Mortgage Repossession On A House With A Tenant?

[juneflowers]

Hi everyone! I'm not sure if this is right place to be putting this?

I'm looking for advice in regards to a house repossession. I privately rent a property that we've lived in as a family for all most 12 years. Everything has been fine, we aren't in rent arrears and as often described by our Landlord 'the model tenants'

Now yesterday, he dropped by unannounced and told us while refusing to come into the house, that the bank is going to foreclose on our property. The mortgage is up in three months, they don't have the money to make the final payment (£145k) and that we have 90 days left.

He turned on his heels and left saying 'he can't stay, I have this news to break to three other tenants before the day is out'

Needless to say, both I and my husband are in a panic. We have a LG, 5 years. We have pets, loads of belongings and due to the pandemic and with our jobs, pretty much all our savings has gone.

What should I do? Were do we start? We started looking at properties yesterday in our local area but we keep finding 'No pets, pets considered but will require deposit plus extra charge on top of rent each month' or the more discriminatory 'children may be considered'

We have two dogs, a cat and a 5 year old LG. We are dismayed at just how bad the renting market is. We don't claim benefits, we both work. We have debts like everyone else but without a deposit, we won't get a mortgage. Plus in this current climate, I doubt we would get one even with a deposit.

Ideally we would like another private, but beggers cannot be choosers right now. Our Landlord has been sat on this for seven months apparently, he never breathed a word until now. My LG goes to a village school so I worry we may have to change her school on top of this.

Just feeling very, very stressed atm and bogged down in the minor details. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you.

Try putting this in Chat, too. I hope you can find somewhere.

Contact CAB and Shelter. Good luck

Do you have enough deposit for help to buy scheme?

@Batshitbeautycosmeticsltd I will, thank you.

@Veterinari husband has been in contact with the Landlord, he's appealed to try and get an extension but believe that he'll be knocked back due the current climate and his age. He's told us they will have an answer for us on Tuesday. We'll try CAB and Shelter, thank you.

@billybagpuss unfortunately not. My husband wasn't furloughed, his employer decided to just make him redundant at the beginning of lockdown. We've chewed through our savings as I only have a little part time cleaning job. We probably have just under £1000 left as we had to dip to pau for new tyres on my car, two vet visits during lockdown and the school uniform. He's managed to get another job but it's not nearly as well paid as his original, but too much where we don't get any help. We're just about making ends meet atm so this has really come at the worst possible time for us.

Shelter will help if you are on low income, they really know their stuff.

Sorry OP I don't have much advice but wanted to say how sorry I am - that's super tough.

Perhaps you can speak to the school about catchment etc - I'm no expert but my understanding is that catchment areas are only relevant when they are offering places. Once your little girl has a place, she shouldn't be asked to leave just because you move. So as long as you can find a place where the school run is still doable, hopefully you can stop worrying about that, at least.

Wish you all the best finding a way forward X

I'm no expert but presumably you are under lease and have every right to continue to live there?

I guess the bank will, acquire the freehold of the house but with you as sitting tenants?

Have you been served with notice?

I think it will be very difficult to get a private rental with three pets. I don't know what the rules are regarding btl repossessions and tenants.

If its being repossessed the bank might rent it to you. Could you find out who it is and approach them? Contact Shelter to see if you have any rights at all

I rented with a pet. Viewed properties that didn't say anything about pets either way, then said I had a pet after offer had been accepted. Most landlords don't want to go back to square 1 and will just put a pet clause in the lease, especially if their property is unfurnished anyway

@TheQueef thank you

@WoolyMammoth55 thanks so much, we are hoping to find somewhere relatively close to her school so that we can still do the school run. Both me and my husband drive, so pick up and drop off shouldn't be difficult. I'm just concerned about the fact that we can't be fussy, we need a roof over our heads so will have to take what is offered. I worry that it will be so far out that the school run will be impossible, so we'll have to take her away from her friends and change her school. She's suffered quite a bit during lockdown education wise and psychologically (as every other child of course). My LG is an only child and definitely felt the strain. I don't want too much radical change or disruption for her. Obviously we are keeping this from her for now, once we know whats happening and have somewhere secured, I'm hoping we'll be able to make it out to be fun and a new adventure, but under current circumstances it's definitely not ideal right now.

@GatherlyGal the landlord has been off the phone with my DH this morning, he's expecting the notice to be served this coming Tuesday. We will have it all in written notice then. While I was at work, my DH filled out an application with Select Move. They have told us once we get the notice, we send them a copy and they will band us accordingly. We've been told that we will get 90 days from our Landlord (this will be the written notice on Tuesday) plus an additional notice from the bank once those 90 days are up. Essentially we could be looking at 6 months realistically, Select Move were really informative today. With having a child, there are safe guarding issues so the bank can't actually kick us out until we have somewhere else to go to. The lady told us once everything is up and running, they will contact the Council to tell them we have now become a vulnerable household so fingers crossed should get priority. Once we have moved out, the bank can then send the property we were in to auction apparently. We have to just sit tight and wait. CAB have said that we are actually fortunate that it's going to a bank because they have departments that deal specifically with repossessions that have sitting tenants. They have a duty of care to the people still residing within the property, aka us, so will follow the law the letter.

