Tenants requesting a court order!

[Emily2586]

Hi everyone,

I would really be grateful for some advice. I have a property in England which I would like to move back to. I have given the notice on time and gave my tenants 3 months to find alternative accommodation. The three months have now passed and the tenants have come back to me saying they can not find any place to rent because of their low income and is saying they would like me to start a court order so they could give a letter to the council so that they could assist them.

I wasn't expecting them to do this as I had given three months notice and I had some to them if this wasn't enough time they could let me know and it could be extended slightly to give them time to find something. I was under the impression they were finding a place to rent all this time.

The tenants have been in the property for 10 years and I have no experience of about the legal proceedings in this case. I myself have kids and need to move into this property as I am currently staying with my parents until the tenants move out and I am worried that court proceedings could cost a lot.

Could someone please kindly give any advice of what I could do.

They need you to evict them so they can show the council they are homeless and thus be prioritised for re-housing. If they leave of their own accord, they will be deemed to have made themselves homeless.

You've had the benefit of their rent money for 10 years. Use some of the money to get some legal advice.

Hi, thank you for your reply. The only thing is we don’t have the money for legal costs. I’ve never increased the rent throughout their time as tenants as they been there for so long and they were on a low rent amount as it is for the area we are in as I felt sorry for them. The house needs major repairs and I have no savings as the rent money was used to pay the mortgage off. I’m not sure what to do, whether I need to get a solicitor in this regard.

The notice you give is called a 'notice seeking possession' because that it what it is. It's not an eviction notice, just a warning that if tenants don't vacate by the end of the notice period, that you will make an application to the court to evict them. And when it gets to court, if you haven't done things properly you will have to start over... every landlord should know the law, and be prepared for this.

Did you issue a proper section 21? (Also assuming the deposit is protected, right?)

They may have no choice. If they can’t afford to move to a different private rental and need assistance from the council, then they can’t leave until after the court order.

I'd agree, they are requesting (and likely being advised by the council housing officers and/or Shelter, CAB, etc., to get,) a court ordered eviction. If they cannot find somewhere else to rent, that they can afford, then they will be able to legally remain in the property until you go through the proper legal process and they can remain in it until you get a possession order and the bailiffs arrive to remove them.

The rental market is dire at the minute, for many reasons, and securing another property and moving out of your home of 10 years, in a three month time period will be 'challenging'; particularly if you are on a low income.

Your post suggests that you have been managing the tenancy yourself and you have said you have no experience of the legal proceedings. Hopefully you do have some knowledge of your legal obligations as a landlord and have all the necessary certificates and documentation in place, such as gas and electrical safety inspections and certificates. Without them, the process will be longer.

Your best option may be to engage a company that specialises in evictions - there are many reputable ones which you could find with a quick internet search - and pay them to manage the process for you.

I would also suggest you let your parents know, you may be staying a while longer as this will not be a quick process and it may also be expensive.

Remortgage it. It should not need major repairs if you are housing people. I do hope you've met all the current regulations over the years.

Get the court order. They are correct, they will not be able to rent privately probably & you do need to be homeless to be housed.

I would also research how the government are proposing to change legislation & get a move on with a possession order.

Rent a place for yourself in the meantime as it may take a while.

I'm sorry but whether you currently have money or not, you've said it yourself, their rent low or otherwise has paid off the mortgage on the property.
The law very much sides with you, although you are aware that there has been discussions from the government of removing no fault evictions?

They've paid their rent at what you set it, it's not their fault you now want it back and if you're aware they've been paying very much under rental market value I can't see why you would think they would find somewhere in 3 months. It's also incredibly difficult for low income families who probably need UC top ups to find a landlord or agent to take them on, and that's without fees etc.

Yes, you will have to take them through court eviction, which luckily for you no longer takes very long. Then they will require you to get a bailiff order to remove them. Unless you do that, as someone up thread said, they will be classed as intentionally homeless and the council will not help- not that they will do very much for them with all that except probably at most a substandard B&B with shared bathroom facilities. They will likely lose not just a home they've paid for for ten years but won't be able to store their possessions so will probably end up losing those too

Sorry if I sound heartless but you are plunging people into a very nasty time for them that will uproot them, and their children if they have them. It's extremely hard to rent anywhere right now with a low income. You're putting them out on the street so my compassion is for them. I would also hope for your sake of the house is in bad condition they don't report you to environmental health.

Well you should have saved some of the money you made in rent to cover maintenance and legal fees.

You're making a family homeless and the rental market is awful at the moment. You'll have to find a rental or stay with your parents until you go through the legal eviction process.

It's a good idea to remortgage anyway as a pp suggested. How are you going to afford major repairs if you can't even afford a solicitor?

Definitely yes to the solicitor. Make sure you’ve got the proper documentation too - tenancy agreement, electrical safety certificate, gas safety certificate, evidence that their deposit has been placed with a deposit scheme.

They will be advised by the council and every housing charity that they should not leave until they are physically evicted from the property after all the court proceedings.
If they leave before that, then the council wont help them. They need to be made homeless before the council will find them accommodation.

