Tenant has no where to go. How do we move firward

[1744sunset]

We are selling our rental and gave the tenant notice in November. She has a social worker and recieves benefits. The council have said they won’t find her somewhere unless we go to court to evict her. She is willing to move but just simply can’t find any where. Do we need to through court? It just seems so brutal and uncalled for.

Yes, because they sold off large portions of the housing stock at heavily discounted prices and made no provisions to build replacement housing.

Can you sell it with her as a sitting tenant? That's what I did when I had to sell my rental.

As she sounds vulnerable and already has a social worker it is highly unlikely that she will end up on the streets. I worked in housing many years ago and if we couldn’t house them immediately they would be placed in a hotel until something suitable became available.

Speak to her about it, it's the only way to help her get council housing. It doesn't need to be a horrible eviction if you keep it friendly, and she has the social worker to support her with applying to the council so she's in a better position than others may be struggling to know what to do.

Friend recently did this. You have to go through the courts otherwise they are counted as deliberately making themselves homeless ☹️. It cost thousands of pounds. Then the bailiffs came eventually and took the tenant in a taxi to the housing office. It was all very sad.

I know someone who went through this recently. You have 2 choices:

1. Don't sell your property and let her live there as long as she likes.

or

1. Issue a section 21 and be prepared to evict through the courts if she wont move out. Depending on where you live it will take 6 months to a year to go through the courts and get an eviction order.

It's a terrible system, a friend was asked to move by her landlord as she needed to move back into the house, from her retirement flat, to care for GC after her DD's death the flat was too small and no-one under 60 allowed to live their anyway.

My friend approached the council who said she had to wait to be evicted by bailiffs, which she was not willing to do as she had a very good relationship with the landlord and thought it would be unfair and unethical. She ended up, with her DC in a small caravan on a friend's drive. The council are still not willing to house them as they say she made herself intentionally homeless. It's crazy.

It’s not simply a case of house them now or house them later. The earlier they go into a hostel, B&B or hotel, the earlier the council has to start paying for such accommodation. I expect delaying this as long as possible is a more efficient use of councils’ limited funds.

There used to be a company called Landlord Action who streamlined the process for me when I had to evict a tenant. -They were much cheaper than solicitors and provided an excellent supportive service.

Yes, I think it was called ‘Right to Buy’.

https://www.landlordaction.co.uk/

Yes I’m afraid you will have to get a section 21 The system is very distressing for tenants and I’m sure landlords too

I'm not an expert in this but I think if you serve a section 21 then her banding (need) for social housing might go up, depending on your local councils housing policy and how long their lists are. This might be enough for her to get a HA property soon. If the local need for housing is very high though, then you will have to go through the courts to evict once Section 21 is up. I know it seems very harsh - it is. But that's the only way she will get social housing, and that might be much better for her in the long run than trying to keep up with private renting costs, although the short term will be very stressful.
ETA it's highly unlikely she will get anywhere in the private sector. There's huge demand for rentals at the moment, very few coming on the market, none of them affordable. Any she does apply for, landlords will be picking from several applicants, they will pick the higher earners every time

I suspect OP would have to drop the price significantly to sell with a sitting tenant on benefits.

If you need to sell then the tenancy has to end. The only way for you to bring the tenancy to an end and get vacant possession of the property is to take formal eviction action. It’s not pleasant, but if she can’t or won’t move otherwise there is no other way. ( unless of course you want to offer financial incentives, such as 6 months rent on another private rental, which might make getting a tenancy easier for her).
If she needs council housing there is absolutely no point in delaying. Some councils are better than others. They have a duty to assist anyone who is threatened with homelessness in the next ( I Think) 8 weeks. Some will start taking some action then, but most don’t seem to do anything until the moving out date on the eviction order is reached. This means that the poor tenant has costs awarded against them and a CCJ.
Some councils then try to further evade their responsibility by insisting that the tenant wait for the bailiffs to evict them ( more costs for the tenant).
Landlords have successfully claimed compensation from councils for periods after the moving out date specified on the order.

Not sure why the landlord should do this. It's not her problem.

Section 21 can take a while, up to 6 months I think. So you're best to start proceedings. She needs this so as not to be accused of 'intentionally homeless' if she just leaves when you ask her. You both need to play the game.

She probably doesn't want to go down the eviction - court order - wait for bailiffs route anymore than you want to. But the council will not deem her eligible for help without it so it is what it is.

