Tenancy issues - after 15 years in property. Please share your wisdom...

[WorriedWotsit]

I'll try and be brief:

Home is owned by a Limited Company originally with 2 joint shareholders/directors. Both elderly men. Mr A and Mr B.

I have lived in the house since April 2011 and have only ever dealt with or even met Mr A. I knew of Mr B (he was always blamed by Mr A for everything he wanted to absolve himself from... rent rise "Mr B insists..." etc.)

In April Mr A decided to sell his share to Mr B, then Mr B gifted the whole company to his child - Mr C.

I have had no contact at all from Mr C and nothing from Mr A or B to inform me formally of the change in ownership.

I have researched the company on Companies House and can see the dates of resignation and appointment all took place around 12th-17th April 2026.

On 25th April I received a Section 21 Eviction Notice from a firm purporting to be the agent for the landlord.

I checked the validity of this with Shelter and it is invalid due to the lack of required paperwork (EPC, Gas cert, How to rent booklet etc) and was advised to not respond or acknowledge the S21 given the proximity of the new Renters Rights Act coming into force 6 days later.

We are now 3 weeks post letter and there remains no contact whatsoever from the landlord but today I have received a letter from the "agent" asking me to change bank details to her account and contact her with any issues. She refers to Mr C by name - not the limited company who is the owner of the company and the name on the account I have paid rent to for 15 years and 1 month.

I am googling myself crazy trying to figure out how to manage the situation.

I don't want to move from my home. My youngest son knows no other home and you can imagine after 15 years we are VERY settled.

Mr A was a very easy-going landlord but terrible with repairs and renovations - there are damp issues that haven't been addressed, the kitchen is falling to bits and the flooring throughout the house was threadbare, damaged and stained when we moved in and is desperately in need of replacement.

3 years ago I arranged for the house to be internally insulated, new solar panels fitted, air source heat pump and full new heating and hot water system. This was with the permission of Mr A, however all paperwork is in my name (insurances etc) and the contract value is over £36k) I also have at least £2000 LPG in the tank (used for cooking now) and all of this was undertaken as I believed I had security of tenure based on how long I had already lived here and assurances from Mr A.

What should I do? Has anyone got any experience of this - I appreciate it is complicated and as such AI and Google is struggling to answer me due to the nuances...

Any advice will be MOST gratefully received.

Mr C by name - not the limited company who is the owner of the company property and the name on the account I have paid rent to for 15 years and 1 month

* Can't edit OP

Do you have an EPC and up to date gas certificate? Also is your deposit held in an appropriate scheme?
I don't think that it matters that the paperwork for all the solar etc. is in your name as that can be changed. I take it you didn't pay for it, just arranged installation?
Any assurances from Mr A are no longer valid as he has sold the house so I'm not sure what arrangement you could come to wrt the LPG gas.
It might be worth going back to Shelter to discuss all of this

My dc had something similar at uni,

essentially there was a dispute over who owned the property as the landlord had defaulted on the mortgage and the bank was taking repossession.

i would suggest contacting all three people and asking for confirmation of ownership and clarification of who the rent should be paid to.

with respect to the hot water etc Mr A can give you assurances but verbal assurances have limited power and if he no longer owns the property then they have no relevance.

"I have received a letter from the "agent" asking me to change bank details to her account and contact her with any issues. She refers to Mr C by name - not the limited company who is the owner of the company and the name on the account I have paid rent to for 15 years and 1 month."

It appears you are out of your depth with knowing the legalities of tenancy law.
Rather than write pages of explanations on here I suggest you contact Shelter and get help from them>>
Housing advice from Shelter - Shelter England

ownership of the property is a bit of a red herring
who is your landlord per your written tenancy agreement????
is it a real person (Mr A, B or A & B) or is it the company name?

Questions to ask Shelter:

1. Have you been correctly notified of a change in landlord?
2. Is the S21 valid?
3. Up until 30 April 2025 what type of tenancy was in place? Fixed period or (statutory / contractual) periodic tenancy? When was the tenancy agreement last renewed?

