Landlord selling house

[itsme189]

I am currently on maternity leave and our landlord is selling our house. We have lived here for years and are in no position to buy right now. My income is SMP and my husband earns just above living wage so we really don't have loads of spare cash to move etc. we are also in a rolling month on month contract so I assume he only needs to give us a months notice to move.

Does anyone know if the council would help us? I am clueless about that process I literally moved out of parents house into this house years ago and have never done anything else.

They will but most likely you'll need to stay put until you're evicted via court. Even then you'll likely be put in a bedsit/hotel for months/years until a property comes available. If it's your first baby a suitable property they offer could be a 1 bed flat which you can't refuse.

You can wait for council housing which could take years depending on wait times in your area or you can look at private rented again. Is there any reason you don't want to private rent again or is there just not much in your area?

So sorry OP that sounds a really tough situation to be in, and bad timing whilst you're on maternity leave....must be really hard having to leave your long term home.We rent and that's one of my worst nightmares!
Can your relatives help for a deposit for another private rental? (if there are any about that is) worth speaking to citizens advice and council.

The landlord will need to give you 2 months notice.

If you don't leave he will then need to evict you. This would mean you probably won't get a good reference.

Depending where you are in the country you may not get social housing Your best course of action is to find somewhere else to rent privately.

In same position OP albeit not pregnant, I do have DC . I'm terrified. My area has nothing, and I mean - nothing. The Renters Rights Bill has landlords running for the hills I think

I'm sorry you are also in this position, I have had the baby which makes it so much more sad I just want to enjoy my time with babes we struggled with fertility issues for years before this. We scraped and scrimped so much to have enough money for me to have 9 months off and now the money we saved to survive on maternity leave (literally pay bills and eat) is going to have to be spent on a deposit for somewhere new if we can even find somewhere the rent is SO high in this area. And I'm going to have to go back to work! Why is there no support unless you refuse to leave? My landlord is a lovely person and just owns this house to rent out and I don't want them to have to take us to court

I would caution against refusing to leave and needing to be evicted. It won't help you to get another place if you have that kind of history, and LLs do share this kind of information.

Unfortunately the risk of renting is this sort of thing, so you really don't have a choice. I'd start looking now and see if you can get council help.

If you have a good relationship with your LL and they aren't desperate to sell for some reason of their own, can you ask them to hold off six months, or whatever time you are on maternity leave? Depending on their own situation and relationship with you, they may be willing to give a little time, if they can.

It’s two months notice a landlord has to give, hopefully this is time for you to get organised with money and a new home. I would ask family or a really good friend for the deposit, if that’s a no-go then as a last resort get a credit card to use if necessary for the deposit. I’m guessing the rent in a new place will be higher than what you’re paying now, with the current climate. It’s so tough out there looking as a prospective tenant in terms of prices and there’s nowhere near as many available rental properties as there were a few years ago.

Maybe this will help:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/homeless_and_living_with_family_or_friends

Realistically you have two options.

1. Use the money saved for a deposit for a new, rented place.

2. Contact the council for help. They won’t help you until the Landlord has evicted you and the bailiffs have asked you to leave. If you leave prior to that, they’ll deem you as intentionally homeless. They’ll still assist with emergency accommodation but when it comes to assessing you for temporary accommodation, you won’t be eligible.

Depending on where you are in the country, you can wait months or years for a permanent council property. In London, a lot of councils push you into private rental. They’ll pay for the deposit and you can join the housing register but you’ll be bidding for years. This is literally my life right now so feel free to PM if you’d like. Sorry you’re going through this, hope it all works out

I'd speak to your landlord and ask what they are planning to do. You never know they might sell to another landlord with you as sitting tenants.

When we used to rent our landlord gave us a heads up he wanted to sell in a few months time. It was good timing as we were in the process of buying a house ourselves. It did get bitter because he didn't correctly serve notice, arranged viewings without permission (once when I was in the middle of having a bath!!!!) so I would try keep it amicable if possible.

Having a very young baby is a good time for the council to help you, although you may be given a one bed depending on the area you live in.

I would be honest with your landlord and let him know you will need to stay until evicted - it does suck for him but since you have lived there for years he will have had a good income from the flat and this will just be an added cost of selling.

My landlord is also lovely, as is the M/Agent, and I really don't want to go down the Court route, but I have DC to think of. As, no doubt, does my LL. It's been so long since I've been in this situation, I had no idea that you have to be able to show x 3 the rent in your bank account either.

I'm sorry you're in this position OP, it's awful

Hi i have just been browsing and ive seen your post i wanted to know if you've had any luck my council is pushing me to private rent also and i dont really know what to do. I am currently on maternity leave

Are you making sure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to?

You will also get the deposit for your current property back.

Can you ask friends, family & colleagues if they know anyone who has a place to rent?

Shelter is a good start for housing advice.

It’s a horrible situation for you to be in.
You are entitled to to 2 months notice which needs to be in writing and ( I think) in the correct form. The LL should return your deposit unless you have caused damage. If you have been there for years, there will be some wear and tear expected, but this should not be deducted. If you don’t agree specific deductions, it can be adjudicated.
If you want to be rehoused by the local authority, you must not leave voluntarily, as that would make you intentionally homeless. You have to wait for the LL to take you court, and then for the court order to be enforced by bailiffs. This can take months. Some local authorities have more housing available than others, it’s worth making enquiries to see what the position is locally.

The reason this is happening now is that the Renters Rights Act in May means LLs can’t do no-fault evictions from them anymore. Lots of LLs are serving notice now with an intention to exit the market and sell as they don’t want to lose control of when they can end tenancy.

You need to start looking at the private rental market to see what you can afford and consider cheaper areas if needed. It’s hard, but people move all the time. Don’t rely on getting social housing.

Yes, it’s true that if you don’t vacate by the date they give you notice for, you will be able to remain until the legal process to evict you goes through. That will buy you some time but won’t prevent the move you will have to make.

It would be best to start looking for an alternative. And if you can go by the notice date, it’s best to go. Delaying should only be used if you genuinely can’t find somewhere else. But you should try. Because you will have to move. Looking at your budget and what you can afford and where you might need to move to is what’s needed. The timing isn’t ideal for you - I can see that, but affordability should be calculated in your normal salary when you return to work - assuming you have a job where that’s going to be happening.

When you rent again, LLs won’t be able to serve no fault evictions anymore. They can sell but need to give you 12 months in property before serving notice and then cannot re-let for 12 months if they don’t sell.

Your current LL may not be selling but planning to re-let at a higher market based rent, if they know you can’t afford a substantial increase. Now is the last time they can do this as otherwise they are ‘stuck’ with you unless genuinely selling.

One of the probs of having good tenants whose rents are not increased regularly, is their rents get out of kilter with market rents. Bringing them back on track with existing tenants can then be very hard as understandably it’s not popular or people can’t afford a big jump. It’s why yearly or every 2 yearly small rises are better than holding rents stable, unless you’re prepared for them to substantially drop below market levels.

I commented last year on this thread and luckily I found somewhere about 8 months later. I sincerely hope you're sorted now OP xx