Dear all A current AST comes to an end on a property on the 17th August. When my agent enquired whether the tenants would like to renew, they told him they were splitting up. On this basis my agent advised issuing a S21 as he was concerned about affordability. The tenants are an unmarried couple with three children. One of the current tenants (male) is now starting treatment for a serious condition and now the partner of the sick tenant has texted me offering me 6 months rent upfront to stay when the AST ends as she says that they are working on getting back together and don't want the stress of moving. There is a guarantor already in place for this AST plus 6 months deposit. I am tempted to accept this as it will avoid a void period. Is there anything to be concerned about? I know Johnson V Old has ended concerns about registering rent upfront as a deposit. If I accept this, should a new 6 month agreement be put in place (as my agent suggested)? Or should I let it go on to a monthly rolling tenancy? What about the notice period and serving a S21 when the 6 months draws to an end? The female tenant apparently told my agent 3 weeks ago when we sent the S21 that she would stay on regardless (seems to have backed down on this though) - so I am slightly worried about her volatility. It would have meant I would have had to get a possession order. My agent's renewal charge is 4 %. Would you expect that a 6 month renewal means that I would pay 4 % on the 6 months rent? Sorry if this post is confusing. I guess I am asking if anybody thinks it might be a bad idea to let them stay on after the threat of staying after the AST expires. Obviously they still might if the council advises them to stay and the 6 months upfront would mean this potential disaster is abated but what are the issues after the 6 months elapse? Thanks in advance for any advice

Parents in private rented property were given s21 notice as landlord wanted to sell. Daughter has been trying to get a mortgage to buy the property and in the meantime the parents have stayed put with the landlord's permission. Notice expired over 2 months ago. The sale is taking longer than the landlord would like and they are threatening to pull out. If they do, will they have to issue a new s21 notice? Am I right in advising that the parents are under no obligation to allow access for viewings etc whilst they are still living there?

At the end of last month, my letting agents on behalf of my landlord issued me with a S21. No explanation was given as to why I am wanted out (my letting agents have informed me there is no legal obligation for them to do this). I have been in the property since January of this year and was expecting to be in the property well into next year. My issue is I have no money to move out, no savings, no family to approach and as I have a very bad credit rating I am not in a position to borrow deposit monies, one months rent in advance and removal monies. I work for local government and have approached my union for financial assistance but I don't think I will receive help because of my credit history. I feel like letting rip at the letting agents because had i known there was a strong chance I would be asked to move out after several months or so I would not have moved in as I stated I wanted a long term let. When viewing the property the letting negotiator said the property was being let following a relationship breakdown, within weeks or moving in I released I was not the first tenant to move in after the relationship breakdown. The letting agent has also contacted me via voicemail to arrange an inspection, seeing as I don't know when I will be moving out I will not be responding. I have approached Shelter and a local housing charity for advice and both have recommended i stay put until the landlord serves an eviction notice and I wait for the bailiffs to arrive. For me this is unnecessary stress and will result in my letting agents giving me a bad reference. I have been a good tenant, looked after the property and always paid my rent before the due date. Can anyone think of any organisation I can approach for financial help? I have contacted the local council for guidance and have heard nothing. I suffer from depression and anxiety and this situation is not helping me at all. I don't know what is going to happen to me and my pets who are the only family I have. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi, I'm a bit confused about the situation. I was served a S.21 in June, giving me 2 months until 22 Aug to move out... Which all ties up.... The odd thing is that in July, the Letting Agent, offered me another contract (18 July) to which I replied "could I have a 12 month fixed AST as well as an allowance for a cat"... Nothing was heard from for weeks, until yesterday that I was told that I was NOT being offered a new tenancy and that the S.21 is in offer? Can I do anything about this when it comes to the letting agent? I'm a little lost as one moment I was offered one thing and the next another?!? The Letting agent event went as far as sending me a draft copy of the contract to go through before I actually signed it?!?± Cheers, A

I have been served with an S21(1)(b) that expires on the last day of my AST. However, I have read somewhere that when I renewed my tenancy last year, they should have provided me with the details of the deposit protection within 30 days. There are some details of the deposit protection contained within the tenancy agreement and a section that reads: Details of the DPS to which the landlord subscribes are given in the documentation annexed to this agreement, receipt of which the tennant acknowledges. Please refer to annex 1 & 3 at the end of this agreement. Annex one says :INFORMATION PRESCRIBED BY THE HOUSING ACT 2004 then goes on to show landlords name and address and mine and my partners names and email addresses. Then annex 3 reads: AS A SEPERATE ATTACHMENT WHICH REFERS TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE DEPOSIT PROTECTION SERVICE. However, I have NEVER received anything that refers to my deposit since moving in 3 years ago and certainly not when I have renewed each time. Does this make the section 21 invalid? If so, what should I do? Wait to receive a court notice? Are they legally then able to make any deductions from the deposit when i do move out? Any help is appreciated.

I've been renting my home for 6 years. Over the past months I've accrued rent arrears for the first time ever due to serious illness. The arrears are at 12 weeks. The landlord has served a Section 8 notice giving the grounds of 2 months or more arrears. I've now received a Possession Order claim form from the court giving me a hearing date. On the same date of the hearing I've got an appointment with a Consultant at the hospital which i had to wait 7 months on the waiting list to get. If I go to the hearing I will have to miss my hospital appointment and wait another 7 months or so to get a new appointment. By the hearing date I will have reduced my arrears to below 2 months but I still think it is important that I attend the hearing in person to try to defend myself. My question is can I apply to the court, sending my appointment letter from the hospital as proof, and ask them to consider adjourning the hearing date to an alternate date?

