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Original poster

Missed rent payments. I can't pay it.

165 replies

imogeneration · 17/05/2023 12:20

Before this situation got to this point i posted in legal matters but didn't get a lot of traffic so shamelessly posting here. Sorry.

We rented a 2 bedroom house. Tenancy was up for renewal a last year. We renewed (with a rental increase) (blinded not knowing what was coming our way). 4 days after renewing our tenancy agreement we were told the house was going on the market. Obviously had we had known this was going to happen we wouldn't have renewed. In the mix of all of that, I was struck with a cancer diagnosis. Meaning out of work and no income. We told them after this, that we couldn't pay the rent due to the circumstances. I moved back to my parents annex. Because I was still under contract I am still liable for the rent. Because of how vulnerable my health is, I couldn't have viewings and people coming in and out as I had to, and still do, have to shield whilst having treatment. The landlord would not let us go. But we moved out. I know the advise is to stay until getting evicted but I tried to do the right thing and not hinder a sale as I doubt any non investors want to buy a house with sitting tenants. All viewings have been family viewings and AFAIK it's a family the house has now sold to.

We are now obviously months in arrears. The house is sold. The landlord has informed us he has claimed on his insurance to get the money back.

I'm just wondering what will happen next, what will the insurers do? I did speak to shelter and there are parts of the agreement that the landlord did not stick to which we were unaware of. I can't really say what they are as they're very specific and outing but the landlord did something outside the contracted agreement after he told us the house was going up for sale.

As you can imagine, it's an already stressful hard time. The cancer is here for the long run, but with the treatment and surgeries we are hoping for me to still have some time left. It's a cancer you sort of 'live with' as long as it stays stable after my initial treatment.

It's obvious that the landlord waited until renewing our tenancy before telling us so there's no gaps in the rent / sale. But due to it all happen in at once, we couldn't afford to stay. DX came days after the notice of selling the house. I needed to move back in with parents as I need help with DC at the moment after having treatment.

What happens now, will the insurer take me to court? Will they decline his claim for breaking the contract? Will I have to go to court?

Im expecting a battering for this. I know I've made some wrong decisions but I've had little to no choice. Not able to get social housing as DH earns too much. But without my wage, (main breadwinner) we simply could not do the rent. I tried and tried to come to a compromise but LL didn't want to know. Wanted the full rent (plus increase) and that was that. Didn't want to let us go. I just want to know what we'll expect in the next coming months now he has submitted a claim to the insurer. Deposit is in the correct scheme and the house was half managed by a letting agency.

Thank you.

OP posts:
Whitebeamtreelover · 17/05/2023 16:29

justanothernamechangemonday · 17/05/2023 16:17

For me, the landlord allowing the OP to sign another years contract and then selling 8 weeks later is the issue - surely if this did go to court (which I think is a huge if) that would be enough to ensure the OP isn't liable for the length of the tenancy?

That’s not the issue. The issue is she is liable for rent until the date of his notice. She can’t just say well you’re selling so I don’t need to pay even if it takes months. We all know this. Due to health and financial circumstances she couldn’t afford rent so moved out and defaulted, the rent she defaulted on is the period it was still her rental.

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 16:30

@Whitebeamtreelover they are liable until notice is given by either side. Even at the end of the 12 months notice has to be served by either party or else tenant still pays rent.

Original poster
imogeneration · 17/05/2023 16:32

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 16:23

Without sounding rude how is your current financial situation? If you aren't paying rent or childcare fees you will have some savings as hubby is on a good wage?

Have you been able to claim benefits?

We are paying rent and childcare fees. We moved into my parents annex which is normally an AirBnB so we've paid them a reduced rate whilst we saved enough for a deposit (on one wage..) which we have now done and we are moving into a new, smaller property.

DD is in childcare. We have moved her down from full time to 3 days a week.

We have gone from 2 wages down to 1 almost overnight. It's shit. It's what cancer does unfortunately.

OP posts:
SnackSizeRaisin · 17/05/2023 16:34

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 13:07

@imogeneration answer me this:

  1. did you rent via landlord or agent?
  2. have you paid a deposit and was it protected
  3. has the house been sold?

All that is in the OP

kitchenhelprequired · 17/05/2023 16:38

The EA involved in the rental should not have written saying you could stay until the house sold. I would look to put in a claim against them - they should have liability insurance to cover their wrong doing. Legally the tenancy had to carry over to the new owners if it was still valid at the time of sale. Your actions in moving out were as a direct result of what they wrote. Go after them to sort out the mess they created.

ClareBlue · 17/05/2023 16:38

First thing is to try and stop this dominating your life and making your recovery harder. It will be resolved in time, but nobody will make you pay more than is calculated you can afford if it comes to it. We don't punish people for debts and under your circumstances there is alot of forgiveness in the system to help you.
Get some advice from any agency set up to help you like CAB or free legal consult, or anything available.

AWhaleSwamBy · 17/05/2023 16:42

Have you paid any rent at all or did you just completely stop?

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 16:47

@SnackSizeRaisin read all the posts in between

Nordicrain · 17/05/2023 16:50

If they have sold to someone who intends o live there they have had to declare noone lives there. Therefore you would - at least - from the day of the sale be off the hook. In any case there are no damages for your ll to claim.

When did your 2 months notice expire vs when the house was sold, do you know?

