Section 21 letter

[Avathar77]

We have been renting this property for 10 years now and although we have been saying it is about time we find our own place, we never actual got around doing it although having a few casual viewings.
We were in the process of negotiating the rent for this years contract renewal.
Agent called and informed us the landlady is happy for us to stay for the same rent as we pay, I agreed verbally and asked for the contract to be sent.
Agent sent the contract few days later, only for us to find that it is actually someone else's contract!
We informed this to landlord and landlady. They contacted the Agent, following day and my wife gets a call from the agency saying rent has been increased by £100 per month.
We informed the landlord and landlady that the agency saying the rent is going to be increased now, but we were told before the landlady is ok with the current rent.
To which the landlady sent a tactical response by saying it is to do with the current market rent.
I called the agent and disputed this on the basis that they first said landlady is happy with what we are paying now and that is what we agreed.
Agent first didn't admit they said that but after I mention to them that all my calls are recorded(which they are) they soon changed the tone and tried to convince us to meet in middle at £50 increase.
We had a few calls asking the agent to talk to the landlord and landlady(to say what the agent first offered us).
I told them that i think it is unfair to increase the rent once we are offered at the current price and ask if we are ok to stay and later when we agree to come back and increase the rent.
Agency asked me to send them these in email as I was not budging and I keep asking them if they have sent our contract to someone else as they have done before.
We were then hand delivered(dropped through the letter box) a section 21 letter!
I tried contacting the agency via their web site and all i get was an error when submitting the email via their web form. I then found an email address and wrote to that asking for a proper email address for all this info to be sent.
They said the person who was dealing with our contract is on holiday and asked me to wait till Thursday(and also that their web form system does not work).
I contacted landlord and mentioned all of this and attached the call recording to show what the agency said to me - that landlady is ok for us to stay at the current rent.
He was silent for a day and told us that they are selling the house due to personal circumstances.
I do get that this might be a legitimate case of needing to sell the property, but i cant help but think they are trying to get out of this by evicting us.
Now my priority is to find a house for my family and I am not sure i can do that in 2 months time - which according to section 21 letter I have before I move out. I dont want to move to another rental property for another year to find a place and move again, i would rather buy my own.
I am going to ask for more time but not sure if they will agree.
Just stressed at the moment but trying to show a brave face to keep things cool.

 

[Avathar77]

Sorry for the delay.
Thank you all for the replies. I was venting and didn't expect this many responses to be honest. Showing a brave face and saying its going to be all right to wife and kids, but my stomach churns sometimes thinking about having to move out and what to do if we dont find a place in time.
To answer some of the questions:
Yes we are in a position to buy a house - have been saving for ages and planing this. But I fear this is just going to put us in to a rush mode. The house we live in is ok to rent but not so to make us our home, it has not had any major renovations done for the whole time(we have done the paining at the consent of the landlord almost every year). I would not be happy buying the current one we rent, but i did express the interest in knowing the price to the LL after seeing some of the comments here.
We have a group whatsapp channel for the house - He asked for our permission to bring an agent in to put the house up for sale. I didnt respond to that but asked if we can have 4 months instead of 2(or as soon as we find a house - which ever comes first).
This was yesterday and I also managed to get a "certificate of mortgage in principle" after put our details in and booked 3 viewings this Saturday.
Today - LL came back and told after considering our request he had to decline as they really have to sell. and said he is coming in at 14:00 today with an agent and "See you at 14:00 today if you are going to be there. ". also "2 months notice is the legal requirement and plenty of time should it be used wisely".

Until now we have not agreed for the LL or he agent to visit the house today, but when my stepson was in the house they have come in and my stepson has let them in because he knows the LL!

 

[Avathar77]

Thread bump!
After almost 3 months we are going to move out!
Found a nice little place and its going to be our first home purchase.

LL has not put the current house to the market to sell - despite saying that earlier. However they have offered it for us to buy, we politely declined as we have made an offer to the property we liked.

Now, the issue is, we have been paying the same rent even after the section 21 was issued as it is the right thing to do. But the exchange and completion of the new house is going to be falling 4 days after the 25th - which is the usual day for paying the next months rent. Not sure if this means we have to pay for a whole month(hope not) or we can come to an agreement to pay for 1 week, which I will try to negotiate.

Also not sure how to do the moving out process now that the relationship with the estate agent and the LL is non there. There has not been a house check for the past 10 years from their side. Only had the first inspection with a list of items came with the house and their condition when we moved in 10 years ago and according to the contract they are supposed to do every year - so not sure how this will play out with the deposit if they object to some of the things.
I assume we hand over the kesy after we move out and LL will examine the property and see if all is good. Thats the part that worries me - while we have maintained the property better than they did, they could say things that would effect our deposit.

 

[Avathar77]

They can't just enter the property like that... they can request access, which you are within your rights to deny, including for their regular "inspections" (aka, home invasions), even if included in your contract.
That's breach of the quiet enjoyment clause of the contract.

You have more than 2 months, you do not have to move out at the expiry of the 2 month time limit. However, it might cause some stress along the way.

1. Speak to the landlord nicely, say you want to move and buy your own place, but finding the right place in 2 months might prove difficult, so respectfully request some leeway in the time limit you've been given.
2. Only at the end of the 2 month time limit can he apply to the court to evict you, this process often takes a couple of months.
3. Even after this has been approved, he has to apply to the court again to have the eviction enforced, this often takes a couple of months again.

In reality... you have a good 6 months before he can actually kick you out. You just will have to deal with a bit of stress and if you were renting again after, you probably wouldn't get a good reference, even if the prior ten years had been good.



Glad you've found somewhere.

Reasonable wear and tear is acceptable, but in my experience LLs try to claim for everything.

Not sure when the deposit protection scheme stuff came into force, but hopefully you have that to protect you.

Make sure you take lots of photos of anything in dispute and are present when they do the checkout.

It's possible you'll have to pay the full month, even though it's only 4 days... depends on how reasonable they are.

Thank you for the reply.
Yes our deposit is protected in a scheme. Plan to make a recording of the whole house Some of the items have been replaced because they broke over time - they were really old, were there when we moved in(Dining table, fridge, washing machine, sofa) and we bought new ones with our money after we agreed with the LL in writing.
Don't actually know the process of this "checklist" - as in we move out and they check it after another day and we have to be there when they do as you say?

Well we could always pay the full month and do the move slowly if they ask for the full amount

 

[Avathar77]

Thank you, all valid points.
Our completion date for the new place is actually tomorrow! But the current owner is moving out this weekend and we are getting the keys on this Saturday/Sunday. We plan to move things after our work using our car during the week days and have put next Friday off to use a removal van to do the big stuff like TV, sofa, fridge ect. So we potentially have about 2 days to iron things out with the current place and was planing to schedule the keys handover.
Already cleaned the place once, washed all the windows inside and out, washed the curtains, carpets ect what was specified in the contract we had.
Informed the LL of our intention to move out today as they wanted us out asap. Lets see what they come up with.
I was not sure if we need to get the Estate agent involved again for this - but since we didn't sign a contract renewal not sure if should inform the EA