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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to stay in current house even though landlord has asked us to leave? dilema

501 replies

arieschicke · 19/05/2015 17:13

I am a single parent with 3 dcs. 2 have complex sn.
2 months ago ll served me notice as he is selling the property. I have been trying to secure a private rental with no such luck.
The council have advised that when we leave we will be placed in bnb accommodation, then temporary house or flat share and then after approx 6 months we could be successful in bidding for a council property.
now my ll has sold the house and is exchanging contracts in 2 weeks. has asked me to leave by then. council have advised we will be placed in bnb. shelter have advised me to stay until the court evicts us, which means another 6'8 weeks here but the landlord could lose the sale.
I really can't decide what to do. any advice would be really appreciated.

OP posts:
MidniteScribbler · 20/05/2015 03:01

No one in the buying chain is going to be made homeless. It's just delaying the date they complete.

You have no way of knowing that. Someone could be renting and having to get out of their house by a certain date, they could be moving from another area to start a job by a certain date. I have sympathy for the OP, but it is very shortsighted to say that her staying put isn't going to inconvenience a whole lot of other people.

Howcanitbe · 20/05/2015 06:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LinesThatICouldntChange · 20/05/2015 07:05

I hope people remember this thread next time another one starts up banging on about how unfair it is that most LL rent to tenants on housing benefit. Can't blame them when they know that if they want/need to sell, the tenant is likely to need to stay until eviction in order for the council to do anything for them

LinesThatICouldntChange · 20/05/2015 07:06

That should be most LL WONT rent to tenants on HB of course!

GymBum · 20/05/2015 07:08

Wow, as stated above I would never put a family in this position. I like to think I am a reasonable LL and I actually have never discriminated against HB tenants. But, some of the advise been given here is sadly starting to make me reconsider my view on HB tenants.

Op, did your LL make you aware of his/her intention to sale?

Horsemadbird · 20/05/2015 07:13

Yep Lines - as a LL and friends with loads none of us ever rent to benefits/HB tenants.

This thread and the attitudes of entitlement by some of the posters is exactly why.

And you all wonder why no one will let to you or why any places you do get are shitty?

Read this thread, wonder no more.

GratefulHead · 20/05/2015 07:17

Yes...but that is not the fault of the tenant....ore landlord. It's a shitty system, and how many of you KNOW that your tenants won't fall in hard times?
the tenant doesn't have "a sense of entitlement" except for the basic entitlement of needing a roof over their head. When the crap hits the fan they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, a system which says "we won't help you until we have screwed the landlord over".

Newbrummie · 20/05/2015 07:21

This thread should be sent to MPs to consider.

oddfodd · 20/05/2015 07:22

It's not about being entitled, Horsemad, it's about a family bring made homeless. Blame the system for not providing adequate housing, not the poor tenants that have nowhere to go.

Surely as s BtL ll, this is one of the risks you take?

GratefulHead · 20/05/2015 07:26

Actually horsemadbird, I am not sure why or where HB comes into it. I was in full time work when renting and struggling as my husband lost his job. We were not entitled to anything but we would still have struggled at that point had our landlord decided to sell. I would at that point have gone to the council and probably got the same advice as the OP. Even when both of us were in work we would have struggled to find the deposit for anything else until our previous deposit was released. That's how it is for many many people, we don't all have legions of houses we own. Surely as a landlord you understand that.

We were fortunate enough that we could have stayed in B&B or a hotel for a few nights until our deposit was released. If you have children with complex needs that is not an option. The OP's landlord is in a difficult position but it's nowhere near as awful as that of his/her tenant who faces the prospect of having nowhere to live with two disabled children. That the bigger crisis and the bigger outrage,

LinesThatICouldntChange · 20/05/2015 07:39

HB comes into it because if the LL needs to sell, a tenant on HB is way more likely to have difficulty in finding an alternative private rental and to be looking to the council for help. Yes, other people might fall on hard times, but with a tenant on HB it's not 'might', it's pretty much a cetainty (as evidenced by this thread) that should the LL need to sell, the tenant will hang on until eviction. A tenant paying their own rent is more likely to be in a position to look for another private rental and will want a good reference.

GymBum · 20/05/2015 07:46

I had a HB tenant for about 6 years. Single mum with 3 kids and worked part time. In the time she stayed in the property she met someone and they had a child. They choose to move because the property was too small. They never pre warned me that they were intending on moving as it seems this LL may not have let Op know he was putting the property on the market.

When they found a property they couldn't afford to move without me releasing the deposit. We came to an agreement because I had known her a long time and she had been a good tenant. I released her deposit before they moved on good faith because we had a good relationship and I trusted she would leave the property in good order. She did.

Not all LL are same. I really should stop reading this thread because it's starting to twist my view of potential HB tenants

Howcanitbe · 20/05/2015 07:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Felinealarmclock · 20/05/2015 07:57

This thread and the attitudes of entitlement by some of the posters is exactly why.