You need to prepare for that. You're not getting your house back anytime soon. You'll have to go through court to evict, and it's a long process due to waiting times.

If they cant find a rental they can afford, and the council lists are so oversubscribed, then they cant leave. They wont get help from the council if they leave before they are evicted.

You should have landlords insurance with legal cover. If you do, then this is what it's for. If you don't, well, you're going to need to find the money for dome legal advice I'm afraid.

Go to www.landlordzone.co.uk/

• you will get excellent advice and guidance.

Gosh some people here are being very unsympathetic. Landlords sometimes need their properties back for personal reasons like needing a home themselves. But nothing can be done except go through the system of eviction. Like others I advise getting a solicitor. I have sympathy with both parties here.

They will be advised by the council and every housing charity that they should not leave until they are physically evicted from the property after all the court proceedings.
If they leave before that, then the council wont help them. They need to be made homeless before the council will find them accommodation.

This is it really, I’m just going to be echoing what pp have said. You’re a Landlord and your effectively running a business. You should have money put aside in case these sort of things arise. I’m guessing you don’t pay for an estate agent as they’d be able to assist with these things so yeah you’ll need to pay for a solicitor.

For those on low incomes and/or UC (like me) it’s practically impossible to be taken in by a private landlord. They were always going to have trouble looking for a place and they’re doing the right thing legally to ensure they get help from the council. Not great for you but they have to do what’s best for them. I’d also be doing the same if my landlord asked me to leave

I’d also be interested to know how you’d afford major repairs in the house if you can’t afford a solicitor?

You are in a better place than your renters who currently are at risk of homelessness. I'd suggest you remortgage to cover solicitors fees/repairs. Unless of course you have insurance.

Have you served a Section 21?

Are you eligible for help with the Court Fees and are you a member of a Landlord's Association?

And yes, they need a notice of eviction to show the council before they'll get rehomed. Pretty standard practice.

You need proper legal advice. My understanding is that, unless you've served them with a Section 21 notice, you can't start legal proceedings.

My 80year old mother recently became a landlord as she has moved in with a friend and rented out her house. She is very aware of the fact that she cannot just demand that her tenants leave if she wants to move back, and that she will need to go through the proper legal channels.

Hi, thank you all for your helpful advice. There is a lot of stuff I should have mentioned before in my original post as it’s not as straightforward as people are thinking. I went personally to speak to the tenants about my own personal situation which is why I need the house in the first place and had issued section 21.

I haven’t been the landlord for 10 years it was my sister who was the landlord from the start when the tenants moved in 10 years ago, but then my parents found out that she wasn’t paying the mortgage with the rent money and was only paying only interest! It came to the stage where the mortgage company wrote a letter to my sister saying they were going to repossess the house and then my parents found this out and were horrified and instead told me to be the landlord as they had fallen out . As I have children my parents decided to give me this property and I inherited this property as landlord only within the last 4 years. I never received a deposit as my sister has received it and never gave it to me. I did keep some money aside to act as a deposit and followed all procedures but as the tenants kept breaking things in the house I was paying for all the repairs.

The mortgage on the property has not been fully paid off, what I meant was I used the rent money to pay off the monthly mortgage payments on the house.

I always thoughts tenant had high paid job keeps, he has £70k car parked in the drive plus he told bought another brand new car for his wife probably 30 - 40k and states he has property abroad .He also has an older son living there who works full time. Every time I would try increase the rent he would threaten to leave and as I was managing the property myself and has other things going on I didn’t want to go through looking for another tenant and then struggling to pay the mortgage.

Please kindly advise.

Well, that is one of the obvious risks of being a landlord: your tenants might refuse to leave when asked to vacate the property...

So you have no choice now than to start legal proceedings. As others have mentioned they are doing this so that the local council will agree to rehouse them.

I assume you got their rental income every month until now and if you are staying with your parents you are not paying rent yourself so why on earth do you not have money set aside to deal with emergencies such as this one? did you not take the right insurance cover either?

Being a landlord is like any other business, you need to make sure you plan for all eventualities and keep a reserve of funds for emergencies.

Landlords also need to keep money aside for repairs and maintenance and to pay income tax. You can't just expect to just pocket all the money you make from it.

You should also have kept up with the repairs of your home, not expect tenants to live in a house that is not being maintained.

This is why you are getting some fairly negative comments.

You absolutely have the right to move back into your property but being a landlord also comes with responsibilities and risks. Like any other businesses.

Please kindly advisez

Get a Solicitor.

If you've not had the deposit from your sister does this mean it's not been placed in the protection scheme then? Do you have a tenancy agreement with them? Copies of EPC, and gas/electric safety certificates? Law has been tightened up around all these, and maybe you've been a bit naive and trusting if not followed everything. If not done everything by the book then as said, proper legal advice. They'll want section 21 and notice of possession to try and get a Council property most likely, and if things not done properly then not sure how that would go.