Tenant and house sale re rent

[PennyDreadful66]

Hi all,

I have an unusual situation I need advice on:

My mum and dad has lived in a property for over 20 years, the landlord went to Spain and has barely looked after the property. My dad did all the repairs and whatever as landlord was useless and a gas servicing hasn't been done in over 5 years, obviously my mum and dad choose to stay in a property with a landlord like this and that was their choice.

My dad sadly passed away in March and a week later the landlord got in touch with my mum to say she wants to sell the property and she has until the end of April to move out, notice was never served despite me asking for it so we could prove the landlord was asking her to leave to see if we could secure a housing association or council house as my mum is on a very low income.

Anyway a chap on her street has spoken to my mum and said he'd buy it, he's sort of a monopoly man and is buying all the houses on the street so my mum sorted it out between the landlord and the man so the landlord didn't have to put it on the market or anything like that.

Once proceedings started my mum stopped paying rent, I know it's not okay to do that as it is the landlords property but she felt that the landlord has been useless (they have), hasn't done anything in the property that should have been done and well sort of told her she needed to leave her home straight after my dad died and whilst I don't agree with her not paying rent, I can understand it (they've never missed a payment in the 20 years they've been there actually they were a couple of days late with one payment because of something and the landlord sent a bloke to look through our windows!).

But now the landlord is saying she won't allow the sale to go ahead without my mum paying the rent, she doesn't have the amount up front as she used some of it for my dads funeral etc and I don't know where we stand - should we allow eviction proceedings as when the new owner takes over he's going to let my mum live there anyway or is the landlord being awkward? (She owes about £1200).

I know my mum shouldn't be withholding rent but with everything that's happened I completely understand it, the house is in a state it's mouldy, black mold, damp, dated etc she didn't even put a new boiler in, they asked my dad to pretend it's his house and he got a boiler for being over a certain age on that scheme a few years ago, a gas service hasn't been done since 2016, the list honestly goes on and on and like I appreciate my parents put up with it but that's not an excuse on the landlords part.

@Tinkywinkydinkydoo

I would be careful here if your mum wants to stay in that particular place, the current landlord can just easily put the place on the market and sell it to someone else and legally evict your mum. If she doesn’t want to stay there, which it doesn’t sound like she should if it has all them problems, then the landlord will have to evict her legally , once she has to leave the council will have to house her but that could be anything from a bed sit to a BnB for a while, depending on your local council. If she wants to stay in that place and the landlord is saying she will only sell to the other person if your mum pays her missing rent then it’s really that simple, either she pays the missing rent or waits to be legally evicted. Are there any other places available for her to rent around the same price?

My mum wants to stay, I don't know why but I think it's because that's where she lived with my dad which is fair enough.

I'm thinking about just paying it to save the headache honestly.

The current landlord does not have to evict your mum in order to sell the property - so your comments about the new person “letting her back” are wrong. The buyer can proceed with your mum in situ and the terms of the tenancy stay the same and just pass from one owner to the next. If the new potential owner wants to evict his new tenant then he will have to do it properly therefore will have to do gas and electric certification, give your mum certain paperwork etc etc.

Your mum is more than 2 months in arrears so LL can use s.8 notice relying on ground 8 which is 2 months notice. (Gas certs etc not relevant to a s.8)
Ground 8 is a mandatory ground so if LL uses this, your mum at least needs to get rent down to 2 months or below before any hearings so LL can no longer rely on that ground otherwise a possession order will be granted and she will be evicted.

Your mum needs to pursue the repairs seperatly.

@VanCleefArpels

The current landlord does not have to evict your mum in order to sell the property - so your comments about the new person “letting her back” are wrong. The buyer can proceed with your mum in situ and the terms of the tenancy stay the same and just pass from one owner to the next. If the new potential owner wants to evict his new tenant then he will have to do it properly therefore will have to do gas and electric certification, give your mum certain paperwork etc etc.

What I meant was when she said she won't sell the property without the rent being paid is that she can go through the legal formalities to evict my mum and then sell the property to this gentleman and then he'd let her back (so he says but as pp has mentioned, has no obligation to) but it's a whole lot of messing about on both parts, which is why I'm deciding on whether to seek legal advice or to just pay the rent arrears for her.

There is fault on both sides. Either you or your mother (whoever is better at negotiating) could try and engage in a frank and calm conversation with the landlady to reach a mutually fair agreement.
The l/l has a lot to lose but so does your mother. Renting with a possible CCJ will not be easy.

@20questions

There is fault on both sides. Either you or your mother (whoever is better at negotiating) could try and engage in a frank and calm conversation with the landlady to reach a mutually fair agreement. The l/l has a lot to lose but so does your mother. Renting with a possible CCJ will not be easy.

It'll have to be me, she hasn't actually spoken to my mum throughout all of this - for some reason she's messaging me telling me about wanting my mum out etc etc she hasn't written or spoken to my mum so I guess it'll be me, the fault with my mum is not paying rent for 3 months, the landlady's fault is much greater but I appreciate that doesn't really help my mum.

By not paying the rent your DM has really made a mistake. If she was up to date with the rent the ll wouldn't be able to evict her without getting the gas cert etc etc sorted. As she's in rent arrears the ll can do a different sort of eviction where the gas cert etc don't matter.

If I were you, I'd be getting your DM to scrape every last penny she can together to pay towards the rent arrears, and if she can't cover it all, are you or other family able to help in the short term to cover the rest?

I'm a bit concerned that by getting your DF to get a boiler fitted in his name the ll could try and say the boiler belongs to your DM, not the ll, so they don't need to service it. Definitely speak to CAB or Shelter, but make sure they know that the boiler was done in DFs name so they give the right advice.

Thank you for all the advice. It's been very helpful. I'll probably just pay the rent arrears up, I can't actually be bothered with the headache, it's been a hard year and £1200 isn't worth it.