To NOT leave rented house when I said I would?

[WaitingForLifeToGetEasier]

Been in current rented house for 9 years. Landlord is a company with 30+ properties.

Tenancy is generally renewed every year as LL puts rent up.

Last year, less than 6 months into our latest year long tenancy agreement, an estate agent contacted me out of the blue saying he'd been instructed to sell the property so I needed to agree to a time for them to value and take photos as well for viewings.

I was shocked as LL has not said anything and it transpired that the letting agent has added a 6 month break clause into the tenancy agreement. There had never been one In previous agreements and I wasn't made aware.

I made it clear i was not going to allow anyone in the property until the end of the agreement and if the landlord wanted to sell, I'd leave at that time.

Tenancy is up in early March. I had expected to get a Section 21 in early January but nothing.

We have been looking but properties are either not available anymore or agent doesn't get back to us so have not found a property yet. Rents seem to have gone up £3-400 a month which is going to be impossible.

Not sure if LL is just expecting us to leave or what but I am not intending to leave in early March and will stay as long as possible - await section 21 etc.

AIBU?

Nope. Only a properly served s21 notice is notice to leave a rental property. Anything else is piss in the wind. Professional landlords know that.

Why do tenants who rely so heavily on rentals hate their LL's just because they make money.
It's not a charity!
If he really is a millionaire LL then he will be well equipped to go through the process of ending your tenancy.
Just talk to him. Then you'll know what's going on.

Yes she would.

The OP doesn’t, without a valid S21 from the LL, have the right to leave in March and stop paying rent.

I wouldn’t do a thing until you’ve got a proper s.21 notice. Just carry on paying your rent. I wouldn’t be contacting them about it either, that’s their responsibility to sort, not yours.

You obviously don’t have to leave without proper notice. But if you have agreed to leave already, or if you do get notice, refusing to do so is only postponing the inevitable and, potentially, make things difficult for your landlord which may reflect in things like references, how difficult they make the deposit return etc.

I expect that the landlord has not given you notice because he thinks you have a good faith agreement to leave when he sells. It seems that he shouldn’t have trusted you and instead given you formal notice.

Yes landlords have to prove they served notice. Best practice is to hand deliver with photo/video, send recorded post and follow up with email.

The Section 21 will also be invalid if there's no current gas safety certificate, EPC or deposit isn't protected.

In that case she can't leave can she? The landlord could have changed his mind. Perhaps one of the other properties became vacant so they sold that one instead. I wouldn't want to assume anything without the correct notice being issued.

I still think if I were OP I'd be seeking clarity from the landlords & agent about the situation. For example, is the house for sale, or are they still intending to sell it? If so, what would be the chances of getting an extension or short term renewal of the tenancy because there's a lot of pressure in the housing market at the moment? If they own or manage other property in the area do they have anything else coming up that might be available soon that one could move in to? Whilst it's not ideal to be asked to leave after one has settled in for several years, it's usually possible to negotiate. Sometimes people get houses surveyed and valued even if they're not intending to sell immediately because they're using them as financial instruments to enable further investment, and it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be sold immediately. If a purchaser doesn't need to move in themselves immediately, would they accept a sitting tenant, who has (I assume) a good record and has kept the house nice? And so on.

It would be incredibly foolish to do so.

OP, I was just evicted via S21 (this is how they served notice) and still got a glowing reference etc and it didn't impact my ability to rent elsewhere. An eviction notice sounds like the tenant is at fault but nowadays just seems to be the preferred way of giving notice.

If they haven't given you written notice then you'd be crazy lo leave as you'd actually be the one breaching the tenancy.

Also S21 is valid from date of receipt not issue, so even if they sent a letter months ago the clock starts when you receive it.

Once the S21 is issued pls make sure it's been done correctly (up to date EPC and gas safety cert. Etc) otherwise it's not valid. Shelter have a list of requirements for correctly issuing a S21.

The OP hasn't even had confirmation from the landlord themselves, only one phone call 3 months ago.
Serving a section 21 notice costs only the paper and ink to print it. Why leave it as a vague good faith agreement rather than take 10 minutes to be legally compliant? Would you pay for a house without signing any contracts???

You weren't evicted by a s21 notice. Being asked to leave isn't being evicted.

Yanbu x

Because that’s the law.

If you take money from people then you are giving them exclusive, bad essential maintenance and repairs, use of your property until such times as you have the legal right (or tenants goodwill) to do otherwise.

That’s the legal trade off for renting out your property.

If LLs don’t like it then they shouldn’t rent out. Plenty of us accept and abide by the the laws and treat tenants properly.

Its categorically not difficult to issue notices correctly. It really not.

Don't forget to ask for a reference from your LL before you move out. You will need it for your next rental.

Please join Tenancy UK and speak to Shelter.

DO NOT SPEAK TO CITIZENS ADVICE.

Only a tenant or court can end a tenancy, the landlord must issue a section 21 along with providing you with a gas cert, epc rating and how to rent guide otherwise the section 21 is invalid.

You do not need to leave on the date specified on a section 21 and can request an extension, the council will not help house you if you do leave as you are intentionally making yourself homeless.

Obviously no one wants to be evicted as it is costly and can put a mark against you so if you can leave before it gets to that stage it would be beneficial.

If you don’t already receive benefits or even if you do it would be beneficial to check what help you would be entitled to regarding the current market rates.

Please do speak to someone knowledgeable and not people on MN.

As a landlord, I disagree with a lot of the replies on here.

OP, stay where you are. If the LL has not issued a Section 21 then they are breaking the law and you are under no obligation to move out. Also, a contract cannot be changed part way through an agreement without the consent of both parties.

My guess is that the agency has mucked up but this is not your responsibility. If the LL and agent can't get their act together then it is on them, not you. Pay your rent on time but ignore any other request until you are served the correct notices. Also, check that the EPC, EIRC and gas safety are up to date. If not, they can't evict you.

Please don't make out that LL's have a hard time. Being a landlord is a privilege, the very least they can do is serve the correct notices at the correct time. If they can't, they shouldn't be a LL.

OP, contact Shelter and go through the specifics with them. As part of the moving in process, I always send my tenants the details for Shelter and the local tenant's unions. Being a tenant is difficult enough without crappy landlords.

Can you afford to buy?

YANBU. You have not been given the appropriate notice to quit. At the end of the tenancy you just go month-to-month until you are formally given notice to quit (for which they have to give you adequate notice, time varies from 2 to 6 months depending on where you are in the UK).

Also, the OP has the right to "quiet enjoyment" and doesn't have to agree to viewings if they don't want to.

Don't become a landlord then if it's going to be so terrible for you. She is not being a nightmare at all. She has not been served with notice so she is doing nothing wrong. I say this as a LL.

This.

I'm baffled by some of the replies here. OP will not have an issue renting again, providing they continue to pay rent when the fixed term ends.

This is on the agent.

Yep.

I'm stretching a bit here.

Is there a chance that the EA has new tenants they'd rather have in, so they've given the OP verbal 'notice', hoping she'll fall for it and vacate and then they move in new tenant?

I truly doubt they haven't been trying to contact OP since November.

More likely OP has been dodging them.

She certainly hasn't bothered to contact them to find out what is going on.