Section 21 - unable to find a rental

[teentoddlermum]

Our landlord has advised he is selling, been renting for 4 years almost and S21 is due imminently. Hes been a good fair landlord and the rent is reasonable for the area - he said it’s under what it should be.

anyway, we cannot find anywhere in our village unless we move town which means move schools ( 2 children ) and we love where we are.

we aren’t in a position to buy yet but maybe next year so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

my husband and I have a good joint income so I know we are lucky in that respect but my god is has hit us like a tonne of bricks, me especially and I’m so sad to be leaving our village.

of course if anything comes up soon then that would be the ideal situation but the thought of moving when 1/ at the moment the rental is so sparse and 2/ the price and conditions of some properties are not nice.

anyone else been in or in this position
I feel it’s consumed me this week

I’ve spoken to all the estate agents, registered and set up right move alerts

thank you for reading

I do appreciate it may take some time to tell so we may have time but I’m looking know and don’t want to leave it too long, my husband says he do have some time. It’s week 1 of looking so early days

Why can't you buy where you are currently renting? Sorry if I missed the reason.

we aren’t in a position to buy yet, possibly next year ( spoken to a mortgage advisor ) so that’s not an option for us sadly, we would love to buy this house

Its tough, I'm sorry
There are far fewer rentals than are needed in most areas. I source rentals for my clients and they usually have perfect profiles and I spend all day doing it and it can STILL be hard to secure one

Is the landlord selling? If so you could ask if he would be willing to accept less rather than have to pay estate agent fees etc?

Tell the landlord you really like the house and would love to buy it but need another year to save up. Ask if he would be willing to wait. You may be surprised at his response.

There's a reason landlords are selling in droves before 1 May 2026.

We’ve done this and sadly he wants a quick sale 😩

We’ve done this. The new legislation come may 1st I believe is the case

This is my fear that we won’t be able to find anything and will need to go out of area 😭

This /the c reason there are so few is the c actions of this government, do will only get tougher.

It costs more, but some building societies are offering Rent To Own mortgages to people who can prove they have already paid rent for 12 months. Obviously the rates are higher, until you can switch mortgage product, but it's worth looking into. Different to the Rent To Buy scheme, which is only for new-builds and is with the government, this is actually a mortgage.

I’ve looked at these - it’s an option for us but we aren’t quite ready and need to lower our debts and improve our credit score but just not right timing for us sadly

Have you looked at StrideUp? They offer mortgages where they own a portion of the property and give you a mortgage for the rest and you can then buy that portion when you are ready.

I'd suggest one of you taking on a second job for six months or so, aiming to get your debts down asap. Also some debt advice to see if you can reduce any faster. Having a plan should at least make you feel that it's going to improve and maybe you can't buy now, but you'd be working towards making that happen sooner.

For local rentals I'd also put an enquiry up on the Facebook group for your village and also any other nearby villages. You never know who is looking.

He might want a quick sale but that doesn't mean he will get one.

The market is getting flooded with ex-rentals with landlords wanting out by 1st May. Sadly that means huge numbers of families looking for new homes. Ending Section 21's wasn't a well thought out policy.

Looks like you have done a lot of homework, but whatever you do, don't make yourself intentionally homeless. You could save your landlord a lot of money if he doesn't have to evict you - dead money that he could take off the price of the house. You are in a strong negotiating position if you can make it work.

Second job isn’t an option for us as we both work, 2 children so we just physically can’t, but with that said we have good joint income and a plan to get everything paid off by 6-9 months all being well - we’ve said a year but it could well be before that. Rentals are around £17-1800 a month for what we need and unless we downsize and sleep in living room which is also what we are looking at then that’s around £1400 a month so with deposit and first month rent around 3k we are sort of going to go backwards a couple of months before we’ve started but I’ve done the Facebook ad and think I’ve covered everything just feels so sad

Why not ask your landlord if you can agree a price to buy next year?

I know that’s true but these houses are known to sell quick but with that in mind we won’t make ourselves homeless, we have good joint income, good references and credit score ( not for mortgage but for passing references) and if we have to move towns and schools of course we will do but it’s just devastating to do that. We pay 1400 for what we have, can’t really afford to go up as that eats into our savings so the option is a 2 bed flat/house and sleeping on the sofa for roughly same rent or a bed bed house for around 16-1700 month but with more space. I’m being open to looking at all options. We do have time as I know we are week 1 of looking

Section 21 takes a while to actually get tenants out if they don't/can't leave at the end of the notice period. Of which your landlord will be aware. Agree with @TheMoanerLisa that you're in a good negotiating position. Keep paying your rent though whatever you do!

Void periods and repossessions are up for landlords though, why is this if there is so much demand?

I do wonder what private renters are going to do once the new landlord tax and legislation fully bites over the next few years. Where can you go if there is literally no where for rent?

Too late now to get out by 1st May, tenants will just stay put if they are not already leaving, if they keep paying the rent it will take many months to get them out, especially if young children involved. What happens on 1st May that is so bad anyway? and if so many families are looking for accommodation why the big spike in landlords getting repossessed and also in void periods?

Your suggestion is not to comply with the section 21? Good luck with the reference and ever finding another private rental.

He wants a quick sale but you're still living there? Please tell me you aren't planning to leave when your s21 expires if you haven't found somewhere decent to live?