moved from was the second best!).

It set my career back and as soon as I moved areas in to a better job, I doubled my salary overnight. Might be a good place if you work in certain manual industries like steel etc. But for anything remotely professional, I couldn't recommend it.

Having said that, there are other places in the North with housing costs at a fraction of the South East, but still with way better job prospects than Hull. It's worth doing some research.

Ugh what a fucking shitshow. I'm sorry OP.