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

The point is that she can't find another private rental. Not pissing off her current landlord is less of a priority than finding somewhere else to live before they move out!

If the landlords all try to sell their houses the housing market will drop and FTBs or investment landlords will buy the properties at knock down prices.

The point seemed to be blackmail for compliance. It would ensure no future private landlord would take them on unless desperate (which no Landlord going to be) and the resulting legal action would be taken into account on any future mortgage applications. This advice, immoral as it is, would only be effective if planning on the council to house them for the next ten years.

Most will sell off as their tenants move out over next few years. Probably loose around 2 million rental dwellings over next 2 years, might make a slight dip in price in some area I guess so some buyers might get a few percentage off. Remaining landlords put up prices to cover increased risk & costs. It’ll be a really tough time to be a private renter

Government might have to take over unsold new-builds, sales are down 60% in some areas I believe? There will never be nowhere to rent though, many young people are staying with parents, there is massive political pushback on immigration, and there are always new landlords willing to have a go, especially if buying from a distressed seller who couldn"t make the sums work.

No idea about new build sales, I think if they sort out the leasehold issue for flats it might help. The point is that the sums only work with very high rents and incredibly stringent referencing.

Just not how markets work, houses are purchased with debt (in most cases) and rent is driven by wages, so prices down a lot and rents not going anywhere fast and falling more slowly, there is already falling demand for buying (flats and new-build especially) and overbuilding in cities so an extra 2 million dwellings available is a massive downdraft for property prices, remember that a lot of tenants may be on overseas visas without automatic right to remain and many young people are returning to parents so they can be cash rich for travel etc. demand is elastic not permanent but houses don"t disappear when they are sold, they are still there, still part of the housing stock.

Many landlords are also going to need to hang onto tenants to pay their BTL debt because "selling up" just isn"t as straight forward as it was during the cheap credit housing boom.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/voices-negative-equity-is-back-is-this-the-reason-you-cant-sell-up/ar-AA1U3LTd

The market is slow. I told my tenant i wanted to sell and we agreed she’d stay til exchange, and it’s been on the market for almost ten months! I’ve reduced the price in line with the fiat above which sold last year with one bedroom (I have two), so I don’t think it’s too expensive just that there’s not many buyers out there.
So hang in there. But be prepared that you may have to temporarily move out of the area and commute your kids to school.

New build sales just underline that the Mantra "not enough houses!" is rubbish, there is too much supply and not enough demand, all the debt schemes by government were designed to help developers get sales going, the public are tapped out now, they are no longer buying it.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/sales-of-new-build-homes-in-london-collapse-to-just-26-in-june-says-land-registry-b1254259.html

Yes I think after the initial rush to sell, LLs will sell up as tenants leave organically in drips and drabs or mortgage deals come to an end as and when. I just can’t see it causing some sort of house price crash, maybe in some areas.

I acknowledge the housing market is stuck now, but there is a housing deficit of 4 million homes and if the market won’t take the rental prices required to turn a profit then people have no choice but to sell long term. If financed, the buy to let mortgages require rent as 125% of the mortgage anyway.

Short term maybe properties won’t sell, but mid to long term it’s less private rentals and higher rents…and of course less landlords. Hopefully more home owners. I guess it’s just the remaining renters who get hit.

I know someone looking to rent in London currently after a divorce and honestly they’re having the same issue as the OP, just absolutely no suitable properties for rent.

Why are we building everywhere if that’s the case?

Many new builds are expensive 3/4 bedroom houses which are unaffordable for first time buyers. There is building going on but not necessarily the type of properties which are needed.

Land Registry records for new builds are lagged by about 18 months, so that story is worthless. London development has collapsed for many reasons (viability, 2nd staircase requirements, no appetite from housing associations to buy Section 106 homes), and sales have been hit by the end of Help to Buy and higher mortgage rates, but no one will be able to say how many new homes were sold in London in 2025 until the end of 2026 at the earliest.

So just to add, we will most probably move before the S21 end date or if not the end as soon after - we do not want the landlord going to court, unfair and too stressful and we have glowing references from renting, looked after the house as it’s our own, good credit scores so can be able to buy hopefully end of year or next - so that really isn’t an option for us….however if we find the perfect place then we will give him our months notice ( my actual preference in all of this to be honest ) but my husbands says we do have time so if we do not find anything until last minute then so be it, but I’m more emotionally attached and he is matter of fact about it! This town and the neighboring town are ideal the other are not nice choices/area/school etc so i feel so stressed
To add we have now been served the S21 and the end date is May 31st so that does give us more time…..we are week one of searching so im really hoping something comes up. If not then wait it out and move towns/schools. ( I don’t fancy commuting - but I may change my mind ) I will for my eldest as she is in year 10 my toddler hasn’t even started school yet! So have all that to sort out…I have to give my new address when I move so will now be out of the catchment area for the school we moved to the village for 😭

Post on local FB pages to see if any land owners locally have a farm cottage going spare or an air bnb they’re willing to let? Or do you have enough to buy a piece of land and stick a caravan on it?

Yep I’m on all the Facebook backs and no time caravan I want to find somewhere that we can temp save rather than caravan - great idea though sure that would work for some.

I'm a LL and I am going to have to sell 3 btl houses. I was going to sell 1 this year, 1 in 2027 and 1 in 2028 but now EPC extended until 2030 so I suppose I'll hold off on selling until 1 in 2028, 1 in 2029 and 1 in 2030. I'm hoping this dreadful Labour government will be voted out and EPC C changed to EPC D. My 3 houses are high EPC D's. It will cost £13.5k per house to make them be EPC C. Atm anything above EPC E is legal. In the city where I own these 3 houses almost 60 percent of all rental houses are not EPC C and it will cost thousands to upgrade them. It's not financially viable to spend £13.3k as I the tenant saves about £80 pa on electric and gas. Mad Ed has capped cost at £10k per house. I won't pay this and will sell. This will make 6 adults, 8dc, 3 cats and 1 dog homeless. OP I really hope you find something pop up in your village. This government did not think through the consequences of its actions.

But will she need a reference? And could ignoring the S21 hinder that

I would advise making sure you get a good referee from your current LL at all costs as without that it will be almost impossible to get another private rental anywhere.

have you checked you can’t buy now ? House prices are stagnant or dropping so there may be something for you ? Aim for a bit less than perfect forever home and more good enough ?

Yes we have spoken to a mortgage advisor, not quite there unfortunately but again another good idea. I wish we were but hopefully 6-9 months we will be so just need a nice temp safe home for now. 🙏

I know this isn’t the main point of your thread but why do you have savings and debt? Much better to pay off your debts, if you can.

duplicated comment removed

Please contact your local council and make a homelessness application. They have an obligation to help you find a new home, particularly because you have children.

legally they do, but the council will simply tell the OP that they should wait until physically evicted.
That is against strictly govt policy but is a widespread practice (called "gatekeeping") and of course then lands the OP with having to pay the legal costs of the LL when it ends up in an actual court ordered eviction