To break my promise to my landlord?

[privilegeporridge]

NC.

I'm in my early twenties and I live with my husband in a flat we rent from one of his colleagues. We originally had to move somewhere quite quickly back in summer as we had issues with our previous rental, but we spoke to his colleague and he said he'd love for us to move in on a "longterm" basis. A specific amount of time had not been specified and so far, we've been here about 6months.

However, we are due to come into an amount of money in early 2021 that would mean that with a little luck we are not too far off from putting a deposit down on a house. This would also be great as it would mean it we could TTC significantly sooner, as I would feel more secure owning property before having kids and not being dependent on a landlord. (just a personal preference and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity for that choice).

If we came into the money in February time ish, would it be unreasonable to start looking for a house then? I don't want my landlord to feel that he's been deceived (especially considering he works with my husband) but I simultaneously don't want to rent, as we have cats and the longer we stay here the more deposit gets chipped away along with the wallpaper.

He also asked for notice a few months in advance before we decide to move out, so I don't know how far into the house buying process I should wait before letting him know (if buying a house very soon is the right thing to do).

Thank you!

@privilegeporridge

Even without a written tenancy agreement I think you still have statutory rights and can only be legally evicted in the normal way.

But if you left the landlord would find it difficult to argue that you had a longer notice period. You should plan for a months notice. The reasonable thing to do would be to give a heads up at the point you had found somewhere and you were confident it was all going ahead.

You are totally overthinking this. Start looking for a house. Get a mortgage lined up. When it looks like it might happen tell your landlord. Are he and your husband from the same non British culture by any chance?

You have to do the right thing for you and I would always take the opportunity to buy. Be honest with the landlord at the time - you have suddenly and unexpected come into some money.

Also probably means he can boot me out at any time though, right?

No.

You have a legal tenancy agreement. Just because it isn't written down doesn't make it any less legal. You've been paying money (could also be goods or services in lieu of rent) and your landlord has provided you with exclusive occupancy of a residential property. The contract defaults to the legal minimum, which I believe is one rental period for your, or 2 for him (e.g. if he wants you out he has to give 2 months notice before he can apply to the court for a possession hearing). In England this legal minimum from landlord to tenant has been increased to 6 months due to COVID, however I'm not sure about Scotland.

He is asking you to give him plenty of notice but he doesn't want you to have a proper tenancy agreement. Regardless of whether he is a colleague of your husband, he is taking the piss. You start looking for somewhere and when you are ready give him notice. I wouldn't hide that I am looking to move, but I would not be bending over backwards to suit him either.

Surely if your tenancy agreement is verbal then you can move out whenever you please? My understanding was that in order to be landlords then you had to have a tenancy agreement and most importantly, the deposit has to be protected in a registered scheme. If it’s not protected then that’s bad news for the (so called) landlord and they can get in trouble.

Are he and your husband from the same non British culture by any chance?

No actually, why do you ask?

OK, so I think what I'm going to do is speak with a mortgage advisor when we get the money and then try and apply for the First Home Fund in March (I'm not sure how to go about this but maybe a mortgage advisor can help). The FHM should hopefully boost the deposit a bit and get it up to standard if we're lucky enough to get it. I'll notify the LL informally when we start officially looking and then give him proper notice a month before whenever the mortgage and house are solidified (though I'll also need to look into that).

Re; the safety deposit I think I will leave it for now to keep relationships calm and see how we go later down the line e.g. if they do anything dodgy or unpleasant then I will request it very quickly.

If anyone has any info on the First Home Fund I'd be very grateful, and thank you to everyone for giving advice I'm very appreciative!

FHF *

Don’t tell landlord when you start looking. Tell him when missives are concluded.

It will take you months ( not weeks ) from starting to think about mortgages and browsing Rightmove to moving in. You still need to

Learn about mortgages and finance
Arrange a mortgage in principle
Appoint a solicitor
Get legal advice about the inheritance and house purchase, give that you don’t even have an income and one of you has an inheritance
Receive your inheritance
Start viewing properties
Make several offers and have them refused or be unsuccessful at closing date
Make an offer any have it accepted
Get a qualified acceptance and agree an entry date
Apply to FHF and be successful
Conclude missives
Give notice to LL
Arrange removal
Exchange and move in

[quote nowishtofly]@privilegeporridge the benefit of your landlord not being 100% on all the usual rules (like written tenancy agreement or deposit scheme) means that you can be pretty flexible about leaving at short notice. A silver lining perhaps.
[/quote]
This is inaccurate. A written tenancy agreement doesn't need to be in place for a legal tenancy to exist. One month's notice (assuming rent is paid monthly) is still the legal requirement for the tenant.

This is inaccurate. A written tenancy agreement doesn't need to be in place for a legal tenancy to exist. One month's notice (assuming rent is paid monthly) is still the legal requirement for the tenant

Can tenancy agreements still be enforced by an illegal landlord ? How would he do that ? Go to the Civil court to enforce it and risk being charged with a criminal offence ?

@loveisagirlnameddaisy

I’m also confused why you say she doesn’t need a written tenancy agreement ? This link ( to a government website ) says that’s illegal.

As a landlord, you must give your tenant all the terms of their tenancy in writing. If you do not you'll be breaking the law

www.mygov.scot/renting-your-property-out/getting-paperwork-ready/

Just be honest about your intentions

Doesn't sound like you're about to move out any time soon and leave them in the lurch.

It took us over a year to buy somewhere. We put in an offer on a house and the chain never completed. We were in limbo for months just waiting. Eventually we pulled out and bought another house but that took purchase took about six months from offer to move in and we were FTB

@loveisagirlnameddaisy I agree with you! I suppose my point is that although it is true that a written tenancy agreement need not be in place, the OP is in a very different position from someone who has just signed a 12 month lease they can't get out of easily, her landlord is very unlikely to take her to court over leaving and if they did, I suspect the court would not look kindly on them skipping a few of the steps landlords are required to take including use of a tenancy deposit scheme. From what I know, her landlord really only stands a chance of satisfaction in a court if she has behaved very very badly e.g. not paying rent for many months, completely trashing the property.