Landlord wants to sell

All about caring
21

Sitting tenant ?

( A few tens on offer locally … BTL landlord selling up whilst the AST tenant enjoys the remainder of the tenancy … attracts other BTL landlords seeking properites to let … already a tenant in situ … all the better. In poorer areas , an AST tenant in situ will attract a higher price than a property with vacant possession … fact ! )

That section 21 notice again … have you received one ?

Landlord cannot take any action until it is served , and the statutory period mentioned therein has expired.

( See the SHELTER bit posted earlier in this thread ! )

22

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes, my current rent is £1325 a month and the places I’ve been looking at that are similar are around £1450 or more. It’s fairly scandalous that successive governments have let the housing crisis get this bad.

I received the section 21 a couple of weeks earlier than it needed to be served. I now have two calendar months left.

23

Thanks Brian … i feared as much … housing / property always been a pet subject for me … regretably , the nastier side in the context of your situation.

( No thick , pre mature , birthday card from the landlord , then ! )

Okay , time for the really deep breathe … what are the alternatives ?

A clue ?

Not many fingers on one hand needed.

Me ?

I’m only here in Worksop because I’m an economic migrant … one of the only manors I can afford to live in which I find pleasant … to a very long stretch of the imagination !

( I said live … survive better apt for the first four years ! )

My immediate neighbours … mainly Polish … they too are economic migrants … here to work as the wages are higher.

Both I and they are NOT here through choice … like caring … hardly any alternative !!!

Two sides to the same coin !!!

Tough decisions / few choices … the ball is in your court , Brian.

One tool / toy … local Housing Allowance ( HA ) calculator … works for all manors.

In essence , what a Housing Benefit claimant needs to know :
https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

How does it works ?

How much HA could I receive for a 2 bedroomed property in , say , Worksop … answer … £ 92.98 per week / £ 402.91 per month.

How much to rent said properties today in the local letting market … answer … £ 400 - £ 450.

Gap … Rent minus HA … anything upto £ 48 per month … can I afford that ?

( HA frozen … rents ? … as much as you can get ! )

Interlocking thread on this very aspect :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/carer-disability-benefits/carers-claiming-benefits-just-how-secure-is-that-roof-over-your-head-housing-allowance-council-tax-problems-34469?hilit=council%20tax%20rises

In short , the more prosperous an area , the bigger the gap … and the more you need to cough up each month.

London ?

Don’t ask … all bets are off !
( And Khan is promising rent controls in his re-election manifesto … pouring more oil on a raging inferno ? )

Your current rent … highest rent payable locally … £ 925 per month / 5 bedrooms … if you like new pads , as best as they come 'round 'ere … only thing missing … gate house on the street entrance … to keep the locals out :

( If you qualified , HA is £ 630 per month … £ 295 per month to find … different planet ? )
Perhaps thinking of relocating not such a bad idea ?

Enough from me … more for you to ponder on … however difficult ?

#############################################################################################

( The homeowners reading this thread must be thinking … what language is this … Klingon ?

For their information , there are thousands , if not low hundreds of thousands , of Brians out there as more BTL landlords look to cash in and sell up … main HOUSING thread … 300+ in one hit from a Kent based landlord alone in the recent past !

If the majority are bought by new homeowners , what do you think will happen to the level of rents in those manors … having taken off 300 from the supply … two choices … a clue … okay … four letters … a R an I a S and a … vowel ? And , that all important HA remains frozen … that potential gap is now a chasm !!!

Of course , don’t forget that many BTL landlords do not let to benefit claimants … UC rollout the starting gun … so that dwindling number of properties dwindles even further !!!

Eat / Heat / Roof … the Unholy Trinity … half the carer army struggle to maintain all three !!! ).

24

"don’t forget that many BTL landlords do not let to benefit claimants "

that’s because of the government’s well-intentioned but totally idiotic decision to make benefits claimants manage their own finances instead of paying the rent direct to the landlords.

yes, it was ‘supposed’ to encourage claimants to be ‘grown up’ about their finances, but since those who end up on benefits are so often NOT ‘grown up’ in that sense, of course they didn’t and couldn’t.

As ever, it is incredibly hard to come up with laws that protect good tenants from bad landlords, and good landlords from bad tenants.

(Whether those tenants are private or on benefits…)

25

Add on the delays built into UC and it’s no wonder the unofficial signs are spreading nationwide.

Recent posting on the main HOUSING thread … Hull … and just a month and a few days in.

Locally , helped with the letting agents insisting on the HB within UC to be mandated directly to the landlords.

That , in itself , has helped a few locally.

Trouble is , with UC , no guarantee that said HB will be paid IF , like my inmmediate neighbours , on zero hours contracts , the sum so calculated is based either on the previous month’s earnings and / or averaged out when starting from a " Good " month.

Eat / heat / roof … 14 MILLION + have that daily choice … which is more important ?

No easy answer to that one … except for , perhaps , a tenant in hospital through illness is hardly in a position to pay the rent , or , be able to do anything to improve his / her immediate predicament.