Oh, right, sorry for not advising the OP to go sleep on the streets. Sorry for believing that the OP and her children have, as enshrined in the human rights act, the right to basic shelter. Silly me for thinking the OP is the victim of a system that is currently stacked against her, seeing as she has tried everything she can to get something sorted.

You and your friends all have properties to let out. How lovely. I hope my landlord doesn't spend his spare time insulting people facing homelessness.

Horsemadbird · 20/05/2015 08:00

We have a culture now of huge sectors of scoiety simply not taking responsibility for their own lives. People simply shrug and say, " Oh well, I can't find another private let/they're too expensive/don't want to spend that much/won't move area - so what? I'll just sit tight until the LL evicts me then I'll get a shiny free council house for life - all whilst doing nothing whatsoever to improve my lot or help myself".

And people STILL wonder why the Tories won and LL won't rent to HB tenants.

annielouise · 20/05/2015 08:03

Some of you LLs are coming over as selfish arseholes. This thread is about a woman being made homeless with 3 kids, 2 with SN - and you're fucking worrying about renting out to people on HB next time? Beggars belief. Why don't you go and start your own thread about your concerns about renting to entitled people on HB rather than derail this one if you can't offer any practical advice to the OP about her problem and are going on about your own worries.

Have you all been living under a stone? Ooh, I'm going to reconsider my policy blah blah blah. This has been going on for decades. There is a housing crisis. People aren't doing it to fuck you over deliberately. They have no option. Read a newspaper and get your heads out your arses.

Felinealarmclock · 20/05/2015 08:03

We have a culture now of huge sectors of scoiety simply not taking responsibility for their own lives.

The OP has TRIED. Please explain what you would like her to actually do.

pod78 · 20/05/2015 08:07

Please don't day that Gymbun. We all HAVE to live somewhere and can't control circumstances like ill health etc. Like many have said even working people need a top up these days.

We moved into a place and 3 months later the LL told us they were going to sell, no mention of course when we took the tenancy and we were told it was long term which was what we wanted, but LL's planned to sell all along. LL's wanted the rent paid in the meantime - having their cake and eat it. How am I responsible for that?

It is people's lives and homes they are dealing with. Not a car or a DVD player. HOMES. We don't have a choice.

SaucyJack · 20/05/2015 08:11

I don't think it's HB that's the problem.

IMO it's the amateur LLs that are at fault. We need to reform the market to ensure that any private LLs are professionals who're prepared to make a legal commitment to providing lifelong housing. It should not be legal to evict good tenants who pay their rent on time with just a few weeks notice.

The OP's situation is one that happens too much already, and the housing crisis is only getting worse.

My sympathies are entirely with a mother and two SN who are facing being evicted from their home through no fault of their own.

MissWimpyDimple · 20/05/2015 08:12

Unfortunately you have little choice but to stay until you are evicted. At that point the council have to re-home you. It's not an unusual situation and because of the way the current housing policy works it's what you have to do to get housed by the council.
It won't necessarily help you get into a council property quicker, but it's what you have to do.
Being a landlord is a risky business in this country and your situation is exactly why most landlords won't take housing benefit claimants.
Have you been served a section 21 yet?

JasperDamerel · 20/05/2015 08:15

"Attitudes of entitlement"?

I'm seriously starting to question the humanity of some people.

pod78 · 20/05/2015 08:15

And we still do nned to be writing and tweeting MPS if they don't get loeads of harrassment about this, it will never change.

PLEASE, whether you are on the side of the renter of the landlord, PLEASE campaign to get councils to recognise homelessness before the point of eviction. Even getting people into B&B for an amount of time would help. Anything but prolonging the uncertainty.

This can happen to ANYONE, cancer, car crash... anyone could become and 'undesirable tenant' in an instant.

Newbrummie · 20/05/2015 08:15

Well tbh the more landlords that sell and the less the maths adds up for those who don't the more this situation will force the governments hand to deal with it.
I blame labour for the private land lord situation they made it appealing to your average mid 50's couple who inherited a house or money and haven't a scooby how to even legally operate as a landlord.

Even the Blairs snapped up a few places .... Bet they don't accept HB

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 20/05/2015 08:22

There is no reason to think that all housing benefit tenants are likely to wait for eviction when the tenancy ends. Most scrimp and save or beg or borrow to get a deposit together because weirdly they don't fancy being evicted, losing their good renting history, being placed in emergency accommodation with children which may be 20 miles away from schools, unsecure, dirty, no cooking facilities and alongside criminals or people with entrenched drug or mental health problems, then getting rather than a council house, an overpriced private rental in an area not in their choosing!
The people who don't do that are the ones who literally can't. Who don't know people who can lend them £3k to move, or who can act as guarantor for a tenancy. There are plenty of people in that position but not the majority by any means.
Leaving your rental on the agreed date and moving to another house of your choosing on the same day with no loss of goodwill is preferable to the above so those who can manage it, do, even if they claim hb.

MissWimpyDimple · 20/05/2015 08:22

RagingJellyBean - that is EXACTLY why the council won't just house anyone until they are evicted. Because many many tenants and landlords will play the system!