can anyone tell me how to stop/delay my eviction?

[bumbleandbumble]

We have been renting our house from our uncle for approx 4 years. He passed away and now his children want to evict us, so they can have an agency rent the property for them.

We had a verbal and email agreement but it had no end date as he told us he did NOT ever want to kick us out. His children live in the US and have just emailed us to say we need to go. We cannot afford to move and have no where to go. Is there anyway we can delay them? We are not late in any payments, they have no claims against us, just they want us out.

Where can I get legal advice that doesn't cost a fortune?

If you are in the UK speak to CAB or Shelter. There are legal steps that they need to take before making you move out. Have a look here for the legal aspect of what they have to do if they want you to move out.

Oh, and don't forget that the only person who can order you to leave is a Judge. No one else.

Not sure how the inheritance affects things but they still need to issue the correct notices for eviction.

Did you sign a tenancy agreement? The standard format in England is an AST (assured shorthold tenancy).

Also, was any deposit taken?

Not sure how the inheritance affects things but they still need to issue the correct notices for eviction.

Did you sign a tenancy agreement? The standard format in England is an AST (assured shorthold tenancy).

Also, was any deposit taken?

Not sure how the inheritance affects things but they still need to issue the correct notices for eviction.

Did you sign a tenancy agreement? The standard format in England is an AST (assured shorthold tenancy).

Also, was any deposit taken?

Not sure how the inheritance affects things but they still need to issue the correct notices for eviction.

Did you sign a tenancy agreement? The standard format in England is an AST (assured shorthold tenancy).

Also, was any deposit taken?

I have just spoken with shelter and they say I have a assured short hold tenancy… so I guess we have to wait for a section 21 to be sent in writing.

you do indeed have an AST, and you can sit it out until the bailiffs come, and the section 21 can be rejected if it is not 100% correct.

your minimum legal notice is 2 months and harrassing you is illegal.

you will be leaving eventually and you don't want an eviction on your record for future landlords. So work on that 2 months and start looking.

If you've been paying market rent, Shelter is indeed correct. You have an implied contract (AST) even if nothing was signed. Your cousins will have to issue a section 21 which gives you at least 2 months to vacate. After this, your cousins have to get a court order. Without an AST in place this can take a few weeks (with an AST in place there is something called an accelerated procedure which means the court/bailiff application can be done through the post.)

Your cousins would have to attend court or send a solicitor in their absence. And if you continue to pay rent, you won't be liable for a CCJ.

Having said all of this, it depends on the relationship you have/want to have with your cousins and how much you are willing to piss them off!

One last point... you don't have an 'eviction on your record'. Your future landlords may ask for references but without him actually speaking to your cousins, he wouldn't know of the eviction.

Did your uncle leave a will ? If so what does it say? If he told you that he didn't want you to leave then he may have made provision for you to stay such as a right of occupation of the property.
You can get hold of a copy of the will via the Probate Registry for the cost of £6. It's a public document so anyone can see it.
hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/pa001s-eng.pdf
You may also be able to make a claim against his estate on the grounds that you were financially dependent on him ( from your email you suggest that you were paying below market rent). You only have 6 months from the date of the grant of probate to make a claim but if your uncle had given you assurances that you could stay then a claim may be possible. You will need to a see a specialist solicitor though to discuss whether a claim is viable.
I may be able to recommend someone depending on where you are located.
PM me if you think this may be an option.

If you were paying below market rent, I don't believe an AST is implied and therefore you would have fewer rights.

If you wanted to, could you offer to continue renting but through the agency?

posh frock I am interested. I will message you.

I am not sure about the will. The aunt and uncle never lived in the UK and neither do their children so I assume the will will be registered not in this country.

The children claim the house is in a trust in their name…but I am sure that the house technically belongs to the aunt as her name is on the deed as the owner and she is still alive.

We cannot offer to pay through the agency as we can't afford it. Thats the problem the estate agents have promised that if they manage it they will bring in 3 x what we currently pay. I can't afford anything in this part of london and we have just got our children into a great school for reception.

at this point we really don't care to speak to them ever again…they sent an email saying "its not personal, its business"

we didn't pay a deposit. but we did renovate the entire house and put in 40-50K before we moved in… its a very complicated situation, shelter have said we need a solicitor as we may have "invested interest".

well, clearly no worry about pissing off your cousins, then....

I repeat that you aren't going anywhere until legal notice is issued, so keep paying the rent. This does indeed sound very complicated - your new landlord is the owner of the house and that is the first thing to determine.

good luck.

I would speak to a solicitor who specialises in landlord/tenants law. My DP works for a landlord organisation on their advice line and he's the one who mentioned to me that if you're paying below market rent, an AST is not implied so the landlord doesn't have the same contractual obligations. So a S21 notice wouldn't have to be issued.

Make sure any solicitor has good experience of this; my DP has had landlords phone him from court before and ask him to speak to their solicitor to give them accurate advice!

It sounds like you could potentially argue that you have a beneficial interest in the property and cannot be evicted using the normal possession procedure (whether that is the accelerated procedure under s21 or otherwise) - some people have a life interest and basically cannot be evicted at all but the property never belongs to them IYSWIM. Your expenditure on the property might point to this, depending on Uncle's response. I am thinking proprietary estoppel, unjust enrichment, etc.

See a good housing law specialist and they will be able to advise. Do you have home insurance? This might pay for a lawyer?

It might be worth writing down a chronology of events and copying any correspondence with Uncle and taking this to whomever you see.

Whatever anyone else says you cannot be evicted without an order of the court. If they issue a possession claim you can defend it on whatever basis you are advised is appropriate and if it has legs (real merit) it could be literally months and months before a court makes a decision (but £££££ of legal fees)

Bumble I have PM'd you.

we cannot afford high legal fees. this is what compounds our problems!
there had been no house insurance for a long time.
one of the cousins just purchased this and she is paying it since a few months ago.

The advice from shelter was that even though we are paying below market rent we still have AST, in other words the rent has to be even lower to not be an assured tenant, according to them.

A lawyer who covers property, rather than landlord and tenant may be more use. The law is the same as applies to cohabitees, so a family lawyer specialising in cohabs would be a good start...see the resolution website, as they have accredited specialists in cohab law and you can search in your local area.