Surely I’m not expected legally to have this tenant in my property forevermore??

[Saywhetw]

Tenant been in property since 2017. I need to sell. Solicitor telling me we can’t used section 21 as I didn’t provide the right information at the time of the tenancy and also didn’t carry out electrical report or gas safety checks. This was oversight on our part. We can’t seem to use section 8 as tenant paid rent and isn’t a nuisance or anything but she literally won’t move even though we’ve asked repeatedly she just says she hadn’t got anywhere to go. It doesn’t seem right there’s no way out of this?? Solicitor said best they can do is write a letter asking her to vacate. I will get a second opinion tomorrow but really panicking now

You're a slum landlord and want to break the law. You deserve every bit of stress you get TBH! Did you protect the deposit??

Tenancies don't just expire by themselves. The landlord has to serve notice if they want the tenant to leave. In this case she legally can't because she fucked up, but she can rectify it and then serve notice. Either way, notice has to be served.

Could you mortgage the property instead of selling? With the rental income covering the mortgage payments, you could release most of the equity. We did everything by the book, it still took 18 months and cost nearly £5000 in legal/court/bailiff fees, and the tenant had stopped paying rent.

@DurinsBanethis is a common misconception. Only a tenant or a court can end a tenancy. The tenancy is not ‘up’ at the end of the fixed term, it just means it’s no longer in a fixed term but the landlord cannot simply ask or expect the tenant to leave. The formal eviction process still applies.

OP, I would join the NRLA which isn’t costly and take advice from them. They have a really good telephone advice line. Or find a reputable eviction specialist. If you’re using a solicitor make sure they have housing knowledge, some solicitors are ill informed in this area of the law.

It’s not clear from your OP exactly what was and wasn’t in place when the tenancy commenced. It is possible to issue retrospective paperwork for some things and then reissue the S21 - you don’t need to start a new tenancy agreement as some PPs have suggested. But I think you may be on a sticky wicket if the gas safety record is incomplete, judges are never impressed by that.

Currently, there are no grounds to use S8 for selling although this will form part of the new regulations under the RRB which should take effect from next spring. Even then, you might still come a cropper if you haven’t issued the correct paperwork.

Courts are doing everything they can to keep tenants in their homes right now.

No investor would touch this unless the price i rock bottom. @Saywhetw if you need to get them out , help them get another property to move to ...offer to pay deposit and 1st month's rent for a new place

Exactly!

Why wouldn’t they? They don’t need to inherit the problems that OP is dealing with, they can simply issue a new tenancy agreement and do everything properly.

I do caveat that by saying they’d need to check on the status of the gas safety certificate as that might be the one thing that would ‘pollute’ a new AST.

You really shshouldn'be giving advice when you don't know anything about being a landlord.

If its that easy, why can't OP do that as well?.

You brought that upon yourself. No gas or electric safety checks is really bad and putting your tenant at risk. It's not just an "oversight".

Your solicitor doesn't seem very resourceful though. First I'm pretty sure you can just send all the required documentation, then serve the notice again.
And there is also another obvious way out, which is to pay your tenant to leave ("cash for key" arrangement).

You’re absolutely outrageous.

Not complying with the rules and regulations yourself and potentially jeopardising your tenant’s safety, and that’s an oversight. Bet you wouldn’t accept that as an excuse if they didn’t pay their rent, would you? You’ve got some nerve.

Do you own other rentals OP? Have you forgotten their legal checks also?

You are going to need specialist advice. This is the name that always pops up

https://www.ast-assistance.com/about-us

A guy called Mark Dawson.

Because you have done everything wrong - even though it was an oversight, you will need to jump through all the legal hoops to fix it

https://www.ast-assistance.com/

You definitely need these people. They were a terrific help to me. (NB I was a proactive responsible LL) but my tenants were challenging.

Check AST out. They’ll take over the whole situation, advise you and put paid to your stress.

You should check the legal case Byrne v Harwood-Delgado 26th June 2022 Luton County Court.

Gas check was not provided at the start of the tenancy. Court ruled that this requirement of the gas regulations can never be remedied. Therefore the landlord will never be able to serve a valid s.21 notice.

Haha, haha, haha

Without seeming to defend the OP but tenants seem to have all the rights and none of the responsibilities such as paying rent. Miss twice and automatic eviction should be the rule.

Can't you just massively increase the cost of her rent so she leaves?

Probably the most stupid advice I’ve read on here for a long time.

@Hamthatbelongstome yes that’s what I was told that the section 21 is off the table completely as I don’t even have the records to now serve. No need for nasty remarks though, I’m struggling a lot as it is and need to sell

If OP can’t evict her the tenant would obviously just stop paying rent. Maybe the OP should try and rectify her mistakes rather than decide to be even worse landlord

Currently yes, but once the renters' rights act is in place from next year, all rent increases will be eligible to be contested/denied

I do always find it funny that you need a gas and electricity safety certificate for a rental property and yet what proportion of owner occupiers have this done? Pretty much no one.

But yes, op Id expect a landlord to have done this. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. You’ll have declared the income to HMRC too?

@Hamthatbelongstome You have literally no knowledge of the OP's circumstances - for all you know the house is her parents/PILs and is being sold to cover care home fees - how is that funny?

So you can't s21 them.

What you need to do is open a dialogue with them and find out what they would need to move out. There must be something they want.

If you're so desperate to sell, could you sell to the tenant?

Remember to pay any capital gains within 60 days of completion