Can landlord force me out after no-fault notice if I stay?

[BlakeCarrington]

Hello wise Mumsnetters

I hope some of you might have experience in this area. I’m a private tenant who has been in a property for a year and am on a month by month rolling contract. I’ve looked after the place well, paid my rent on time etc.

My landlord has decided to sell up and has given me a no fault eviction notice and 2 months notice which runs out at the end of this month.

I have sorted somewhere else to go, but I can’t get into the new place until end of April. I was thinking of asking him to extend u til then but I doubt he’ll go for it, he’s champing at the bit to sell it.

Where would I stand if I just said I can’t move out until end of April as I’ve nowhere to go? It’s only 4 extra weeks and I would still pay rent. Could he send in the bailiffs or change the locks or something?

Thanks

To stay in her home for one extra month, continuing to pay rent, to avoid making herself homeless so her landlord can market the property a month sooner? Entitled? Yes! Everyone should be entitled to a home under reasonable and equitable conditions and staying for one month longer than the landlord would prefer whilst continuing to pay rent so she can move on to another property is the bare minimum she should be entitled to do.

Yeah that's a great attitude, such a good example of a great tenant. It's what leads to landlords getting out of the business and then you wait and watch rents go up even higher due to lack of supply. Then renters will be truly happy, right?

Exactly.
I would prefer by miles to rent from a professional landlord corporation that applies the law properly and accepts that landlording is a business that involves some risk than an amateur with one or two properties or god forbid an 'accidental landlord' who rents out their former family home and can't help getting the hump if you change anything at all!

No court will issue an eviction notice to a tenant who has plans to move out and continue to pay the rent. It would be considered a spurious or vexatious application. The courts are not there to make decent people homeless for no good reason, they are only there for when no possible redress has been found. If the landlord applied and the tenant evidences she had every intention of leaving within a reasonable timeframe no eviction notice would be granted.

The law doesn't agree with you however, thankfully. Expecting a tenant to pay for removals twice, storage costs and inflated Airbnb prices for a month to avoid inconveniencing a landlord when she has every legal right not to do any of that is unreasonable and absurd.

I get what you’re saying and you are addressing valid points, but I can’t help but think that the entire system is broken. What incentive is there for LLs to continue renting out a property? And if we say the world would be better without private landlords and we want them all to sell up, how would this help people like OP. She’d either be homeless from the get go if she can’t afford to buy (just for the sake of argument, maybe she can and is renting for other reasons) or she’d have stretched her budget to buy, but if she doesn’t have disposable income to cover one month in an AirBnB, she couldn’t cover maintenance costs for her own property either and the problem just moves from ‘can’t afford an AirBnB’ to ‘can’t afford to get my roof fixed’.

Yes they can, even refusing to give you one at all could count against you for future rental applications.
OP, negotiate with your LL - he will probably be happy for a months extra rent rather than court costs

When you speak to LL can you say obvs you understand it will be on the market and you will need to make arrangements for viewings ...

Good Luck @BlakeCarrington

I hope your LL will be reasonable when you call them. They should be, because what you are asking for - a short extension- is reasonable.

You don’t have to move out anyway, before your new tenancy starts. But always better to keep things amicable if you can. Less stress for everyone. Please let us know how you get on.

I agree. These points are valid. It goes back to repeated policy choices over many decades involving both Labour and Tory governments. Unfortunately, there is a total lack of long term strategy in the UK and many other countries. The effects are disastrous.

I think you should email instead so that you have all communication in writing. Perhaps also offer to show him that you have signed a new lease elsewhere if you are comfortable with that. I don't think see why he would be opposed to it since he hasn't actually sold the property yet. Nobody is waiting to move in by the sounds of it.

My friend is looking to rent in a part of SW London and in last half year the rents have definitely gone up for places with a garden.

I'm a landlord, I would contact your LL and explain the situation - if he is a sensible and reasonable LL he will simply agree to extend, get a little more rent from you before you go.

If he has to start formal proceedings the problems for you are two fold, one you could be charged his costs and pursued for that money and two you will find it harder to find somewhere to rent, as no one wants a Tennant who may cause trouble.

At the same time going the formal route will cost him in time and money - champing at the bit as he may be a month is nothing in the timescales of eviction so his best option is to let you stay on and have the extra rent and the property free and clear.

good luck!

@BlakeCarrington your landlord will know very well that he would have no chance of getting a possession order and
bailiffs in the month between your end of notice and your new tenancy.
Ask him for the extra month and say he can market the property from the end of your notice. If you were willing to accommodate a viewing window once a week that would also be very reasonable on both sides.
And no, he can't change the locks. That would be illegal eviction.

None of your extra detail is relevant. He’s given you two months notice and you need to leave at the end of that.

It is not his problem you didn’t source somewhere to go in time. It is not your property and you have absolutely no right to stay there.

No wonder landlords are selling up in droves when you have tenants with attitudes like this.

Long term you’re all just shooting yourselves in the foot as there will be less and less places to rent due to your awful and immoral behaviour.

As other have said contact the landlord about your situation and mention you would like to stay for another month and are happy with viewings.

Frankly the landlord would be silly to risk you staying anyway and him having to start eviction procedure when he can just get an extra month in rent and still get on with selling.

Your response is completely over the top. The OP has not done anything "awful" or "immoral" for goodness sake. She is trying to negotiate an extra month in the property which will be paid for. Unless you are a dodgy landlord yourself I don't see why you are getting so upset over it...

"There will be a massive shortage increase of rental starter and first time buyers properties"

This is the real bonus, prices will have to soften - giving lots of young people and lower earners a chance. The market (though maybe not prices) should start to improve too once it all feeds through. The new laws are great news for home buyers - just not so much for leveraged investors.

Don't be ridiculous. There is nothing awful or immoral about staying in her home legally and communicating with the LL about when she is able to move out.

Just stay put and explain in writing your situation. The landlord just has to suck it up. You are being completely reasonable.

Just ask him. The legal route takes months so no fear of bailiffs!

I'm a landlord and very recently gave my tenant an extra 3 weeks to move out. She allowed a few viewings whilst she was still there.

This somehow sounds like the new dawn that was promised to us after Brexit. We can only hope that this idea works out better than Brexit and that with cheaper house prices, the costs for maintenance works fall as well.

Goodness me, this kind of unwarented entitled attitude is thankfully why the new laws are such good news. Its the tenants home, the building may belong to another party (often mostly the bank these days). This tenant is being perfectly reasonable in needing a little more time.

I doubt it will have quite that much impact. But it will weadle out the parasitic wannabe's and increase supply to some extent. A magic wand it ain't, just a step in the right direction. My guess is maintainance and borrowing costs will continue to increase this year. Possibly quite a lot I'm afraid.

Except she DOES have a right to be there, according to the law. Your opinion on that means less than nothing.