Landlord has asked me to leave but letting agent won't serve Section 21

[gottomove]

Name changed for this as I'm posting it on behalf of my DP who is in this situation and it's outing if someone recognises the situation.

DP lives in a 4 bed house share, 2 rooms have been empty since Christmas and the 3rd is occupied until 31st March. Back in February someone from the lettings agent rang him and asked if they could pass his details to the landlord as he wanted a chat. A couple of days later he spoke to the landlord who said that he had decided to stop letting it out as a house share and was going to advertise with the view to getting a family to move in. This has come at the worst possible time for DP as he is desperately trying to find a new job where I live (we are in a LDR at the moment) so the last thing he wants to do is sign a 6/12month tenancy on a new place, we understand this isn't his landlords issue though.

His landlord asked if he could leave by 31st March (which would have been 5 weeks notice) but when my DP explained re the timing he said any time up until the end of April would be ok and to let him know, as he was going to market it through April with the hope for new tenants to move in in May. As soon as DP told me all this I did say that due to COVID the current notice period for evictions is 6 months but as his landlord was understanding and happy to be flexible DP didn't want to push for the 6 months even though it would be a big help. They ended their conversation by agreeing that DP would give him an update in mid March re when he was leaving and he followed this up in writing by email. As time went on and DP was still looking for a job he realised he probably could do with a bit longer in his current house but didn't want to go back on what he had said to his landlord (just to be clear, a firm date was never agreed).

Fast forward to last weekend and the landlords daughter turns up at the house and asks if she was ok to store some things in one of the downstairs bedrooms. DP agreed as he was put on the spot and she went on to essentially fill the bedroom with lots of her personal belongings (we only realised how much she had put in there once she had left). We thought this a bit odd (along with a couple of other things that had been happening which I won't go into) but at the end of the day there wasn't much DP could do, and in a text the day before his landlord had again mentioned he was looking for a family to move in in May.
That night DP gets a notification from SpareRoom (which he had registered on to see what was available in his area) saying he had a new 'match' he clicks on it and to our surprise there's his house! It was being listed by the landlords daughter saying she was moving in on the 31st March and was looking for a housemate from 9th April. Obviously this annoyed DP as not only was he not aware of any of this, if she is only letting out one room there is no rush for him to leave as there will be two spare bedrooms still, or he could be her house mate without her having to advertise in the first place?! We understand she may have her reasons for wanting to find a different house mate, not that she has ever met DP, but it was still a bit of a kick in the teeth.

So with there being no immediate reason to leave, DP emails his letting agent and asks them to serve him an official Section 21 eviction notice, he would still plan to leave in less than 6 months but it would take the pressure off a bit. This was 9 days ago now and despite 2 follow up emails and trying to call them 3 times he has not heard back from the letting agent. As DP had conversations with his landlord about leaving he wasn't sure if this would constitute him agreeing to leave by the end of April even though no date has been agreed.

Sorry I've tried to keep that as short as possible as there's been further issues I won't go into but my questions are a) does DP need to leave by the end of April even though he hasn't been served any sort of official notice and b) what do you think DPs next move should be? As he is getting no response from the lettings agent should he email his landlord directly? We think the landlord must be aware of his request to be evicted officially as within a few hours of emailing the lettings agent the SpareRoom advert had disappeared.

Thanks for getting this far, any thoughts are appreciated

I think the Letting Agent knows the Landlord is trying to pull a fast one. I would ring Shelter and ask them.

Seconding a call to shelter they're excellent

I'm no expert but I believe under covid rules the landlord can't make him leave in a hurry like this and must go through official procedures - section 21

Tbh your dp needs to stop being so passive and nice and stand up for himself, the landlord is not his pal and is not acting in your dps interest and your dp needs to get on board with that concept

It's easy in such situations for the lines to appear blurred

He doesn’t need to leave until the LL had served the appropriate notice in writing. Make sure he doesn’t agree to anything else and also make sure to get everything in writing.

Working on a distant memory here - I think it is or was easier to evict someone if a family member was living in the property. I’m not sure if that is affected by type of tenancy or not. That might be be what the LL was trying to do by having his daughter move in. I’d suggest doing your own research on that as I am not up to date.

As your DP is just renting a room in a house, I suggest that he just finds another room to rent somewhere!

@DifficultBloodyWoman

He doesn’t need to leave until the LL had served the appropriate notice in writing. Make sure he doesn’t agree to anything else and also make sure to get everything in writing.

Working on a distant memory here - I think it is or was easier to evict someone if a family member was living in the property. I’m not sure if that is affected by type of tenancy or not. That might be be what the LL was trying to do by having his daughter move in. I’d suggest doing your own research on that as I am not up to date.

The eviction ban has just been extended so the Landlord cannot ask you to leave. That's why his daughter's things have made their way into your house! GET THEM OUT!!!! Ignore your landlord and stay put. He cannot ask him to leave or evict him for months yet.

