Advice needed House Repossessed

[TAZA]

The daughter and her two friends moved into rented accommodation four months ago, they took out a six month lease, the landlord has just phoned them up and told them the house has been repossessed and they have a month to move out,

Apparently he has not been paying the mortgage and has just been to court.

Any advice appreciated.

Taza

[divingdancer]

the lender will probably require the property to be vacant possession when they sell it either via a local agent or by auction. Either wait until the lender serves notice to quit or find somewhere now.

alternatively, if a new owner can be found to buy the house with tenants then they could make an offer to the lender. in the current market they may prefer a quick sale without the expense of marketing the property.

[Mark Chase]

They are probably in a property that wasn't legally rentable. They could sue the land lord but thats another matter.

Point is they are now in residence and the new owners of the property will have to sell it with tenants in place (sitting tenants) or they will have to take legal measures to evict them which will normally take six months.

First thing to do is ask the land lord for the contact details of the new owners and write to them.

Long and short is, stop paying rent to the old owner offer rent to the new owner and sit tight.

Might be worth asking for a purchase price to the new owners. You could get a massive chunk off the going price and turn this round into a money making opportunity.

For detailed advice go to the citizens advice bureau

ATB



Mark

[Arfie]

I'd just typed a nice long reply, reviewed it and saw Mr Chase had already said it all.

If it's been repo'd tell the ex-landord to mind his own business, the property is no longer his, therefore none of his business

Arfie

[Pioneer 10]

Yep, I know things are different in England, but could they club together and purchase from the repo bank? I know from experience, you get a lot more for your money at a repo sale!

What ever happens, good luck!

[russthedude]

I would change the locks asap just in case mr landlord (who is obviously dodgy) decides to come over to do some shopping...

[DaveC]

If they payed a bond, they need to look at getting that back ASAP

[Reikimaster]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Might be worth asking for a purchase price to the new owners. You could get a massive chunk off the going price and turn this round into a money making opportunity.

that what i would go for

[Graham Smith]

Providing the lease is in order they actually have security of tenure for the duration of the lease. As Mark has said, it would be best to contact the bank and ask who they should forward the rent to. I would also suggest that in consideration of them quitting the property promptly at the end of the lease or co-operating with the lender as much as possible they ask if their deposit be taken as rent paid in advance. I would also make noises about getting any deposit back from the landlord (unless it has been held by an agent).

They wont be able to buy it from the bank at a knock-down price - The Landlord will still owe arrears and the bank is under a duty to get the best price it can for the property and will have to show that it made all reasonable efforts to do so - hence you will often see adverts in the property press saying offers must be in by a certain date; they have agreed a sale and need to make sure they cant better it.

[machiavelli]

They need to get in touch with the lender to let them know that the house is tenanted - it's possible that the original owner neglected to tell them. They should stop paying rent to the original landlord and expect a demand for rent from the lender. The lender is likely to want them out - to sell with vacant possession and will need to give notice using the 'shorthold ground' - ie to quit at the end of the fixed period. It's possible for the lender to sell with the tenants in situ - whether this would be worthwhile will depend on the property. This has happened to one of my neighbours a few times.

If the deposit was lodged with a deposit protection scheme then it is safe. If not, getting it back may mean a trip to the County Court, which isn't too scary a process, provided that receipts and the tenancy agreement are all in order.

Proper advice can be obtainied from organisations like Shelter - I think they have a housing advice line, the CAB or via their students union if the tenants are students. If the house was found via a university's accomodation office, they should be told as well in case Mr Dodgy Landlord has any other properties advertised with them which he's not paying the mortgage on.

hth