Evicted for the 2nd time in less than a year!

[EvictedAgain]

AIBU to think this is just untenable?

Lsst landlord wanted to sell but did it really sneakily insisting we allowed viewings 4 months into a one year contract. We didn’t of course so were served with a Section 21 after 6 months.

We had to take current property last August (£500 month more than last place as nowhere else available). Now been served another Section 21 as landlord is not happy that we refused to pay for a professional gardener (his mate) which wasn’t in contract, or allow him to take the toilet seat that’s been in the property. This is revenge because he was unhappy about having to fix the shower and faulty dishwasher!

We are a large family and have loads of stuff. I can’t believe we’re having to pack up and move again!

AIBU to think that LL’s shouldn’t have the power to kick people out of their homes at whim and notice should be 6 months not two months?

It’s was also January, who insists a hedge needs to be trimmed in January

Hedges should be cut in the winter, because of nesting birds.

I get frustration from both sides. LL before you probs had tenants that got on and “made do” with broken shower, dishwasher ect. They prob stayed and paid and that was that. Then your family come along and he is met with issue on issue. LL should no way of asked for the toilet set back… even I know how this one goes. LL Plumber ”friend” will remove seat and at end of tenancy oh no original seat at walk through that will be ££ off deposit. (No way to prove plumber took it) LL and estate agent wouldn’t have communicated that LL wanted it back because even estate agent would have said no you can’t do that. Then as for the garden another money making trick. The gardener “friend” will quote an outrageous amount and LL will bung him half. While you pay said quote. No no no.

Unfortunately, the rules of renting in England are basically if they say jump, you say how high, then jump even higher. Never do anything that could upset your landlord, and ideally get a professional clean before each house inspection. We had a landlord insist on a professional clean every 6 months by a firm of his choice ,(his mate), and at least twice the"cleaner" didn't clean at all but charged us anyway.
However we had to suck it up because renting was so competitive

@BananaOrangeApple Some people will never be in a position to buy a house due to a variety of circumstances such as poor credit, not working due to disability etc.

January is winter though.

And that’s fair enough but you then can’t expect to have owner privileges if you rent from a private LL

There’s lots of reasons but I bet the number one is prioritising other things…holidays, smoking, going out and living beyond their means. But for whatever reason you have to rent privately you can’t expect the LL to treat you as the owners.

I always scratch my head with tenants in private rented accommodation. They fail to forget that, it actually isn't your house, someone is allowing you to stay there and have set some ground rules. Would they rent an air bnb and be so pushy on the rules on the agreement, probably not. If all these landlords sell out, where are you going to live then, because there is no council housing left and if you can't afford to buy your own, you're pretty knackered. I've been in rented accommodation, all be it a long time ago, so know exactly how it is before anyone makes comment. I am now also a landlord of a few properties housing people on benefits, one is about to be served a section 21 for failure to pay their rent. She also has fat dripping from her kitchen ceiling, and is a complete dirty basdard. It's up to her how she lives and I'll just gut it and clean when she goes. But not paying rent is totally unacceptable. Thus is the second time she has been served as the last time she got in touch with the council to pay up. Not prepared to.put up with it any more.

what the heck has that got to do with the OPs situation?

I think the landlord is regretting not having a clause in the tenancy / inventory re the dishwasher - along the lines of any white goods provided in the property are to be maintained / repaired by the tenant if the tenant wishes them to be retained in the property, otherwise the landlord will remove the aforesaid white goods and store them / sell them / give to charity / whatever.

hence the wish to remove the ' fancy ' toilet seat as any minute now the OP will claim it is broken / needs attention.

The shower is regarded is a fitting and fixture hence why the landlord had to repair that.

pretty sure I read a post by the OP previously re the gardener / hedges.

Instead of being difficult and posting on Mumsnet the tenant needs to be out there finding a new rental - as I wouldn't be renting to them with their attitude,

otherwise the tenant and large family will be turning up at their local Council housing offices and being put in temp accom i.e. maybe a b+b for easily 2 years depending on where in the country they are.

The OP will enjoy the rules and regulations that some of these temp accom come with - NOT !

The problem is that there are a LOT of bad LL's out there these days. Gone are the days when two people with a property each would sell up and join forces, now they live in one and "Just rent out" the other.

Then they find out that there is a hell of a lot more to being a LL than collecting rent money every month. So when there is an issue that will actually cost them money to fix, they bin off the tenant and get a new one in. The house next door to me is owned by a shister like this, we have had new neighbours every 6 months for the last 3 years. Each neighbour reports the same issues, each neighbour moans about the LL, each neighbour gets chucked out. I felt so bad for a young couple excitedly viewing it last time that I found an excuse to be outside and had a quiet word. They didnt take it but did say that they were surprised it was up for rent as they had seen that it had been up for rent earlier in the year, so now they understood why.