It's imperative that you get his daughter's stuff OUT of that house ASAP __

Yip the DD and LL are pulling a fast one moving her gear into the house. 🌺

Does DP have an assured shorthold tenancy for just his room? I don't think he can prevent the landlord from letting out the other rooms either to a new housemate or to this daughter. However your DP cannot be evicted without due process. That due process cannot even start until a section 21 notice is served. There is no need for your DP to ask for it to be served - if they don't do a section 21 notice he can stay put, there is no pressure at all for him to leave and the verbal requests for him to leave soon have no standing in law and can be ignored. Clearly in the medium term he wants to move anyway so it's worth trying to get things moving on that front but there's no need to even attempt to get that sorted on the unrealistically short timescales that this landlord wants. The agents aren't playing ball because they know full well that the landlord is being unreasonable and attempting to circumvent the law.

To the poster saying
It'simperativethat you get his daughter's stuff OUT of that house ASAP
he only rents a room in the house not the whole property so don't give such terrible advice

Again not really sure what your DP wants but he can stay for as long as he wants if he has an AST and the LL would need to serve notice to ensure he can make him leave. Remember too that your DP will need to give a month's notice if he wants to leave

Is it separate tenancies for each room or one joint tenancy. That's going to affect things.

Normally if the landlord is resident a tenant has less security. But I'm pretty sure the LL can't change the tenant's status by moving in after the tenant did!

I'm wondering if the LL spoke to the lettings agent originally stating his intentions and the agent said you can't do that but if the LL wanted to try asking himself about DP moving out sooner he was free to do so and would facilitate contact with DP but nothing more.

When is DP's tenancy due to expire?

If his tenancy only covers his room then the landlord can do what he wants with the other rooms, including storing his stuff.

Good Lord! This is incredibly shabby behaviour on behalf of the LL and his daughter, not to mention the letting agents who are supposed to be the professionals in all this. Perhaps they are trying to talk to the LL in the background and are waiting for instructions before getting back to you?

Or perhaps the LL has given his agents notice and is managing the property directly himself from now on and no one's thought to tell your DP?

How many rooms did the Spare Room advert offer? If it was only one or two then maybe the daughter is going to move in and is advertising another room but is assuming your DP will be staying until he's ready to leave and actually there is no need to serve a section 21 notice. It certainly looks as though the LL's plan to let the whole house to a family is not going ahead.

I think your DP should sit tight and await developments with interest. As long as he has an AST he is relatively secure. Good luck to him with the job hunting.

Will try abs reply to everyone so sorry if I miss anyone out!

@SakuraEdenSwan1 @Graphista ringing shelter might be a good idea, we've been using their website to get all this information from, I told DP he needed to be careful as soon as he had the conversation in Feb as i had a feeling the LL was going to do something dodgy but he's too nice for his own good! He is really angry now that it's clear he's been lied too though and has been firm about his rights when emailing the lettings agent.

@ismiseeire most of the house shares in his area require a 12 month tenancy so as he is looking to move areas it's a bit tricky

@MNWorldisCrazy he's not bothered about the daughter moving in (although it might be a bit awkward!), he only rents the room so tenants come and go for the other rooms without him having any advance notice normally anyway.

@KihoBebiluPute thank you so much this is exactly what we wanted to hear! Yes he is on an assured short hold tenancy, I've been saying the last couple of days that I think if he just doesn't do anything and doesn't leave then that will force them to serve a section 21 but was just a bit concerned as there had obviously been conversations between them. I did wonder if that was why the lettings agents aren't replying but naively assumed they would just tell the LL he can't do that.

@safariboot @garlictwist they each have individual tenancies, we aren't bothered about the daughters stuff just that this has all gone on behind DPs back whilst he is still living there!

@Chicchicchicchiclana we did wonder whether the LL had given them notice as when he originally spoke to DP he said he knew they had been crap with other issues in the past, however no one has told DP this if this is the case. The advert is for one room and in the description his DD said she was going to have the upstairs of the house using one bedroom and changing the other to a living area (one of these is DPs room) and the lodger could have the downstairs of the house and do the same with the two bedrooms that are downstairs. The house is very obviously set up for a house share so we were a bit dubious about the family thing as there would really need to be building work before that could happen (basically a tiny kitchen and living area with the rest of the house being bedrooms). Even if she still wants a lodger she can get one as there is obviously still the downstairs rooms available but she will just have to do without her private living area!

Thanks everyone so much for the advice, it's confirmed everything I thought and I'm hoping if DP sees other people saying the same he will relax and realise they can't force him to do anything!

@KihoBebiluPute

Does DP have an assured shorthold tenancy for just his room? I don't think he can prevent the landlord from letting out the other rooms either to a new housemate or to this daughter. However your DP cannot be evicted without due process. That due process cannot even start until a section 21 notice is served. There is no need for your DP to ask for it to be served - if they don't do a section 21 notice he can stay put, there is no pressure at all for him to leave and the verbal requests for him to leave soon have no standing in law and can be ignored. Clearly in the medium term he wants to move anyway so it's worth trying to get things moving on that front but there's no need to even attempt to get that sorted on the unrealistically short timescales that this landlord wants. The agents aren't playing ball because they know full well that the landlord is being unreasonable and attempting to circumvent the law.

