Help - advice needed re: Landlord wanting us out 5 months in to a 12 month lease - Scotland

[glasjam]

Right - in a daze here. Have just received a call from our letting agents telling us that our landlord wants us out in 2 months. We have rented a lovely 3-bed semi in a great area right nearby the primary school that our son starts in the Summer - we moved in in January and signed a 12 month Short Assured Tenancy Agreement and it was heavily hinted at that the old dear who was renting us the house wanted long term tenants - we emphasised that we would want to rent for many years if it was possible - all great.

We just got round to putting all our pictures up and we are VERY HAPPY. It's the first time we've lived in a house rather than a flat and our two kids love the garden.

So this is a complete and utter shock. 2 month's notice means exactly when our son starts school which is presently 5 minutes walk away. Unfurnished, rented houses round her are like hens teeth.

So what's the score - I know we will have to seek legal advice but just wanted to know if anyone on Mumsnet had any info (it's my first port of call on SO many things!) It is such a monumental pain - I've looked at our contract and there is a section that refers to a tenancy being brought to an end early by a landlord if he defaults on his mortgage and it gets repossessed and there is reference to Schedule 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988. I bravely searched out an online copy of it and thought I might be bright enough to work it out but am obviously too dense because I can't make head or tail of it.

It has so many implications for us - school-wise, money-wise (all those BT and Virgin contracts) - money we've spent putting up blinds. Perhaps we were stupid but we really had started to think of this as home for some years.

Anyway, half the reason I've written this is just to vent BUT if any kind soul out there has any advice or experience of this then please let me know!

there's one in the area on s1homes, although maybe a bit too close to the river.

a nice one nearer to the main road on propertyfinder. email me aitch @ that website i'm sure you remember with the dot com suffix and i'll forward on.

I just hope you're getting this sorted and find an even better place to live.

you okay, glas?

Hiya Aitch - yes I'm fine. It's been a crazy few days - we've actually found somewhere miraculously! It's in the same area and it's the same sort of house - it's just quite scruffy and neglected and we probably wouldn't consider it if we were just looking normally but as we aren't we are going for it.

I'm still incredibly angry and wound up at the injustice of the system that allows you to get turfed out by your landlord after 6 months even though you have signed a 12 month contract YET if YOU wanted to move out after 6 months you would be classed as surrendering early and would be liable to pay the remaining 6 months rent. It makes me realise that there is ABSOLUTELY no point in signing anything other than a 6 month contract - as a tenant it means nothing to have a 12 month contract.

We were always led to believe that the old woman who owned this house would be delighted to have a family in here that wanted to stay put for a few years - it was another of its selling points for us. We've never had to move out of another property like this in all our many years of renting - our usual stay is 3 years. It's ironic that it happens at a time when we are least able to just up sticks and move.

So we had to say that we would be ready to move on July 1st to secure this next place. I am now waiting to see whether our existing landlord will have the audacity to keep our deposit for not giving the full month's notice. I think the guy at the letting agents that showed us around is genuinely aggrieved for us and hopefully will bend over backwards to get our full deposit back - but I won't hold my breath.

I now just have to muster up the enthusiasm to phone all the utilities companies that we've barely sorted out for this house and get things organised for the next one. BT, Virgin Media, Gas, Electricity blah blah blah - and then start repacking boxes. Oh yeah and pay the next letting agents £150 in admin fees too the b*ds!! We even paid £130 to get a BT line installed at this house - what a complete waste of money that was.

Oh yes and then I have to break it to a certain young man who rather likes his bedroom and the fact that we've just started putting all the familiar pictures and photos on the wall.

But we are incredibly lucky to have found somewhere so near - I just keep having to repeat that as a mantra!!

It's been great to have a bit of support from Mumsnet too. I am still going to have a double check that this is an entirely legitimate move by our landlord - did they give us all the information in our contract in sufficient detail, is the fact that it's a child and not a spouse of the landlord that's moving in, have we any claim for costs of removal etc. I doubt it but I am going to try and get some proper legal advice (without paying for it obviously!)

I dread to think what my blood pressure is like at the moment - I think I might have gone off the scale during a few moments this weekend! Thanks for your concern Aitch and everyone else who's taken the time to reply. I'll update if there are any developments on the legal aspect of it all.

Oh, glas, I'm just so relieved for you that you did find another place.