And … that UC steamroller … still many more manors to visit … akin to the plague ?

26

A single mum challenged this ruling about not letting to those on Housing Benefit, and won. It’s discrimination. I’ll try to find the article later and give more details.

27

Yep … doesn’t work in the real world , though.
( Posted in the main HOUSING thread , BB. )

I would agree that any " Sign " such as the ones above , is in breach of the Discrimination Act.

That’s why you will not see one displayed in a letting agents’ window … unlike the 1950s / 1960s …
and then we had the racial element to contend with as well !

Landlords have always had the right to say NO to a perspective tenant.

10 perspective tenants … 9 on benefits … who would be selected if YOU were a landlord ?

Same with employers … 10 applications … 9 with known caring duties , 1 without.

Unless , of course , positive discrimination becomes the new norm ?

In that respect , it is a free market out there … thankfully.

Anything behind that NO ?

Prove it !

It is not the landlord’s fault that the benefit system is disfunctional … more so under UC !
( For once , I’m with the landlords on this … difficult … but NOT a problem of THEIR making !

It was Government policy that created the conditions for the subsequent explosion in the BTL market … without that , what would the position be today ?

And , that dates back decades ! )

28

Brian … this morning’s posting on the main HOUSING thread will be of interest to you ?

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and-campaigns/latest-caring-news/housing-social-tenants-btl-hb-problems-shortages-grenfell-tower-fallout-30866?start=190

29

Thanks. Yeah, I can’t see this government introducing rent controls: they all look too smug to even know what renting is like. Amber Rudd’s daughter even complained about having to live rent free in a £3m apartment in West London. What planet are they on?

30

Housing … " Roof " for this purpose … just one of the Unholy Trinity in Carerland.

Together with it’s fellow grim reapers … Eat and Heat … make an awesome trio.

One more … then add colours … and horses … ?

Perhaps malnutrition … through lack of food NOT compulsive eating … that’s always hovering in the shadows ?

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and-campaigns/latest-caring-news/malnutrition-amongst-family-kinship-carers-just-how-many-high-time-to-find-out-29223?hilit=malnutrition

31

Rent controls are hopeless, they just distort the market. in the end, we all have to live where we can afford to live - ie, not in London!

re the like’s of Amber Rudd’s daughter (agree not on this planet if that is what she said) are the scum that occupy council houses/flats even though they are on huge salaries - like that Labour MP and the guy who ran a trade union on a massive salary paid for by his own members…SCUM

(I expect capitalists to be scum - I do NOT expect Labour to be scum too.)

32

__

Rent controls are hopeless, they just distort the market

Yep … pouring oil on a raging inferno … see the main HOUSING thread for the full sp on that one.

33

Yes, the best way to deal with the housing crisis is building more houses and limiting immigration (at least until the housing crisis is dealt with).

34

I hope you live to the ripe old age of 173 , Brian.

Just long enough to see the housing crisis ease.

The arrival of a new plague , perhaps ?

Those low millions in the tent cities will stand no chance !

( Same scenario even if social housing building increased TENFOLD ! )

A housing crisis ?

That really is the best understatement ever made on this forum !!!

35

This is no help to the poor Man needing advice, but everytime I get a post from Chris from the Gulag, I get inundated by ridiculous large unreadable responses, responses that make no sense. Maybe four of five links followed by a weird comment


People are asking for help, the comments DO NOT help. After years it still makes no sense. One line of help from Sally or Jenny means a millions compared to obscure posts with links…


Just my opinion…

36

Not advice … following the frustration members like Brian are experiencing in the housing sector.

Follow the flow of the thread , and who has provided most of the advice ???

Links ?

To external sites for EXPERT guidance ???

As thread stands , Brian has the information … the most difficult part is what will he do with it in the light of his situation.

Hobson’s choice springs to mind ?

Housing crisis ?

The main HOUSING thread makes very bleak reading … articles from respected journalist and leading think tanks
… Shelter a regular visitor there.

Demand is increasing , supply is diminishing … and no sign of a future change in either.

Record level of waiting times for social housing reported by several LAs and CCs. … 20+ years in two London Boroughs.

Gap between level of rents and Housing Allowance increasing in the BTL sector.

Government scheme to help people to get on the housing ladder … disproportionate number of richer buyers taking advantage , no real help to those on lower incomes … evidence of house builders taking advantage by increasing their prices.

Conclusion ?

37

After a really stressful time, I thought I’d found a suitable property, but after two weeks of messing us around the owners have decided they want to sell the house instead of rent it out. I’ve now got about three and a half weeks to find somewhere. Do you think my current landlord would have the decency to give us more time or is that asking too much?

38

You can only try , Brian.

I will assume that you have been in contact with Shelter since your last posting ?

39

No, just felt too proud to ask for help. Getting to the point where I have to though.

40

Definitely phone them, because you need to know your legal rights after the notice period has expired. I’m sure they cannot just force you out, but have to go through a legal process. I worked in an office where my colleagues used to deal with this sort of thing, but that was too long ago for me to give proper advice. Shelter will have all the details you need. It might even be on their website.