We're going to be evicted... Help please..

[BenoitFromLondon]

Good evening,

Currently I live with my 5 flatmates in London and the last week we received a letter by a mortgage company to inform us the house is going to be repossessed. (In fact the landlord doesn't pay the bank anymore.)

So it seems we need to wait the confirmation from the court to know when we are going to be evicted exactly. Then we should receive the confirmation before the end of June to confirm the exact date when all of them will have to leave the house.

We pay the rent to an agency every month but our deposits are not protected. Moreover the agency is refusing to protect our deposit. So we're afraid to lose the money.

In this context I have some questions so if you could help me that would be very great.

1. Can we stop paying the rent to be sure to get back our deposits from the next month ?

2. Do we need to give 1 month notice to leave the house after the eviction is confirmed by the court ?

3. Do we need to continue for paying the rent after the eviction is confirmed by the court ?

4. It seems we can request an extra time before leaving the house. (2 months) So do we need to request that now or do we need to wait the exact date of the eviction ?

Let me know if you need more information and if you could help me that would be great!

PS: I'm French so apologies for my English which is not perfect.

[Lea_HTH]

1. Tell the agent to protect your deposit now. They have until 31st May to comply with the new law under the Localism Act, otherwise you will take them to court and ask the court to award you your deposit back, plus a payment in penalty against them. It's up to you whether you want to pay the rent to the agent or not - but if the house is in the process of being repossessed, you might wish to contact the mortgage company and ask if you can pay the rent directly over to them under the Mortgages Repossession (Protection for Tenants) Act 2010. Under this legislation, if you write to the mortgagee and ask if you can stay, they should allow you a further two month period in the house (you can also apply to the courts to stay if the mortgagee rejects your request, which should be made to the mortgagee in writing).

 

2. No.

 

3. No - you pay only for the time that you are there, but ideally you should pay the money over to the mortgagee, not the LL or the agent.

 

4. You need to do it now - see answer no.1.

 

Votre anglais est bien meilleur que mon français...

[BenoitFromLondon]

Hi Lea,

 

Thank you very much for your help.

We have an appointment with the agency next Monday to talk about our situation and deposits.

 

Where can I find more information about the Localism Act please? I tried to google that but that was not very clear.

[BenoitFromLondon]

Last 3 questions please..

 

1. Imagine we request to extend the eviction period of 2 months. Do we need to pay the rent for 2 months even if we leave the house before the end of the 2 months ?

2. How much time will we have to leave the house when we receive the confirmation of the eviction from the court ? IS the same timing every time or does it depend about of each case?

3. Could we get back our deposit immediately when the eviction is confirmed? (Few days at least I suppose) Or do we need to leave the house to get the deposits ?

Edited May 24, 2012 by BenoitFromLondon

[Lea_HTH]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/20/part/7/chapter/6/crossheading/tenants-deposits

 

Act is at the above link.

 

1. Yes, you have to pay the rent if you stay in the property. Allowing you to stay will be conditional on you paying.

2. It depends on how busy the court bailiffs are in your area. A possession order granted for 14 days, may not be executed for another three or four weeks in many cases. But it cannot be guaranteed. The bailiffs office at the county court should be able to give you some idea if you ask them directly.

3. If your deposit has been protected it will usually take at least a couple of weeks before it is returned to you. You have to leave the house before the deposit is returned.

[BenoitFromLondon]

Hi Lea,

Thank you so much sincerely..

[BenoitFromLondon]

Lea

This is me again...

Both last questions again..

1. Do you know if the lender (The Agency) or the mortgage company who is reposseing the house have to help us to find a new flat/house ?

2. Does the agency have to give back one part of our rent if we pay for one full month and we're evicted the 17th for example? Can we get back the money for the 11 days left ?

Edited May 24, 2012 by BenoitFromLondon

[Lea_HTH]

1. No they don't have to help you find a new property to live in - that is your responsibility.

 

2. If you pay the rent in advance and you are evicted mid-month, then any days thereafter must be repaid to you. If, for example, your monthly rent is £1000, then the daily rate (calculated by multiplying the monthly rent by 12 and dividing that sum by 365 days in the year) is: £32.88. Therefore, if you stayed for 17 days, you would pay £32.88 x 17 days, and would be entitled to - if you leave in June for example, which has 30 days - to 13 x £32.88 in a refund for that month's payment.

[BenoitFromLondon]

Thank you so much !!

Let me know when you are in London and I will offer you a glass of wine !!

Have a really nice day and week-end

[BenoitFromLondon]

Hi Lea !! This is Benoît again !

Just to update you about our situation.

We had an appointment with the agency yesterday.

So the agency is not going to pay the owner anymore so they told us we don't need to pay the rents anymore as well. Except for the bills so we can live in the house until the evictiont. They're going to discuss between them about the deposit to know if we can get back the money when the eviction is confirmed. (Because the situation is exceptional and some of us are not able to pay the deposit and the 1st rent for a new house/room)

In fact the agency is clearly not clean. We shouldn't be 6 in the house but 4 only.. Moreover the contract for the house is not a "to-let" contract but it's a contract for a family. (I don't remeber exactly the good term). So that means the agency shouldn't rent the house for sharing. It's why we're thinking they try to be very kind with us because we could request the court easily to fix the problem. In this context, we should be able to save 1 or 2 rents and to get back our deposit. (Good news)

 

BUT (because there is a but everytime)... My flatmates and I understood the agency had to request an extension period for the eviction (2 months) when we received the first letter of eviction. That should be done in 2 weeks after receiving of the 1st notification. But the agency is telling us the extension needs to be done when the eviction is confirmed by the court because it's a residiential house. Is the agency telling the truth ??

Because that could be a very bad news for us if we cannot ask an extension anymore..

Thank you very much for your help by advance.

[Lea_HTH]

I would suggest that you contact the mortgage company directly yourselves and not rely on the agent. The agent was working for the landlord, and therefore his view could be biased, and also not with your best interests in mind.

 

If you contact the mortgage company, you should be able to gain some additional time in the house. The fact that the property was rented out and not to a family is immaterial at this stage; it simply won't make a difference. The mortgagee has repossessed and they don't care now who is living in the property, they just want to get the property sold to recoup their money.

 

You might wish to try suing the landlord in the small claims court for the return of your deposit if it is not returned to you - but really, he hasn't paid his mortgage, so the likelihood of you being able to get your money back is virtually nil. If you haven't paid the rent recently, consider that the return of your deposit instead.

 

The agency cannot request anything from the courts or the mortgagee on behalf of the tenants. YOU have to contact the mortgagee and/or the courts yourself in order to do this. The agency are effectively stalling you - the eviction can be stayed by the occupants of the house, but only if they put in an application to the courts to do so (using form N244) - however, you MUST write to the mortgagee first as advised in earlier posts.