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9:15 AM, 8th August 2023, About 9 months ago 36
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Hello, I am approaching 70 and I issued my tenant with a letter to vacate the property on the 22nd of February 2023. I did not give a time frame but just to let the tenant know what my intentions were.
On receiving the letter my tenant decided that he was going to apply for a council property. He is an ex-serviceman and also very ill as he suffered from PTSD as a paratrooper for many years.
My tenant was assigned an adviser from the Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust which deals with homeless issues. My tenant met with the adviser who has been a great support and a good point of contact for me if I had any concerns or issues.
My tenant contacted me informing what documentation was required by myself to start the application process for accommodation for him.
The documentation I was asked for is as follows:
By Easter, I was advised by my tenant that the mental health trust adviser had all the documents that he needed to forward to Solihull Housing for his application to be processed. The tenant will then be issued his PIN number to bid or express an interest in a home.
This is where everything went wrong.
The first contact I had with Solihull Housing was a telephone call on the 23rd of May asking me to supply the Section 21 notice as the dates did not marry up and part of the form was missing. I was not best pleased as I had given everything to the adviser by email. The council seemed to care more about following procedures rather than my tenant’s health!
I contacted the mental health adviser and asked what the problem was but he had no idea and confirmed that everything had been sent over.
I kept asking my tenant if he had received his pin number. The answer was no.
I placed the property with the estate agents mid-May and agreed to a sale 2 weeks later to a FTB. I informed my tenant of the agreed sale and said it would be the end of July before the sale would be complete. He still did not have his pin number.
I received another call from someone at Solihull Housing on Wednesday 7th June to say that my tenant was not getting his pin number as I had not started repossession procedures.
They said that if my tenant left the property of his own validation then he would go to the bottom of the housing queue. They said I had to follow procedure and apply for repossession at a cost of £375 and then wait for the bailiffs to evict him.
The sale was still progressing but no movement regarding the pin number.
I got another call on 1st August from Solihull Housing saying that they needed the section 21 form as all they had was my letter dated 22nd February. I was angry because I had sent the documents again to the mental health adviser as a precaution.
Solihull Housing said again that I had to apply for repossession to get my tenant out and to follow procedure.
The person said that they have told my tenant not to leave the property and that he had to be evicted. Solihull Housing asked for the Estate Agent’s details as they said they were going to contact them and tell them that he would not be leaving the property!!
By this time I was very agitated and rang my tenant’s mental health adviser immediately and told them of the situation.
The adviser confirmed that I had on several occasions sent all the paperwork. The adviser said they would contact someone they had dealings with at Solihull Housing and get the matter sorted.
The adviser told me my tenant should have received his pin number two months ago!!!
I rang my tenant late afternoon on Wednesday 2nd August told him the situation and said that he had to vacate the property by the 11th August as that was the exchange day for the sale.
Within an hour of our telephone conversation, the tenant received his pin number.
This was an appalling stressful and inefficient service as it has taken 5 months to get this far. I hope my tenant will get a home so he can recover and I can complete my sale.
Thanks for reading.
Editors Note: You can find Property118 investigation on councils telling tenants to stay put here
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Mick Roberts
9:08 AM, 10th August 2023, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Smiffy at 10/08/2023 - 08:54
I always thought the same, selling with someone in, it's their home, it's wrong.
BUT, that Landlord gets old eventually, new rules come in where Landlord getting up at 4am to keep up with the rules & paperwork. He's been forced into selling 10 years earlier than he may want to.
And it's new rules since 2015 that has made Landlords NOT want to buy with existing tenants paying too low a rent. If rules were relaxed, Landlords would buy with tenant in, take a chance on tenant.
It's Govt & Council's that's making it near impossible for what u suggest & what we all want.
We've borrowed (or lent) that person something. We are individual human beings, we aren't a Charity or Council. When we can't have our OWN property back, then there will be no property to give in the first place. And that is what is happening.
We didn't tell them you can have this for life (Well I did many of mine actually ha ha) & u can pay super cheap rents as the outgoings increase. NEW outgoings that wasn't here when u moved in. I can't even look after family & mates any more cause of the outgoings & legislation.
Monty Bodkin
9:33 AM, 10th August 2023, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Smiffy at 10/08/2023 - 08:54"What we should be doing is offering these properties that we are finished with, tenanted, into the landlord industry either by auction or by a dedicated estate agent."
https://myurbanjungle.com/explore/blog/how-much-does-a-sitting-tenant-devalue-a-property/
an assured tenancy, could devalue your property by as much as 30 - 40%.
"turfing the tenant out with 2 months notice through no fault of their own."
It's been 6 months so far..
Ma'at Housing Solutions
12:04 PM, 10th August 2023, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Smiffy at 10/08/2023 - 08:54
Wow! Bravo Smiffy! Thank you for your humanity.
Graham Bowcock
12:14 PM, 10th August 2023, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Smiffy at 10/08/2023 - 08:54
I think the OP's first problem is a lack of understanding of the system, failing to deal with s21 properly and then engaging with the tenant's health issues.
That aside, this house may well be the OP's main investment (whether you agree with this or not it's perfectly legal) and he has every right to dispose of it for the maximum value. This could be your father or grandparents.
Having operated in the sector for over 30 years I have never seen such acrimony and despair by all involved. The key issue is lack of supply (of houses generally) and the need to provide social housing. The system has worked well for most of my career; s21 was used sparingly as landlords provided a valid service that was recognised. This is no more.
The problem is that if you continue to penalise landlords they will leave the sector, causing further problems for tenants. Personally I have sold three houses in the past few weeks; partly due to the age of some of my co-owners, partly due to the desire to release cash and partly due to the continual landlord bashing and potential changes. Three houses from one estate with a very good and long standing landlord letting to tenants (usually) for as long as they want to stay.
Whilst people keep suggesting landloirds should be deprived of their legitimate income/profit I shall continue to sell.
Zen
20:03 PM, 10th August 2023, About 9 months ago
In the article it say's that the LL was asked to provide some of the prescribed information, so they provided it. I'm not sure why commenters are presuming the prescribed information was served correctly. Have I read it wrong?
GlanACC
8:48 AM, 12th August 2023, About 9 months ago
There was no need to liase with the council, once the tenant has been issued with an S21 thats it. Then after the statutory period has lapsed court action started. By liasing with thre council you are giving them the possibilities of finding a way to let him stay. I once S21'd a tenant (quite a few years ago) and Derby City Council rang me asking for more information (wich I had supplied to the scumbag tenant), I told them to contact the tenant and they said she was 'unreachable' (basically because she had moved in with her partner at another property). Never heard anything more until the court hearing which she didn't turn up for. The magistrate luckily was not best pleased and gave the property back to me.