Today my landlord rang me and said that he wants to sell his house,and he told me that he was sending up a letter tomorrow giving us two months notice. We have been living in this UNFURNISHED house for a year and half and we are currently only half way through our current 12 month lease that runs out at the end of July. I was just wondering is he entitled to do this??? We have been perfect tenants and paid the rent on time every month, he said that he justs wants to sell up. Do we have any rights here at all??? Even considering that it is an unfurnished house or is the Landlord well within his rights to sell up???
Landlord breaking the lease
- Thread starter Duck
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B
baby_tooth
Guest
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
he can sell, but you do have rights and can fight it, which is what you should do.
If ppl always let landlords away with this then it become ingrained as acceptebale behaviour for them
You have a lease, get him to buy out your lease. If he refuses to do this, then tell him to get an order to quit, this will take him a few months, so you still get your full term.
he can sell, but you do have rights and can fight it, which is what you should do.
If ppl always let landlords away with this then it become ingrained as acceptebale behaviour for them
You have a lease, get him to buy out your lease. If he refuses to do this, then tell him to get an order to quit, this will take him a few months, so you still get your full term.
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
I'm not sure that BabyTooth is correct, you should check your lease in case there is a clause that prevents the landlord from kicking you out but selling up is one of the reasons that the PRTB allow landlords to use to evict tenants. I suggest that you contact Threshold and the PRTB to get a definitive answer.
Unfortunately your situation underlines just how weak tenants' rights really are under the PRTB (admittedly much improved on the previous state of affairs.)
I'm not sure that BabyTooth is correct, you should check your lease in case there is a clause that prevents the landlord from kicking you out but selling up is one of the reasons that the PRTB allow landlords to use to evict tenants. I suggest that you contact Threshold and the PRTB to get a definitive answer.
Unfortunately your situation underlines just how weak tenants' rights really are under the PRTB (admittedly much improved on the previous state of affairs.)
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baby_tooth
Guest
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
the landlord can evict you if he is putting the house up for sale straight away.
but you also have a lease,,,,he's making your life more awkward so ask him to buy out the remaining lease, or give you back your deposit and help you obtain a similar house in the same area, or you can tell him to wait until your lease is up, that you are not moving out till then period.
He can then go and get an eviction order, which most likely he won't get if you have representation and state that you will move out at the end of your lease....
play hard ball with him, its your life he's messing with. Use the law to your full advantage, and this will show l.lords that they can't go about doing whatever it is they want.
speak to threshold..
the landlord can evict you if he is putting the house up for sale straight away.
but you also have a lease,,,,he's making your life more awkward so ask him to buy out the remaining lease, or give you back your deposit and help you obtain a similar house in the same area, or you can tell him to wait until your lease is up, that you are not moving out till then period.
He can then go and get an eviction order, which most likely he won't get if you have representation and state that you will move out at the end of your lease....
play hard ball with him, its your life he's messing with. Use the law to your full advantage, and this will show l.lords that they can't go about doing whatever it is they want.
speak to threshold..
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baby_tooth
Guest
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
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Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
Duck, I would be very interested to hear how you get on with this (especially if you take the course of action outlined by BT.) Good luck.
Duck, I would be very interested to hear how you get on with this (especially if you take the course of action outlined by BT.) Good luck.
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
Hi baby_tooth, I don't understand why you think an eviction order will be refused? (assuming the landlord is not breaking the terms of the lease, which I imagine is unlikely).
Hi baby_tooth, I don't understand why you think an eviction order will be refused? (assuming the landlord is not breaking the terms of the lease, which I imagine is unlikely).
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
The above is very poor, ill-informed advice.
Hi Duck, by all means speak to Threshold and the PRTB, but you should know that the landlord is legally only required to give you 42 days notice under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act to vacate his/her property as he/she has indicated that the property is to be sold.
The above is very poor, ill-informed advice.
B
baby_tooth
Guest
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
he can go and get an order to quit if he wants, but the whole process is slow and protracted. It's not the ideal situation, but you can fight this order, which you can use as a delaying mechanisim.
A lease exists for a reason.
The best situation if to talk with your landlord and make him aware of the fact that this inconviences you. He may help in relocation or a reduction in rent or give back the deposit early to help in finding another place or a combination of all of the above.