@Viviennemary oh definitely! Finding a private rent with one pet is hard enough, but with three, we are just asking for trouble. It's just gone so badly. We had been saving up a deposit to actually buy the property off the landlord. We had asked last Feb if we could use a portion of what we have paid rent wise as a deposit but was told no. Our plan was to save enough and than buy off the landlord next year, but than Covid happened, we used the savings we had to replace my husband's wages when he was made redundant and now this. If it doesn't rain it bloody pours! I'm just so angry at the Landlord. He has known all along when his mortgage was going to end, for the last 7 months he knew full well he couldn't make the final installment, yet still lead us to believe we could purchase the property off him when the lease was up next March.

@user1471538283 unfortunately not. CAB told us that if it was going to an individual person, we could probably arrange to stay and just pay them the rent instead but because it's a bank, they'll just want rid of the property.

@Ltc2020 true but not many landlords would accept three pets. Granted one of my dogs is all most 10 and my cat nearly 12, so could likely push the 'but they sleep all day' excuse but our other dog is still relatively young. I think I could get away with it if we just had the one, but three pets plus a young child would really scare a private landlord! We have lived in our property for all most 12 years, we started out as a couple with a kitten, and our family grew here so the landlord just kind of accepted it. I think we would really struggle to get a private as a ready made family. We have really good references, have never been in arrears and there is no damage to property at all but for some reason, that just doesn't seem good enough for a lot of letting agents as we found out this afternoon.

Would you have any friends/family that the pets could stay with?
It might help you get something in the interim.
There are going to be a lot of Buy to let landlords selling up.
So the rental shortage could go on for a while.
Here there were always quite good supply but since covid
everything gets snapped up. Unless you get yourself registered
with a few agents it could prove tricky

@juneflowers Really sorry to read your difficulties. We have rental properties and we also have the no pets rule because some tenants are not as diligent as you, but in reality houses with pets tend to get an ingrained smell and when it comes to re-letting it means as a minimum full redecoration and carpet clean/replacement. Few tenants are in a position to pay for that at end of tenancy (as you are not).

In reality unless HA or Council you will,be very lucky to find a private LL accepting all,the let's.

Best of luck though

You still have to be served correct notice. Do not panic for now. Look at Tenancy rights UK on Facebook. They give excellent advice. They also only recommend Shelter, not CAB as CAB often give incorrect advice.

Try asking in Legal OP.

I don’t get the ‘unable to make the final payment’ comment OP.

Are you sure this isn’t a ruse to get you out so the LL can simply sell the property?

I can't see the LL making this up - it'll be a commercial mortgage and he was probably going to remortgage using the increase in equity in his portfolio. Sit tight OP and see what comes in the post from the bank. If the bank takes possession than the tenancy falls away. As pps have mentioned there are rules they have to follow, etc.

Whereabouts are you roughly OP as someone on here may know if a private rent available in the area. Join local Facebook pages and see what comes up - I often see places advertised on there.

I don’t get the ‘unable to make the final payment’ comment OP.

I've presumed he's got an interest only mortgage and the capital is now payable. I know a number of investors who use the rental income as income rather than to repay the capital, so have to sell once mortgage matures. So it provides an income alongside or instead of regular work, but not the pension fund.

@bakedtomato, ah ok understood.
But once it’s repossessed, it’s nothing to do with the LL, it’s the new owners that have to deal with the sitting tenants.

Surely it’s the responsibility of the new owners to discuss with the OP what the OPs options are?

As @user1471538283 has mentioned above in fact.

@Justpassingtime1 unfortunately not. My MIL has two dogs, my own Mum has a dog, my sister lives abroad and my DH's brothers don't own their own property. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Select Move. They woman on the phone said we would not be on the streets, so not to worry. I'm clinging to that tbh! If not I may just sit in a corner and cry lol!

@MarieG10 when we first got the property we had a cat, we paid the LL a month's rent as a deposit plus an additional £50 for a pet bond. When we got the dogs, we paid him an addtional £150 for each of them under the agreement that if we decided to move, he'd keep the total £350 to pay for any 'sprucing up' he may need to do as a result of our pets. I understand what you mean about the pet smell, we steam clean our carpets once a month through fear of getting the pet smell lol! We do have to live here after all. We play host at Christmas and my DD's friends come round for play dates, I couldn't for shame have my house smelling. Thankfully, the pet bond relieves any additional costs we may have had if we chose to end the tenancy. We've been told we will have our pet bond and a normal deposit paid back to us once the bank recovers the house.

If the mortgage company takes possession @tanstaffl then the tenancy falls away, the mortgage company/bank doesn't become the landlord. The current LL is no longer the owner in a repossession therefore there is no legal contract between the LL and the tenant.

Good point about it probably being an interest only mortgage.

Is there any chance you could buy it from the mortgage company who are re-possessing it.

6 months is more than enough time to find somewhere else? You've just got to buckle up and start the process now rather than waiting for appeals etc that may never happen. I rented for years and whilst I didn't have pets at the time I generally had something sorted within a maximum of 2 months once tenancies came to an end
If DD is at school can't you increase your hours/take on a other part time job to help out financially?

Poor landlord! As a tenant though you MUST have a nice sized cash cushion and a plan to be able to pack and move in a couple of days, three at the most if need be, this is a psychological comforter more than anything because at the moment you are going to be entitled to many months notice before you actually have to leave. You have loads of time, don`t panic!

@Viviennemary

I think it will be very difficult to get a private rental with three pets. I don't know what the rules are regarding btl repossessions and tenants.

They have been in a private rental for 12 years with three pets!