There far too much irrelevant info about mr A,B,C,X,Y and Z
concentrate on safety cert deposit and is the section 21 correct

Hi OP

I'm a landlord, I'm sorry you are going through this - In my opinion any landlord who seeks to evict a good, paying tenant is mad, but for some reason Mr. C wants the property back.

In the short term you are safe if the S21 does not work, but there are other tools at Mr Cs disposal, for example the section 8 grounds of selling or moving in - both of this are inconvenient if Mr C wants to rent the property out again, but are pretty bomb proof in terms of him getting the property back.

Absolutely take advice from shelter and stay put whilst you can, but be aware you likely will have to move at some future point.

I suspect he is planning to sell or occupy, there would be no other good reason to evict a good, paying tenant.

Good luck, and don't do anything without first taking advice.

If you were evicted before the new law came into effect, then (according to a quick google of I searched correctly) , you’re bound by that law and are not protected by the new law, providing it was done properly.

You need to work who is the official landlord and go from there.

The section 21, is in itself not an eviction, but a notice of an application for an eviction - the section 21 notice in of itself cannot fail but the application for eviction can be rejected because x, y, z were not in place (ie electrical certificate).

Assuming that is the case, and assuming any application for eviction is rejected, the that S21 no fault eviction has failed, and as that remedy is no longer available the tenant will fall under the new renters rights act. The landlord would then have to follow S8, and realistically only has two grounds, moving in or selling.

Both of these have long clauses about not re-renting the property, so it would either be occupied by the LL or family member or empty for over a year - but of course the LL might want to be doing that.

There are specialist firms who process evictions and firms who buy let properties with a sitting tenant and then evict, do up and re-sell. If Mr C wants the property, or the proceeds from it, he will prevail in the end I'm afraid.

In respect of the heating and solar panels, unless you had a written agreement saying the landlord would re-imburse you for these items if you were to move out then then you won't get anything for them, and they will go with the house back to the landlord.

Of course the hardware belongs to you, so you could have them removed prior to leaving, but you would have to make good and put an equivalent heating system to what was there in the first place back.

The LPG would be forfeit, because unlike oil that you can drain off and move, its not portable - you could negotiate selling it to the landlord, but he doesn't have to take you up on the offer.

Of course if the LPG bulk container contract with Calor or whoever is in your name, you can cancel it and have said container removed, being in mind the caveat of making sure things were how they were.

I'd say it was unwise to spend £36K on someone else's property, there was never any guarantee this situation would not have come to pass, landlords circumstances can change, they can die, pass the property on, run into financial woes etc. and you may still be there, as you are, but with a new owner.

It might be worth the few hundred for you to sit down with a solicitor so you are clear in your mind exactly where you stand, which they will be able to say from what paperwork and communications you have.

I feel for you and I’m not an expert but surely all you will be doing is prolonging the inevitable?

Your home belongs to someone else and they are entitled to sell it.

Yes, that's it in a nutshell - if its the LLs intention to either sell it or occupy it, then , even tough they may have to go through some hoops, they will ultimately succeed.

In some respects the renters rights act makes that more straightforward, the notice period is longer, which helps the tenant, but once expired, the outcome will be eviction.

Issues over certificates, deposit protection etc. are to some extent red herrings, they can all be resolved, at a cost, and then the process starts again.

Worst case for the landlord is they sell it to a big company at a lower price (typically 20% less than market value) or to another landlord, and again, the cycle can repeat.

As PP mentioned, contact the charity Shelter as soon as possible.

Also, if the agent or landlord asks to update your agreement, make sure you get advice from a qualified third party before signing anything.

Some landlords operating through limited companies are now using commercial lease agreements which offers fewer statutory protections and makes it easier for them to evict tenants.

My guess is that Mr C is going to get you evicted, saying he's selling. He will then not be able to sell said property, he will do a partial refurbishment and increase the rent required by around 40%.

I'd think this will be the case too, but he will have to wait 12 months after gaining possession until he re-lets to comply with the new regs - but that gives him plenty of time to do it up, either to sell or re-let in due course.