Freddiefox · 17/05/2023 16:51

When the renting EA informed us about the house is on the market, the email said, quote 'the landlord is happy for you to stay in situ until a point of sale. If a sale hasn't been agreed by The end of tenancy date your tenancy will roll onto a periodic.'

op have you given and received confirmation of the end of your tenancy?

when does your fixed term tenancy end? He is not able to sell the house with tenants without the buyer knowledge.

if he will not comprise on a date. Then you should hold onto the keys (put one or two piece of belongings in the house) until the very last possible moment.

if a sale is agreed before the end of your fixed tenancy, he needs to negotiate with you. At this point you could insure your deposit is returned and ask for any debt to be wiped clean.

caringcarer · 17/05/2023 16:55

I'm a LL what your LL did was terrible. Ridiculous not telling you he was selling the house. Then you would not have renewed your contract. If LL has claimed unpaid rent back on his insurance the insurance company will insist he evicts you and he might be told to take court action by the insurer. If not the insurance company might take you to court. I'm so sorry you have cancer. Does your employer not pay sick pay?

caringcarer · 17/05/2023 16:58

If the LL tells deposit scheme you left owing rent, you will have to prove you paid all the rent or else they will give it to LL as part of missing tent.

Crazydoglady1980 · 17/05/2023 16:59

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 15:52

No the contract is still valid. The tenant will be paying the rent to the old landlord because the conveyancing solicitors didn't do their job right. Not the tenants fault.

Show quote history

That’s not right as the contract is no longer valid as the landlord is no longer able to provide the services that would be being paid for. He no longer has the house to let!

caringcarer · 17/05/2023 17:00

sillyonehetpes · 17/05/2023 15:52

No the contract is still valid. The tenant will be paying the rent to the old landlord because the conveyancing solicitors didn't do their job right. Not the tenants fault.

Show quote history

If you sign a new contract for a year you can't give 2 month's notice and just leave. OP could find herself liable for a whole year's rent unless there was a break claus in the tenancy agreement. The new buyer might have bought thinking it was let out.

Loverofoxbowlakes · 17/05/2023 17:03

OP what was written into your rental contract about giving notice?

Freddiefox · 17/05/2023 17:06

Has the sale of the house gone through? Contract exchanged? Or has he found a buyer and the selling process is on hand?

Loverofoxbowlakes · 17/05/2023 17:15

A quick Google of the shelter website suggests you may have some recourse if you were misled at the point of signing a fixed term let - you have 90 days to submit a formal notice.

And you're certainly not liable for any rent once the property is sold! Pah, he's a chancer!

Unless you've heard any of this directly from the EA or insurance I wouldn't give it much weight op.

honeylulu · 17/05/2023 17:52

I would say that by selling the house BEFORE the end of what would have been your tenancy period, the landlord HAS accepted your notice as valid as at that date at the latest. If landlord wants to insist the tenancy period could not be curtailed, he would have had to accept he was unable to sell the house either. The law provides that a claimant cannot be put in a better position than that he would have been had the contract not been breached. So he potentially has a claim for lost rent between you leaving and the house being sold but not after that point because he has mitigated his own loss by benefiting from an earlier definite sale than he would otherwise have done. What would the rent value be for that period? If its less than £10k his insurers won't bother their arses for it as its small claims track value and they won't recover any legal fees they'd incur. plus the risk if negative PR - nasty big bully insurer suing a hard up cancer victim.

Whitebeamtreelover · 17/05/2023 18:03

Crazycrazylady · 17/05/2023 14:36

Honestly he'd be mad to chase you through the courts for this.

  1. legal fees would be more than he would get
  2. judges would look down their nose at his behaviour as well so no guarantees he would get it all.

Just ignore him

Did you not read the op? He is not chasing her through the courts. He has claimed in his landlords insurance for the non paid rent. The question she’s asking is will the insurer come after her for it.

the truth is they might.

op let your partner deal with this. You really don’t need to be stressing about it. Yes 3k Is a lot of money, but it’s not massive and even if they did you would likely have a repayment plan and it could take years. Let it go

Oysterbabe · 17/05/2023 18:10

Possession claims and pursuing rent arrears is part of my job. What will probably happen is nothing.
The insurer might instruct solicitors to go after you. They would use various tools to try and track you down and assess your financial position. If you don't own property or have a highly paid job it would not be worth issuing court proceedings. The chance of getting the money back is very low. Insurers aren't interested in getting a judgment that's paid back at £5 a month, which is what usually happens in my experience.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 17/05/2023 18:14

OP - Where you on a rolling tenancy agreement?

If he’s sold the property, he can’t expect you to pay until the end of the tenancy agreement, making money on a sold property.

Kangarude · 17/05/2023 18:15

Coming a this from a different angle - why were you out of work following your diagnosis? You say you had a good, well paying job, so surely you would have gone onto sick pay? Were you dismissed for having cancer?

Nordicrain · 17/05/2023 18:17

Kangarude · 17/05/2023 18:15

Coming a this from a different angle - why were you out of work following your diagnosis? You say you had a good, well paying job, so surely you would have gone onto sick pay? Were you dismissed for having cancer?

And what angle is that?

Ginmonkeyagain · 17/05/2023 18:25

So you signed a 12 month tenancy.

Your landlord then put the house on the market. All above board as you can sell a property with a tenant in place, the new owner simply becomes you landlord.

You then became unable to work due to illness and moved out as you could not pay the rent.

You landlord continued to market the house and now it has been sold. He says you owe him rent for the full 12 month period.

So - unless there has been a mutual surrender of the contract (which is what you should have asked for IMO) you still have a tenancy and still owe rent for that period.

However - there are a few things to consider here

  • even if you weren't living at the property if you had a tenancy you still had right to quiet enjoyment of the property - meaning that the landlord should have requested permission for viewings, entry etc..
  • Has the sale happened during the 12 month tenancy period he says you are liable for? If so and he says your tenancy to is still valid he would have to have sold the house with the tenancy in place and the new owner will now be your landlord. If he sold it with vacant possession then he has illegally evicted you.
  • Has he issued a s8 noticed for rent arrears?
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