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, much better to use an eviction specialist rather than a solicitor. I'm told they are cheaper and often have much more working knowledge of the eviction process.
A company called AST assistance is very highly regarded on an online landlords group I read, though I have no personal experience of them.

The housing has nothing to do with the social worker. You need to provide notice under the correct section of housing act and the. The council will be able to house her.

Social Care have no influence over housing.

Until you get an eviction order the council won't rehouse and don't have to. So I'm afraid you'll have to go through the process. Good luck. It's very hard, make sure you file all the correct documents or you won't get it.

If she physically doesn't leave it will be their problem though

Some council will not help until the bailiffs are there evicting someone after it's been to court. It can take months. My friends had this and the court kept throwing it out as her section 21 wasn't valid, she didn't give some sort of gas certificate and something else. It took over a year to get the woman out of the house and cost thousands as she had to keep applying to the courts. She's now sold her houses and will never be a landlord again. Hopefully she gets lucky and finds a private rent but they are hard to come by.

Theres a Facebook page called 'Tenancy Matters' that offers help and advice.

I'm a renter too and it's so hard as I know if my landlord was to turn up and want me out I know I'd never be able to afford another private house and there's no council houses and the waiting list for one is about 4-5 years long here. I'd probably have to wait for the court to evict me (landlord can't end a tenancy only the courts or tenants can) and even after that will end up in temp accommodation for years.

Unfortunately this is what stops people letting or otherwise overcharging so as to compensate for such scenarios.

I have a spare room, but stories like this put me off letting it.

Hope you get it sorted OP.

That sounds very strange, have you spoken to the Council, or was this relayed via the Social worker?
You want to avoid the eviction process if possible because it involves unrecoverable expenses for you. Speak to the Council's legal department because that sounds like a very strange thing for them to say. If they confirm they won't do anything unless you evict tell them straight you will bill them for the process and if they don't pay you will take them to the small claims court for the costs AND your time. They know you will win so they will shift themselves, hopefully- good luck.

@Treesandsheepeverywhere letting out a spare room to a lodger is a completely different set of rules which are weighted much more in favour of the landlord, and the tenant has hardly any rights. If the property is your own main residence there's no need for court orders or anything like it. You just have to give reasonable notice (not defined in law but precident has generally agreed that 2 weeks is adequate and 4 weeks plenty) and it's perfectly legitimate to remove an unwanted lodger. All the stuff on this thread only applies to properties where the owner lives elsewhere.

Thank you @RatedDoingMagic .

Just feels me with dread as wouldn't want to be a prisoner in my own home, but also want to help.

Good to know it's diffent rules, although still apprehensive.

Just to re assure you if you let a spare room any lodger would not have the same rights as a tenant under an AST so you’d be fine abs could just change the locks after giving them notice.

I ended up in temporary accommodation via the council, a couple of decades ago. It was awful - I was housed with thieves, arsonists, wife beaters, addicts, and the accommodation itself was filthy. She's likely to end up in similar until the council can find her her own place, and that could take a long time.
What you've been told is correct, the council won't help her, otherwise.
However, although it IS really difficult to find a rental, if your tenant is single and childless, it might be easier for her to find lodgings (a room in a house). Look on spareroom.com to see what's available in the area. She could do that until she can find somewhere more suitable.
She might have a preference to go through court and temporary accommodation, though, as she will eventually get housed, which would be better for her, long term, as she'll have more security and cheaper rent, rather than finding herself in this same situation the next time a landlord wants their rental back.

It looks like S21 is being delayed again in amendments to the RRB as Labour has accepted the reality that the courts are not fit for purpose.

Follow the process as the council won’t help until coUrt order eviction and the rules to rent now mean many people don’t get accepted. Just keep lines of communication open with tenant as they will be equally stressed.

Good advice regarding spare rooms However, I’m guessing she hasn’t started looking if the notice was served in November, and op is beginning to panic that she’s not actually looking and planning to leave, (and it’s probably harder with two dogs).

Placemarking to come back to later, but the few posts I have read are saying that "it will be costly" for the LL to go through the courts. Surely the costs are passed to the tenant though?

Even if you could recoup costs from the tenant, they would not be able to pay. So it would not be worth the time or energy.

Yes lots being mooted about at the moment…..we shall see but certainly the courts and current system are not fit for purpose now let alone when it’s abolished.

Landlords can't simply refuse now to rent to someone with pets.

But it's extremely easy to choose a family without a dog . Instead of the family with one.

As long as they are legally allowed to ask if you have pets then Landlords can choose someone without pets.
Landlords don't have to disclose why somebody has been unsuccessful in securing a property so they can in practice refuse to rent to someone with pets.
Unfortunately when the cap limit on Deposits came in an unintended consequence was that people could no longer offer a pet deposit. When its illegal to accept over the asking rent as well it will make things even worse for pet owners.

As everyone else is saying, she can’t even apply to the council for homeless status until she is evicted. Yes it’s brutal for everyone concerned. It’s a shame there aren’t more landlords like you though - you sound very understanding and kind whilst most are more mercenary and make private renting a nightmare for tenants.

Yes spoke to the housing department. We have again this morning and have been told she has been allocated a case worker eventually.

Yes it sounds utterly bonkers but it is how councils operate. It’s nothing new, I had to go through the same thing nearly 20 years ago.

This is quite a common council stance from what I hear from people on both landlord and tenant side. So self defeating as a policy though - really discourages private landlords to accept people as tenants if you think they might find it tricky to find somewhere else at a later point whilst creating stress and costs for both sides.

Would the new owners/ buyers be willing to keep her on? Not sure if you had a buyer already. We had a tenant in our rental property which we wanted to sell and we desperately tried to help him find new accommodation. Eventually we listed the house as with a sitting tenant and the buyer was willing to to take that on. That was fab, no complaints over the 12-14 years living there, rent always paid and kept the place in good order. Just a thought