Except that now it is looking increasingly like the law will change so the house is up for sale, wildly over priced of course.

Wow, there is a lot of empathy missing on this thread.

To all the homeowners, if someone wanted to take your toilet seat, would you let them?

If some con artist wanted to make you pay for a service so his mate could benefit from you paying, even though you could do the service adequately yourself, would you?

Now imagine if you refuse these things, someone can take your family home from you.

It's disgusting and must be stopped.

That’s terrible, @Mouldyfoot. If you don’t mind me asking, were the landlords’ selling up?

The English system is horrible & it shouldn’t be so easy to end tenancies, but it sounds like you’re making your relationships with your landlords difficult for some unknown reason.

the 1st LL might have been looking to sell the property with you in residence so you wouldn’t need to move out, but you refused access even though I’m sure reasonable access for viewings will have been stipulated in your lease.

the 2nd LL - you are responsible for either upkeep of the garden or paying the upkeep, this will also be in your lease. If he had to have someone do it does that mean that you hadn’t met your responsibility to maintain it?

im actually stumped about why he would want to get access to remove a used toilet seat & can’t work out which if you is meant to be seeking revenge on whom.

I agree, not a lot of empathy for the OP here moving every 6 months is awful, m glad no fault evictions will hopefully soon be a thing in the past.

Again - we are landlords (so we understand the emotion and the difficulties involved).
But LL are not 'allowing you to stay there' - they're not hosting some guests or doing them a favour! They're supplying a service in exchange for payment. The service is to provide a functioning house and they're paid in rent.
If the landlord has aspects that are difficult to maintain, they shouldn't have them present - if the hedge requires specialist attention they should either maintain it themselves (from the profits - it would be a deductible!) or they should have the hedge removed.
Again maintaining the garden with the supplied mower / hedge trimmer for a standard hedge at a manageable height - reasonable. Requiring specialist services at the cost of the tenant - unreasonable.
I

Honestly op. There were hills to die on abs there was hills not to do and you choose the wrong hill. Yes I'm a perfect world this stuff does t matter , in the real world it absolutely does.
We have a rental property that we should really like to sell as it doesn't pay for itself but the tenants are the nicest family who treat the place better than we did when we lived there and I just can't face evicting them as a result. You can't more flies with honey

Why post in AIBU if you are absolutely sure you are not being unreasonable? Why not just post in chat or even a specific housing board and get proper sympathy and advice?

Clearly, you are not aware of contracts and the T has to read to sign and agree. Our contract states the obligations are on the T to maintain gardens, de-weed drives and paths and complete this to a standard that they first moved in 3 monthly checks are the norm and the T would not have taken on the property and contract if they were not happy. Clearly, you are not a LL.

Even if it is not in a contract of a letting as it depends on how good a LL/LA is, most T's are house proud and trea the rental like their home as it is and keep in in line with the majority of other properties on the road.

In our contracts it clearly states the LL will as a last resort emplye a gardener via LA to ensure gardens are kept in good trim, EG same or very close to what they move into. The T was at their liberty not to accpt but did and now honouring that and happy about this

You're a landlord? Figures. Very selective with your rights and responsibilities aren't you? You have absolutely no idea the wording of OPs contract.

How did it work out for you in the end, OP?

But it would have been in the contract that she has to maintain the garden and she hasn’t so the LL has provided her with an alternative option to meet her responsibilities. The hedge is part of the garden & the op has said in a number of ways now that she hasn’t maintained it properly.

op, I wouldn’t let a house to you as I think it would be draining to have a long term working relationship with you. You seem desperate to create a battle out of everything.

Last landlord wanted to sell but did it really sneakily insisting we allowed viewings 4 months into a one year contract. We didn’t of course so were served with a Section 21 after 6 months.

Not sure why you wouldn't allow your landlord to show the house. Did you know for sure the people possibly buying were planning on moving in. Maybe they were buying as an investment and would appreciate good sitting tenants .
Here the buyers have to honour any leases with the tenants so you still have been good for the one year contract.

The title is very misleading, the family are not exactly being evicted ( yet ) the bailiffs are not appearing on the doorstep tomorrow.
The family have only just been served the section 21, with luck they will have found somewhere by the time they need to leave.

I have asked a few times if its actually eviction as in bailiffs. Or Just the section 21 on its own . And never got answered. Going through actual eviction is different from just the section 21 much more stressful