Can I evict a tenant after buying a property with no Gas Safety certificate?

Can I evict a tenant after buying a property with no Gas Safety certificate?

0:06 AM, 5th December 2024, About a month ago 39

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Hi, I purchased a property earlier this year through an auction with a tenant in situ. I changed the name of the landlord on the tenancy and myself and the tenant signed it.

I am now trying to evict him via Section 21. However, I’ve recently found out when he moved into the property in 2019 the gas check was done by someone who was not on the Gas Safe register – the previous landlord tried to evict him but this was reason why he failed.

He now has the help again from legal aid solicitors and they have done a defence stating this issue and that I shouldn’t be given possession due to no valid gas safety certificate upon him moving in. There are other reasons they have put on the defence but this is the biggest concern for me.

Can anyone shed any light on what I can do?

Thank you,

John


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Dandy Philips

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13:30 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Thanks for all your replies. The tenant has been paying the rent etc and is a good tenant. I’m not sure if I could the up the rent because the house does need quite a bit of work. The tenant is a single parent with children also who has took advice from the council who aren’t willing to help until bailiffs have been ordered. They have been looking for other properties but there isn’t much about. I bought the house so I could eventually move in. The tenant has sent the defence now so I’m guessing I’ll receive a court date.

Jonathan Willis

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14:11 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Dandy Philips at 10/12/2024 - 13:30
Good luck, remember if the tenant successfully defends the s21, they can charge you for costs incurred.

If you wanted to move in yourself, you would need to have brought it with vacant possession, or at least got all the documentation in order before exchanging on the property, but obviously that's not possible as per the previous replies, eviction via s21 likely isn't possible.

Looks like you are going to be a landlord for the foreseeable future.

Dandy Philips

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15:26 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Jonathan Willis at 10/12/2024 - 14:11
The previous owner didn’t tell me about the gas safe issue.

Jonathan Willis

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16:36 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Dandy Philips at 10/12/2024 - 15:26
Apologies I'm sure I read in here, that the tenant had already defended an s21 notice from the previous landlord when they tried to evict them. Must have mixed it up with another post.

Dandy Philips

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16:53 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

That’s correct. I wasn’t aware of any of this. I only found out when the tenant and her legal adviser made me aware.

Jonathan Willis

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17:40 PM, 10th December 2024, About 4 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Dandy Philips at 10/12/2024 - 16:53
Whilst the saying is don't take advice from the other side, it sounds correct to me. Hopefully you'll have some representation given the defence sounds valid, as the other posters have pointed out (so long as it's a tenancy started after the Deregulation Act 2015)

Dandy Philips

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10:57 AM, 4th January 2025, About 5 days ago

I have now have a hearing date very soon. On my hearing notice letter it stated ‘This case may be transferred to another judge at another court’
Is likely to be a standard thing or should I worry of a road ahead

Lorraine Mansfield

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12:05 PM, 8th January 2025, About A day ago

Did you know that if a change of landlord or say a change of tenant on a tenency happens you need to set up a new deposit with a deposit scheme or you can't serve a section 21.

I found this out following a training course for barristers on 42 Bedford row law.

Jonathan Willis

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12:20 PM, 8th January 2025, About A day ago

Reply to the comment left by Lorraine Mansfield at 08/01/2025 - 12:05I believe there are 6 cases where it has to be re-issued
A change of tenant (add/remove joint tenants from the agreement)
A change of landlord (this includes selling between landlords, adding/removing joint landlords)
A change to the landlord address (this can also include if the listed address is that of the estate agency, and they move, or you change agency, it needs to be an active address you can get letters from)
You change the deposit scheme (either between TDS/DPS/MyDeposits, or swapping between the Custodial or Insured schemes)
The tenancy address changes (rare, but if you move them to a new property and don't start a new tenancy agreement)
A new tenancy agreement: Whilst the Deregulation Act 2015, has removed the the right for tenants to claim multiple unprotected deposits. I believe you should still re-protect it for each new fixed term tenancy agreement.

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