But at the same time I hope we here at MN can help you legally if at all possible get your deposit back and perhaps something else for your trouble.

I'm sorry but you've really been treated like utter crap and it makes me very on your behalf!

see you tomorrow maybe, glas? glad that you've got somewhere sorted. i know a guy with a van who's fairly cheap if you need help moving, and can always grab stray boxes in my car too remember? what a pain in the arse, though. is the new house nearer the nursery at least?

(btw i don't think you can be held to a 12 month contract either, i think it's a month's notice either way isn't it? check that AT5 form, it's actually essential under the law but a lot of landlords forget it, so even if it says short assured tenancy on the page it may not be one if you've not been given that form to sign. agencies tend to be more clued-up though. deffo call the shelter legal department, a guy called adrian used to work there in edinburgh, he's a shit hot lawyer imo.)

Thanks expat! Aitch - I'll fill you in on where it is when I see you - it's not too far from where we are now. You do remember that it's an in-service day tomorrow so no nursery? Will call the shelter legal department - would really love to sit down with a shit-hot solicitor and get an assessment of our situation. We signed an AT5 and they issued an AT6 with the notice to quit so that aspect seems all present and correct but there are other technicalities that I'd like clarification on. We've got a mate who is an employment solicitor but he's not in Scotland and I know the law is different but I'm sure he will be able to identify any loopholes and may be able to point us in the right direction. And, as you say, Shelter's website was great so I shall phone their number tomorrow.

hahahaha had completely forgotten that it was an in service tomorrow. bloody pisstakers. why didn't i get a job with the cooncil? bummer about the at5.

good news, at least, that you're not homeless. as i say, any help with the move just ask (and i'll just say no if it's not convenient so no worriesa bout asking iykwim?). poor ds, i hope he likes his new bedroom.

and you could be through here and have swine flu!

Glad you've got somewhere sorted glas, but for you that you're having to move.

I would definitely be checking out the legal aspect of it and morally trying to get some extra cash for the BT line etc.

Oh my God expat - bit slow on the uptake there - have just got your swineflu reference from reading another thread! Hope you are all recovering - all the more thankful for your support and advice through my crapola time now I know what you've been going through!!

Packing sucks worse than swine flu, glas!

If you need a hand, just CAT or let Aitch know. We've got a trailer in the garage we could loan out no bother.

fortunately i have bumped into glas in, er, glas and she informs me that the new place is not far from the old place. i wonder if they'll move the entire contents using the pram, like the old days?

I don't think we could get our sofa on a Maclaren TX Aitch I have done a house move with a "found" shopping trolley before now but that was when I was a dirty squatter in London many moons ago!! Feeling remarkably chilled at the moment - still haven't had absolute confirmation that the new place is ours but have got some removers on standby.

Have had some legal advice from a solicitor and will be approaching our letting agent once we are DEFINITELY sure of this next place. Have told our son and he reacted brilliantly - thinks it's hilarious that he's going to be moving again and, the fact that our cat followed us there and sat on the lawn as I showed him around, was a bonus!

BTW thanks expat for the offer of a loan of your trailer - don't think we'll need it but good to know that the offer is there

Anyway Aitch - that's quite a ding dong you've been involved in. Feeling OK about it all??

ach you know. people read what they want to read, some people more than others. i don't let it bother me, there's nothing i can do about it. [watery]

will you need a hand moving? even arsey bits and pieces i can run back and forth along the road with my stoopid car? and WHAT are we goiing to do with our children during the summer hols?

Thanks Aitch! We should be OK as we are going with the removal guys who moved us here in January - we did get a quote from a smaller man-with-a-van outfit but it was only slightly cheaper and they'd only have 2 guys instead of 4.

I will probably take the kids over to a friend's house a street away and try to keep out the way on the day. Because it is an almost identical house to this we can be quite organised about what goes where and will be a little more anal with our labelling of boxes.

I cannot see past the house move to be honest. We had 3 weeks "holiday" planned for the beginning of July consisting mainly of visiting elderly parents down south and then a leisurely week perhaps camping - that plan has had to be severely curtailed!

I can't imagine what we'll do to be honest - I just hope the weather is decent.

Glad you feel OK about the other stuff - real life goes on and all that..

well i can as you know recommend the walled garden site near maybole. it's the one place i've been to.