This.

The landlord has to serve a s21 (unless rent arrears), which is a no fault eviction/I want my house back. Costs ll about £150 iirc.

S21 gives an expiry date (4 weeks I think) and ONLY once that date has passed, can the ll go back to court to seek possession, which costs more money. (And I know it's not relevant for your dp, but if tenant leaves at this stage, you've made yourself intentionally homeless).

When he has a possession order, then the tenant has to move out or ll can instruct CEO to evict.

It's a long road, dp has plenty of time - even more so cos the courts have a massive backlog for housing!!. Don't worry about ll daughters stuff, he already has a tenancy in place, his legal position will not change.

Good luck to your DP for the job hunting! With any luck he will be in a new job in your area long before the landlord gets through the formal process to end his tenancy.

May I also suggest that you don't prompt the LL or letting agency any more about serving a Section 21. They 'should' know this already (whilst I appreciate it clarifies things more for you etc). But waiting for them to serve the correct notice in the correct lawful way will buy you some more time. Currently 6 months from when notice is served (as long as you have an ASL). I guess the daughter moving in might make things awkward (and might be part of the plan) but your DP will be ok timewise.

Well after all that he has just had a call from the lettings agent to say they are serving a section 21 notice today, he hadn't chased them again and was going to call shelter at lunchtime but obviously no need now! He's really hoping not to be there in 6 months time but at least now he has some more time, I'm hoping it won't be too awkward when the daughter moves in but I told DP that at the end of the day he just needs to remember that he has done nothing wrong in all this.
Thanks everyone for your advice .

OK, things to remember are:

He doesn't need to do anything right now, but when he receives the section 21 notice he should check it VERY thoroughly (shelter may be able to help with this. there are very strict rules for what counts as valid). If there are any errors, it is not valid. He does not need to point this out to the LL right away, but if he needs to buy a bit more time he can point out the errors in a bit further down the line and they will have to re-issue a new Section 21 Notice without the errors, which will re-start the clock on the 6 months notice.

Even if the Section 21 notice is all perfectly correct, the date of expiry of 6 months notice is NOT the date he has to leave by. That is the date on which the landlords can apply to the courts for an eviction order. He can still stay put at that point if he has to. He doesn't have to leave until there is a court order saying he has to leave. He should be a little cautious about this strategy as of course he may need the good will of his current landlords to get a reference when he does have to move.

If all else fails and he finds he is out of there and still doesn't have a new job, he can look for a room that is being let without an AST as a lodger living in a landlord's home - the advantage of that would be no 6 month commitment which you said in your OP would be unwelcome. Lodging agreements give far less protection to the tenant than an AST but have the advantage of being somewhat more flexible if you are in fluctuating circumstances.

Shelter are amazing they really know their stuff

@KihoBebiluPute

OK, things to remember are:

He doesn't need to do anything right now, but when he receives the section 21 notice he should check it VERY thoroughly (shelter may be able to help with this. there are very strict rules for what counts as valid). If there are any errors, it is not valid. He does not need to point this out to the LL right away, but if he needs to buy a bit more time he can point out the errors in a bit further down the line and they will have to re-issue a new Section 21 Notice without the errors, which will re-start the clock on the 6 months notice.

Even if the Section 21 notice is all perfectly correct, the date of expiry of 6 months notice is NOT the date he has to leave by. That is the date on which the landlords can apply to the courts for an eviction order. He can still stay put at that point if he has to. He doesn't have to leave until there is a court order saying he has to leave. He should be a little cautious about this strategy as of course he may need the good will of his current landlords to get a reference when he does have to move.

If all else fails and he finds he is out of there and still doesn't have a new job, he can look for a room that is being let without an AST as a lodger living in a landlord's home - the advantage of that would be no 6 month commitment which you said in your OP would be unwelcome. Lodging agreements give far less protection to the tenant than an AST but have the advantage of being somewhat more flexible if you are in fluctuating circumstances.

Right I will get him to check and double check, thank you for the great advice you have given! We do have a few short term options as he can live with me and stay in a hotel during the week or he could get an air b n b but obviously these are too expensive long term so ideally he would only do this if he had a new job on the horizon etc. Keeping fingers crossed that he will have a new job by September though!

Good luck OP 🌺

@gottomove

Well after all that he has just had a call from the lettings agent to say they are serving a section 21 notice today, he hadn't chased them again and was going to call shelter at lunchtime but obviously no need now! He's really hoping not to be there in 6 months time but at least now he has some more time, I'm hoping it won't be too awkward when the daughter moves in but I told DP that at the end of the day he just needs to remember that he has done nothing wrong in all this. Thanks everyone for your advice .

They're not allowed to serve a Section 21, the eviction ban has been extended and this prohibits it

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56350475

[quote MNWorldisCrazy]www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56350475[/quote]
As far as I'm aware that's just the actual physical eviction by bailiffs that are banned, that is step 3 of the process whereas serving a section 21 is only step 1 so a notice can still be served.