And just becasue the law is weak from the tenants point of view doesn't mean its right and doesn't mean you have to bow and cede way.
Personally i would look for some compensation if this is of a major inconvience to you. And if the l.loard was being unhelpful or disagreeable well i would stand up to him and refuse to move.
he can go and get an order to quit if he wants, but the whole process is slow and protracted. It's not the ideal situation, but you can fight this order, which you can use as a delaying mechanisim.
A lease exists for a reason.
The best situation if to talk with your landlord and make him aware of the fact that this inconviences you. He may help in relocation or a reduction in rent or give back the deposit early to help in finding another place or a combination of all of the above.
And just becasue the law is weak from the tenants point of view doesn't mean its right and doesn't mean you have to bow and cede way.
Personally i would look for some compensation if this is of a major inconvience to you. And if the l.loard was being unhelpful or disagreeable well i would stand up to him and refuse to move.
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
I have to say that a landlord breaking a lease half-way through a year would be an enormous expense and inconvenience to me, I would certainly do anything (legal) I could to see the lease through. The security of tenure provided for by the PRTB is just not sufficiently protective of tenants to my mind.
The tenant from Hell!
I have to say that a landlord breaking a lease half-way through a year would be an enormous expense and inconvenience to me, I would certainly do anything (legal) I could to see the lease through. The security of tenure provided for by the PRTB is just not sufficiently protective of tenants to my mind.
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
Consider the position of the landlord for a moment - perhaps he/she is ill, has been made redundant, and needs to sell the property to support him/herself. Perhaps he/she was one of the investors who bought when prices were high and now finds him/herself unable to cover the recent mortgage interest rate increases and is struggling each month to make the payments.
The landlord has acted correctly and has even been fair enough to give 60 day's notice where only 42 are required by law.
The law is there to protect both parties. It's an unfortunate situation, but Duck should do the right thing and look for alternative accommodation.
Yes, the operative work here is legal.
Consider the position of the landlord for a moment - perhaps he/she is ill, has been made redundant, and needs to sell the property to support him/herself. Perhaps he/she was one of the investors who bought when prices were high and now finds him/herself unable to cover the recent mortgage interest rate increases and is struggling each month to make the payments.
The landlord has acted correctly and has even been fair enough to give 60 day's notice where only 42 are required by law.
The law is there to protect both parties. It's an unfortunate situation, but Duck should do the right thing and look for alternative accommodation.
Re: Landlord breaking the lease!!
In my opinion, (and in an ideal world) the landlord should have no right to turf Duck out of his home in this situation, ill or not. So what if the landlord's investment has under-performed? This is someone's home that is being considered, not a badly performing piece of stock.
There is no question that Duck's landlord has acted legally but I would also encourage Duck to seek whatever redress may be legally available.
In my opinion, (and in an ideal world) the landlord should have no right to turf Duck out of his home in this situation, ill or not. So what if the landlord's investment has under-performed? This is someone's home that is being considered, not a badly performing piece of stock.
There is no question that Duck's landlord has acted legally but I would also encourage Duck to seek whatever redress may be legally available.
I believe that tenants have more security that they did prior to the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act. The Landlord in this case is entitled to serve notice on the tenant only if he intends to sell the property within 3 months - the grounds for recovery of possession are subject to certain procedures to prevent abuse - it's up to the PRTB to check/enforce this.
The Landlord is entitled to terminate the lease giving 42 day's notice if he needs to sell the property.
I wasn't comparing the tenant's home with 'a badly performing piece of stock', but was merely trying to shed some light from a landlord's point of view.
We recently had to sell an investment property as my husband became too ill to carry on in his particular line of work and we otherwise could not have afforded to pay our mortgage. We gave the tenant 2 month's notice and helped her to find alternative accommodation. The removal was carried out by a friend with a van and she had no other costs to cover. Yes, it was 'inconvenient' for her, but so too would it have been very costly for us to have allowed her to stay until the end of the lease.
You obviously treated your tenant fairly but really a tenant should not have to depend on such good will, their home should be their home regardless of the landlord's financial difficulties. If it is too costly for a landlord to maintain a rental property then I would question the landlord's planning. We seem to have strong regulations in place for commercial leases, why not have corresponding ones for residential property?