House help!!

[Ahhashaker]

Posing on behalf of a friend.

She lives in a rented property and this morning we found her house being advertised on a local Facebook buy and sell page as a student house starting in September. DF had no knowledge that her tenancy would be up until we found this post.

She rents through an estate agent but is on good terms with the landlords. When they moved in they was told that the LL had originally purchased the house for his son and girlfriend but they had moved to a different city. We now have suspicion that the LL is passing the house over to his son and they are renting the rooms to students.

DF is unsure where she stands as they have not been served an eviction notice yet her house is being advertised to rent. Does anyone know what her rights are or where she may stand on this?

How long does her lease have to run
She will have to be served notice to quit

She’s been told from June she will be moving over to a monthly contract

Bump

Is her original term up
Has she been served with notice to quit
Contact Shelter?

I’m unsure if the original term is up sorry but she hasn’t been served anything. The first she found out about having to move is this Facebook advert this morning

How long has she lived there? Assuming it is an AST which has passed 6 months they can put her on a rolling tenancies but it is usually 2 months notice on ll side. It seems unlikely they will get much student interest atm. She does not have to allow viewings or photos. Shelter website is useful.

She definitely doesn't need to move out until she has been served with a notice to quit

She should expect notice from her landlord soon, perhaps a call to the agent to clarify might be worth it. As awful as your friends situation is there’s nothing wrong with the landlord advertising it prior to serving notice, it’s just a crappy way to go about it.

She doesn’t have to leave until she’s had notice from her landlord to leave.

She doesn’t have to allow any viewings.

It’s good she’s spotted the advert - gives her more time to make her plans.

She doesn’t have any legal way to stop the landlord advertising the house, if that’s what you’re asking.

Tell your friend to say nothing to either the LL or agent.

In order to have your friend leave they have to serve the correct notice. Then if your friend decides not to leave at the end of the notice period the LL has to apply to court to begin eviction proceedings.

It’s possible the LL doesn’t know what they need to do or are hoping your friend doesn’t realise what the legal process is. Do not forewarn them that you know they are planning to put her out.

She needs to give herself as much time as possible to find somewhere else to live. Particularly as when the government ban on evictions end there are likely to be a LOT of people looking for new rentals. So your friend really needs to quietly start looking now and start saving a deposit and first months rent. Plus moving costs.

If your friend does receive notice she needs to check it is all correct. If it isn’t she must not inform the landlord of this! She keeps quiet and let them find out in court. Meaning they have to start the whole two month notice period again. This is all to give her more time.

Just call the agent. As for legal bit they will serve her notice. But if she's a good tenant why would they want to replace her? Is the advertised rent higher than what she is paying?

When I was given notice it was the legal bare minimum of 10 weeks.
Bastards....

Agree with Chandler Don't contact the agent
If / when you get served with anything contact Shelter

Thank you everyone, I have passed the thread onto her to have a look through.

DF has already tried to contact the estate agents this morning but they have not responded yet. We are in a very student heavy city so there is a huge interest already.

We were unsure on the legality side so good to know it’s not illegal just slightly shady