Tenant question

Hi a family member has bought a house for them to live in, it already has a tenant in there. Their contract with the landlord started in October for 6 months. The landlord is the tenants friend. They have made another contract in February this year before the October one lapsed. The tenant seems to think he cant be served notice until august when the February contract lapses. Help please! Family are desperate to move in

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18 h, 29 m ago
Erm... did they not get their solicitor to explain this? Due diligence should have made the conditions pretty clear for tenant in situ laws. The reason why properties with tenant in situ are a good 30% cheaper that unoccupied properties is because you can't just kick them out.

The previous landlord can't just say he's keeping the deposit to cover rent arrears, for one thing, the new landlord takes over everything involved in the agreement, including any money owed. He's basically stolen the deposit from the new owners pretending it was a debt to him. It will now be a nightmare claiming for that in court as the previous owner will say that he told the new owners this and they agreed to it (a solicitor would have drawn up a contract that would have made this trivial to disprove).

It's possible they're nice tenants but they (and the previous owners) have already pulled one over on the new owners, that's not a good sign. They've no deposit, they don't care about the new landlords, they were already in arrears. The signs are not boding well for them paying any rent or even leaving when the tenancy agreement runs out. It's a long and expensive process then to get them evicted.

Tell them to get a solicitor now. If the tenants are actually nice, it'll give them reassurance, if they're nightmare tenants, the solicitor will make things go as quickly as possible and make sure the owners don't fall foul of the law.
Author
17 h, 49 m ago
It seems like they will be a nightmare, I don’t know why tenants make things so awakened, the family would have given them sufficient notice as per the law.
17 h, 14 m ago
If the landlord was the previous owner and they didn't disclose this new tenant contract when they were doing disclosures etc.....regarding things which may affect the property then I think that the new owners can take legal action against them for this non disclosure.

The paperwork contracts that are agreed between the 2 parties should include all things relevant to the sale of the property.....and an extension of the tenants lease prior to the exchange/completion would definitely be something that should have been disclosed. Particularly as a contract would surely need to have been signed/dated for that extension.

The buyers should contact their convenyancer/solicitor and explain what has happened and get legal advice about next steps.
Author
17 h, 0 m ago
This is something they will need to take up I agree, they were selling the property the contract was still in date and yet they made a contract 2 months before the contract lapsed and did not make the solicitors aware of this
17 h, 21 m ago
Who buys a house with a tenent already in especially whenthey plan to use it.
Author
17 h, 14 m ago
Lots of people if they want a particular house, if that was the case tenanted houses would never sell.
6 h, 3 m ago
Good luck on your 12 / 18 months of hell ahead of you.
Plus the legal costs.
When on earth would a sane person by a tenanted property, not being a landlord.
Hit self on head with a hammer time.
19 h, 1 m ago
They need to get good legal advice - not from somewhere like here as this COULD get very messy and very expensive very quickly!
19 h, 49 m ago
Surely their solicitor would have told them what they could & couldn't do & when they had to do it?

If not then demand the solicitor for free legal advice & service. (edited)
19 h, 31 m ago
When the house was purchased, the buyer became the new landlord.

As such, was the correct procedure followed in terminating the previous tenancy agreement and starting a new one in the new landlords name, re-registering of the deposit, re-serving proscribed information, new GSC etc?
Author
19 h, 20 m ago
Hi, the tenancy agreement with the previous landlord is still in place, as I understand it the new buyer cannot terminate it without giving them notice. They don’t want to give them a new tenancy agreement as they want the house for themselves to move into. Their landlord (their friend) has given them their deposit back and said it’s for rent in arrears! And provided that with signatures of the tenant and theirs to their solicitor, so there is no bond! Can you believe it, they are going to be problematic. (edited)
4 h, 5 m ago
i am really confused with this post! i am a landlord by the way.

so you bought a house with tenants in situ and took on responsibility of being the new landlord? did you get a buy to let mortgage?

i feel you are relaying wrong information left right and centre here as you are talking for 3rd party so are not fully aware of the situation.
Author
1 h, 47 m ago
No, family bought the house for themselves to live in. Tenants were in situ but their tenancy with previous owner was for 6 months due to run out at the end of April
19 h, 57 m ago
Serve the notice now than no further tenancy would be offered. Hopefully they will move out earlier, otherwise you will need to wait until August.
17 h, 20 m ago
You mean until next year? Takes pretty much a year to evict someone through the courts / bailiffs... And that's assuming everything happens quickly.
18 h, 24 m ago
So we’re a tenet at the the moment and our house will go up for sale later on this year. We’ve been told that if we renew our agreement for 12 months it would carry over to new potential buyers until the time lapse. So I believe this would be the case for your family. Although I’m slightly concerned that your family member wasn’t made aware via his solicitor
Author
17 h, 57 m ago
Their solicitor made them aware that there was a contract in place for 6 months from October, so it would end in April. They were not made aware that the landlord who is the tenants friend have drawn up a new contract in February before the April one lapsed.
5 h, 15 m ago
See a decent solicitor, they are the ONLY ones who can help.

As has been pointed out, your family member has walked into a minefield. Good luck!
5 h, 14 m ago
OP will need to remember as well. During the process of evicting the current tenants, they're UNLIKELY to pay any rent. It'll take at least 1yr min. to forcefully remove them through the courts.
3 h, 8 m ago
If I wanted to live there I'd have made a vacant house being a condition for the exchange to happen, asking for trouble otherwise, especially as they can just not bother leaving and it's expensive and time consuming to resolve.
2 h, 53 m ago
properties are sold with vacant possession and this is a specific requirement for mortgage companies.

you can buy a property with tenants and become the new landlord but you would need a buy to let mortgage and you will need to issue a new contract. it is not clear from the OP's post but it may be that he bought a house with tenants and agreed to become the new landlord and now finds that he can't evict them, dear oh dear. sounds like he has got himself into a complete mess.
1 h, 37 m ago
Very strange if it was for themselves it should have been vacant possesion with the tenants being given 2 months notice which is the legal minimum.

As said, more lawyer fees, it seems.
1 h, 36 m ago
Section 21 notice, also probably more commonly called a No Fault Eviction.
1 h, 19 m ago
if the OP is relaying information correctly, it is not that simple. in order to evict a tenant, section 21 can be served but not until at least 6 months had elapsed if the tenant had been issued with an assured shorthold tenancy. then section 21 can only be served if all conditions for such a notice is satisfied.

then the tenant can fight the eviction if they have grounds and a court hearing is needed. i think the OP bought what he thought was a cheap property and took on responsibility for being a landlord when he knew nothing about being a landlord and eviction.

OP - you need to check your paperwork and make sure what you had agreed with regard to the tenant being still there on completion as you had bought a house that is not with vacant possession. As you are asking the question for someone else, you don't have the full information so it is difficult to help you.