Tenant asking not to extend S21?

Tenant asking not to extend S21?

9:01 AM, 27th November 2019, About 5 years ago 13

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I have served a Section 21, giving the statutory two months notice, on my tenant who has been on a periodic tenancy for 7 or more years.

She is now asking me to write a letter/email which she can pass on to the council, saying that “I cannot extend the tenancy beyond the date I put on the Section 21.” This is because she wants to be rehoused by the council.

Please can anyone give me advice on this as I am concerned that I must get this right so I can take possession of the property without difficulty at the end of the notice.

Many thanks

Liz


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Jo Ramkissoon

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7:09 AM, 28th November 2019, About 5 years ago

Dear Liz Buckland. As others have said, some proceedings may vary from authority to authority. My experience in Leicester and Nottingham is that the LA will do nothing until the day of eviction by the bailiff, when the tenant must show up at the housing office seeking accommodation. This has even been the case with a single mother with 3 children and pregnant with a fourth. Completing the paperwork correctly is key and encouraging the tenant to keep on at the council are both key. Any errors and landlords find themselves issuing a new S21 with a new notice period. Furthermore, in Leicester City, the council will frequently write to LL's to ask if there are rent arrears if the tenant had been receiving HB. If so, they are less likely to house the tenant, as they perceive it to be misuse of HB.
Best wishes, Jo

Hamish McBloggs

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10:23 AM, 6th December 2019, About 5 years ago

We had similar with our very first tenant.

All had been good, no arrears, perfect tenant. The tenant received benefits and very responsibly budgeted.

We were then put in the strange position where our house was to become 'overcrowded' with the imminent arrival of another child but to be rehoused had to be evicted otherwise intentionally homeless.

The tenant asked us to end the tenancy so that she could be rehoused.

I wrote to the LA explaining that we were terminating the tenancy with months and months of notice and that the tenant would be homeless.

Fruitless.

The conversation was never with the LA, they communicated with me via the tenant, she was advised to sit tight until evicted.

So I made phone calls to the LA and eventually got someone pragmatic and grounded who in an unguarded moment spilled frightening stats on how many people they have to find a bed for each night and how little money there was; which is why our tenant was not a priority.

So I took this information and wrote to our MP telling him that I had given the LA months of notice, that being proactive is the better policy, that the tenant needed to be evicted first and would be on the street with small children, heavily pregnant with possessions in suitcases before being considered worthy of attention by the LA.

I also mentioned that everyone involved was on prozac.

The reply on House of Commons paper, which I still have, basically said that we should find our house empty if we go and check. It was. Gobsmacked. I have no idea what the exchange between LA and MP was.

It was very stressful for all up to that point.

This was about 1998 and I know things have hardened since. I suspect the more contemporary LA culture prevents people having personal views, MP's driven more by central policy and less able to flex personal feelings,

However, I would gather names and information and carefully craft a letter to your MP whilst at the same time resigning yourself to the likelihood that you will need expert support that will cost. Any MP's reply will be equally carefully crafted as we are in the social media age and the whole world will have an opinion ...

Hamish

Ash1666

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11:56 AM, 7th December 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Hamish McBloggs at 06/12/2019 - 10:23
Hamish,

I found this incredibly helpful, along with all the other comments in this thread. I’m going to write to my MP who happens to be Boris Johnson out to get votes. Why should I be a charity to tenants who haven’t paid rent and LA who isn’t prepared to help.

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