We were served a S21 on the 23rd of Feb. We've lived in our house for nearly 10 years so it was a real shock, but we're assuming the landlord wants to sell (we haven't been able to get in contact with him, and neither have the letting agents - they're only an introductory agent but we rang them to see if they'd heard from him and they said they couldn't get hold of him). DH was initially hopeful that there were some things wrong with the S21, particularly the gas certificate (the landlord's house number was missing, for example), but it's not looking likely so we've accepted that we'll have to move sooner rather than later.
In our town (large one in West Sussex) there are currently a maximum of 18 3 bed rental properties at any given time. I check constantly. We're not looking for a mansion, just something big enough for the four of us and for DH to WFH! We have DD in Y7 and DS in Y3, they're both happy and settled in school, and moving them would be the worst possible thing we could do. Both are autistic and moving house is going to be hard enough on them without the extra stress of a new school. I told them about it tonight and they were both very upset, but understood it's going to happen.
We've got a viewing tomorrow evening for a house around the corner which would be good for us, but there are other people scheduled to see it as well and I have a horrible feeling they'll get picked over us (see below). I think that's going to happen wherever we try, if there are other people vying for the property as well.
The frustrating thing is that we have a deposit saved up, and DH makes a decent amount of money (£72k). But he was made redundant last Summer, and decided to start his own company (tech based) after being in full time employment since 2013. This has been going very well and he's got a business partner and an investor and a lot of interest, but because he's only been self-employed for 7ish months, getting a mortgage is a no-go. One advisor did say that after filing taxes etc in April we might have a better chance, but it's still doubtful. DH has offered to become an employee of his company and give up being a Director, some advisors say that's fine, others have been more wary. We were in a much better position to buy a house last year, but what with my DM passing away in very traumatic circumstances and having to clear her house out, we weren't really in the right frame of mind to do it. Our biggest regret!
I'm not currently working, mostly due to health but also because I was DM's carer for a very long time, alongside being a SAHM. It made more financial sense for us not to put the DC into childcare and I was happy at home with them. Then DM's health declined and I had to up my caring duties for a good few years. But me getting a job really isn't going to help our current situation, and it's not really feasible at the moment with DH's work. Sometimes he finds out that he's off to Liverpool for a 2 day conference the night before and we have no childcare at all.
We've been perfect tenants and have only asked for a few repairs over the years - mostly bathroom related, like when the toilet was taking 45mins to full and the shower stopped working. We've always paid the rent, never caused a fuss, never been a nuisance, always done our best to look after the place. We've been renting since we were students and have never been an issue in any of our homes, actually. I know that doesn't count for much, really.
We've filled in the forms with the council, and are waiting for them to come back to us but I don't think they will until we go over the 2 months. I know we don't have to leave on the 23rd of April or anything, and it could take months to get to an actual eviction and so on, but I'm still very worried. DM and I were evicted when I was a teenager thanks to my Father buggering off and not paying the mortgage, and it got to the point of balliffs. It was incredibly harrowing and I do not want to put us through that, especially the DC.
I'm not looking for advice particularly so I'm not sure why I'm posting. I think I just wanted to get it all out somehow and look for solidarity with anyone going through similar. I know we're in a much better position financially than some people are and we're definitely not the only tenants being asked to leave right now, but it's still shit and I'm fed up with it already! Every time it starts looking slightly positive, something happens to bring it right back down again and I'm really struggling with it all.