Housing Eviction

[WaferThinIce]

I realise this isn't the right place but am hoping to get some information or guidance as soon as possible. Friends (genuinely friends and not me) have been given an eviction notice as their landlord is selling their home. They, so far, haven't been able to find other suitable accommodation. They either can't afford it or they miss out because they come second. It's a family of three adults, parent and 2 children, and one older teenager, plus dog. As the end of their notice period comes ever closer and they still haven't secured a place they are getting very worried and stressed. Does anyone know what they can do if they haven't found another home. Will they be turned out onto the street or what might happen? Will there be an obligation on the local council to offer them temporary accommodation. They have looked not just where they currently live but also nearby towns and there's just nothing available.
Thank you

If the LL stopped paying the mortgage, I bet the tenants would be evicted far sooner than if they LL continued to lay the mortgage….

Unlikely the bank would just repossess the property and then auction the property off with tenants, they have no reason to go through the expense, delay and hassle of evicting the tenants, they won't get as good a price of course which means they'll still be seeking more from the landlord, but it's rare for these hobby incompetent landlords to not have other money they can recover the deficit from.

Well private tenants actually are treated worse in a lot of ways, mainly because they have less secure tenancies.

But you seem to be missing my point, at no point have I said that private tenants should be treated worse. I'm saying (pretty clearly I thought) that they shouldn't have to wait for eviction to qualify for council support. We shouldn't be putting families through that trauma and the courts shouldn't have to be dealing with it.

For what it's worth, I've had to 'evict' tenants twice. On both occasions they went voluntarily on/before the notice date. The second time they really shouldn't have done as although they had rent arrears, they had an argument to make that the rent arrears weren't their 'fault' (delays in benefit payments) and so they may have given up their entitlement to council support as a result and it would have been because they didn't know (they wouldn't communicate or I would have told them).

As I said, I would be in favour of bringing back protected tenancies so that tenants had more rights. When tenants had protected tenancies homeless officers saw far fewer people presenting as homeless because the landlord wanted the property back. The grounds for possession were, mostly, if the tenant had broken a condition of the tenancy. From memory there were a couple of odd conditions; if the landlord was a missionary or priest he could be awarded possession if it was his only home.
In my experience a lot of landlords aren't professional landlords at all and don't understand their obligations.
BTW, when I started as a homeless officer protected tenancies were all that was offered.

It sounds like the dog is the problem, as three adults should be able to earn enough to pay the rent on another house. Pets being a problem in rentals is the government's fault as they stopped landlords being able to cover their risks with more deposit. I dont have a dog and haven't had this problem (full time working single parent).

Could they rehome the dog? It seems stressful and unfair to them and the LL to drag it all out through the courts.

@LoislovesStewie, I suspect we actually broadly agree with each other, just different angles.

I am by no means a professional landlord - I'm a landlord by circumstances (and that's a choice, I could have sold) - but honestly I find not being a shit is a pretty good way to stay on the right side of the law. It's honestly not that complicated to get right.

In my experience a lot of landlords aren't professional landlords at all and don't understand their obligations

This is the crazy bit because in a sense all landlords are professional landlords and as with starting any business due dilligence should be undertaken thoroughly - failiure to prepare is preparing to fail.

If the landlord didn't pay the mortgage and the property was repossessed, the new owner (presumably the bank) would have the same responsibilities to the tenants as the old landlord did. This would also be the case if the bank then sold it on to another person, they would have the responsibilities.

However - if the property is repossessed or sold, the new owner can apply for a court order to dispense with the need to serve notice on the tenants. Effectively they would be at the stage of reaching the final day of their tenancy, but without having had a notice period. They would then have to follow the standard procedure, go to court because they haven't left, go to court again because they ignored the order, get the bailiffs in.

It would take the same amount of time as with a normal termination of tenancy, the only exception is the tenant wouldn't be told in advance their tenancy was due to end on a certain date.

Wow you must be a landlord, I can sniff them out, its rediclous that someone has just two months to find a place & no im sorry if they cant find a place the law should allow them to stay much much longer and no I dont care why they want it back

It should be illegal to descriminate against dog owners for a start, best they just lie and dont mention the dog

Tell them not to mention the dog, yes just lie, as it happens in law the landlord shouldnt refuse them in any case to have a pet , worse case after the contract ends he could issue a section 21, tell them to puish for a one year rental and ideally a 2 year rental contract, but unlikey, if id have told all my x landlords id had a dog id have been homeless, also tell them not to mention the older child, landlords are tight and prefer small familes less wear and tare, often paying more rent up front helps but be careful of the letting agent if they go bust

Tell them to lie, tell them they have two kids and no pets, then just move them all in if they look after it ish most letting agents dont care just make sure the dog and all other humans arnt their on inspection day

Thats the problem renting a home to someone should come with obligations and the law allows a pathetic two months to up sticks, find a place to move too and all the costs to move, its not good enough just saying its their house, yes it is but its also someone elses home