Hi posting this on behalf of a freind here so I will give a little background first. Freinds are a couple and have a Joint AST from 2009 with a deposit and a garunator. As I understand it the Guarantee is invalid as it was not executed as deed at the time, but all rents are and have been kept up to date but may become relveant. Basically the tenancy became a SPT at the end of the fixed term, they paid their rent and deposit to an agency and had a LTD company as a landlord. A few months into the fixed term (pre loaclaism act), came to light that deposit hadn't been protected. They mentioned this with the lettings agent, who duly placed it in he DPS and made an attempt at giving the prescribed information but missed a couple of bits. Friends were happy as had been burnt by previous rouge and just wanted their £ in a scheme. Agency a bit "key happy" so a swift lock barrel change and a letter sorted that out for them. Fast froward to 2013 and it has become apparent that the property have been sold by the LTD company to a private (and seemingly naive with the rules LL) with sitting tenants. It has been confirmed to them that exchange and completion have taken place. At no point has the LTD company, the agency or the new LL fulfilled ANY of their obligations under the LL & T act 1985. It appears that the agency is working for both new LL and LTD LL. This has never been properly confirmed and my friends are rightly concerned that they don't end up paying the new and old LL. Cue letters to the old Ltd company, new LL and agency requesting this is fufiled ASAP. Having been burned in the past have indicated to all parties that as the LL identity is in question, they will hold the rent in a spare empty bank account they have and will pay all back rent once the correct owners of the rent have made themselves known. Instead of fulfilling their obligations the agency wanted to sign them up to a new fixed term. This did not suit my friends as even before this they were planning on buying or moving somewhere with parking so declined the offer but made clear they were happy to continue the SPT with a new LL. Agency also wanted to raise the rent by £15/pm (pointed out that market rents have atchaully fallen in the area and £15/pm is quickly wiped out by a small void period, and I suspect the agency just wants to charge them and the new LL a load of fees) After sending this back they got a S21 notice. Now they suspect the new LL won't act on this (if they even know about it). However I have a couple of questions about its validity. 1) Does the fact the deposit was protected around 60 days after being received but pre localism act mean that the deposit needs to be returned before the LL can serve a S21? 2)The "prescribed information" they received after it was protected late was simply a receipt from the DPS and a copy of the protection web page, am I right in thinking this invalidates the notice as per the localism act? 3)As the notice contains the Landlords details for the new LL and not the old LTD company LL, and no notices under the LL&T act 1985 have been sent surely this invalidates the S21 too? ultimately the above may not matter as they were looking at leaving anyway and obviously they would need to be taken to court etc which would probably be enough time for them, but they want to be prepared and if it is invalid this would help them greatly as it would ensure at least another 1/2 months. Thanks in advance.

Hi A Section 21 is **alleged** to have been served "personally" by my landlord. However, this was genuinely not received, and the date of alleged "service" is during a time when I was actually staying in a hotel in Birmingham, hundreds of miles away. Anyway, I filled in the defence form and sent it back. Got the following response from the court: Before District Judge XXX sitting at XXX County Court IT IS ORDERED THAT Dispute as to service of NSP List on notice ELH for 20 minutes for directions. Hearing is set for XXXX at XXX at XXXX County Court. Questions: 1) What is the aim of the directions hearing? 2) What outcomes can come from a directions hearing, can eviction or claim struck out be ordered? 3) What is NSP? Thanks!

Hi there, My rent is due the 21st of every month, following my previous forum posts I have been issued an S21(4)(a) now on the 18/9/2012 and it ends next month on the 18/11/2012. I have just read that the dates can only be for one day before the rent or is this not true? And is the time frame correct by the landlord? I owed three months rent and a fourth month on the 21st which will all be paid and correct on the 21st of this month (the previous months are all paid off) and I wish to continue staying on the property. I will keep paying my rent as per usual and once the notice runs out he can then get a court warrant but if I am all paid up-to-date what will happen, will I still be requested to leave the property as I doubt he will have a sensible conversation with me to continue rental agreement. I understand he has 12 months to get the warrant also or have I read wrong? (the contract is periodic that the one?). Thanks.

Hi, i hope someone can help We have lived at the same property for 7 years always on a 12 month rental, this year the rental agreement was sent out as usuall for us to sign, we duly signed it and returned to the agency, however they have now said that it was never received and have put us onto a periodic 1 month agreement. The problem we have is that now we don't have as much security for the family and the landlord is free to increase the rent at any time he sees fit. As we have always been on a 12 month rental, this years agreement was sent back (but apparently not received, we have a photocopy here) can they just change the terms without letting us know?

Just a simple question really: how is a tenant supposed to know that they have to give notice, even though have been sent an S21? There is no information about this amongst the S21 documents, or accompanying letter from the agent. Have researched the net and find plenty of people who say that the tenant must still give notice (if they leave before the date on S21) but cannot find any information for tenants that says one must do this. I now understand that this appears to be the case, but would be helpful if a tenant, worried about having to leave their home, could be given detailed information about what they should do. Thanks for any advice.