Presumably the notice you served in November was a Section 21? And you have also protected her deposit in one of the Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes? (Or the s.21 would be invalid.) The s.21 would have given her a date, two months hence, to leave by, so given that it's now the end of February, she should have been gone by now. You will now have to apply to court for a "Warrant of Possession" which will have another date on it for her to leave. If she doesn't leave by that date, you will have to return to court to gain a "Possession Order", which will have another date on it. If she doesn't leave by that date, you will have to instruct bailiffs or High Court enforcement officers (if you pay to fast-track the procedure) to physically evict her and her belongings.
Local authorities are required to accept a threatened homeless application 56 days ahead of actual homelessness, but this is just the start of the process for the tenant. LAs have two duties: "Prevention" and "Relief". They will start an investigation as part of the "prevention" duty to see if there is any way the tenant can remain where she is (obviously not, in this case, as you are selling the property) and once they've established this (I'm sure they already have), they then move on to their "relief" duty, when then have to identify if they actually owe the applicant a "duty" to rehouse them (by applying the five tests of homelessness) and if they decide they do, they will then take some action to rehouse her. In your case, they've decided to keep her in your property for as long as possible until they have no choice but to rehouse her in some way. Your tenant having a social worker suggests she's vulnerable, so it's likely the LA will place her in emergency accommodation, like a B&B, once she's actually street homeless.
I'm sorry OP, but it seems that you have no choice but to follow the legal eviction process, but bear in mind this isn't really that brutal for the tenant who likely won't even attend court and will just allow the process to run until the date she's physically evicted. Indeed, I would say it's more brutal for you who will have to bear the costs of the court applications and eventual eviction if your tenant doesn't leave voluntarily.

Yes via section 21. I was evicted twice. Its not het fault or yours uts the system it's messed up.

If she leaves before bailiffs the council will say she's intentionally homeless and they then won't help her with housing.

If you haven't already done it, issue a Section 21 now, today, giving her two months notice. She will take advice from her social worker or Shelter or Citizen's Advice, all of whom will tell her that unless she can find somewhere suitable to move to she should stay in situ, pay her rent and wait until you've gone to court and had an eviction order granted, after which you will have to give her a number of weeks to get out (the order will say how long) before you can bring the bailiffs in and formally evict her, at which point the council will find somewhere or pay for her to be in B+B.

Thousands of small-time landlords are evicting tenants now because Labour are proposing to bring in legislation that means that it's very much more difficult and expensive to get rid of tenants than it is at the moment. The law is due to change in the early summer, which is why everyone is selling flats at the moment.

https://www.landlordvision.co.uk/blog/labours-renters-rights-bill-what-it-mean-landlords/

The good news is that anyone looking for a flat should find many more properties on the market in the next six months, and prices should drop.

Join the National Residential Landlords Assn, about £120pa. They have a good helpline. They will talk you through it.

OP if you don't hurry up the renters right bill will be in place and you'll find it harder to evict. Ensure you have issued How to rent, that you have current gas and electricity certificates, the deposit is in a deposit scheme and get the section 21 going. Then you'll have to go to court for eviction which will take approximately a further 5 months. In the meanwhile can you send her links to vacant properties and advise her to register with as many EA's as possible.

She will literally not have to. It's worrying that you had a rental property, but don't have any grasp of housing law or a tenant's rights. Tenants have TWO months from the serving of a s.21 notice and even then, they don't have to leave. If they don't leave, the landlord would have to go to court to apply for a "Warrant of Possession", which would have another leave date on it, and if the tenant doesn't leave by that date, the landlord would have to return to court to obtain a "Possession Order" with yet another leave date on it. If the tenant still doesn't leave, the landlord would have to instruct bailiffs (or High Court enforcement agents if they're prepared to pay to fast-tract the process) to physically evict the tenant.
When a tenant refuses to leave under the terms of a s.21 the entire eviction process becomes very lengthy and costly for the landlord.

Forgot to say that I've read a couple of articles in the press about how Local Authorities can often approach people in your position, OP, and offer a significant payment to encourage you to continue renting to your tenant. I've heard that LAs may offer £4-6k pa to landlords to keep renting. This is because the cost of finding appropriate accommodation for your tenant may cost them ££££s — hotel accommodation/ specialist support given her needs. It may be worth approaching the LA and asking what they can offer you.