hi,
I'm hoping someone can offer some guidance towards a problem that might arise.

My son is renting a flat at the moment,and is out of the tenancy aggreement, due to the landlord putting the flat up for sale.
If and when the flat is sold, will he have any rights to stay until he find's somewhere? or can he in theory be kicked out as soon as the other party exchanges contracts and be asked to leave.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Petralva,

Firstly, his best free advice is probably the local council housing department, or the CAB.

From my understanding of the law, if a shorthold tenancy agreement terminates and neither party has given notice of termination, the agreement is deemed to have rolled over, and another period of equal length is deemed to have started, on the same terms.

Clearly here the landlord is trying to have his cake and eat it, ie renting until the last minute to cover his mortgage, and then asking your son to leave.

Unless the agreement terminates at the same time as a sale, an unlikely event, then he cannot simply ask your son to leave without offerng him compensation, and your son agreeing.

Given the current state of the housing market, an early sale is perhaps uinlikely, and your son may see the agreement roll again!

What he should do is ensure he keeps the original shorthold tenancy agreement, with external copies held elsewhere!


You could try the Land Regisrty website to see when he purchased the property, and for how much, to see how desperate the landlord is.

If he is a new amateur landlord who has purchased in the last couple of years, he may be struggling to pay his mortgage, whereas if he bought years ago he will hold out for his asking price, which MAY mean an early sale unlikely.

This in only my understanding of the law on this point, and he should definately at least go to the CAB, but I would ring the Housing Department first.


I do not believe the landlord can exchange contracts with a tenant is residence, and if he does, I would suggest your son contacts the Housing Department pronto, as the landlord would almost certainly be breaking the law, and there is no way they could compel your son to leave on the day of completion of the sale, and any attempt to do so by force would be stopped by the police, if necessary.

One option for your son would be to start looking about 6 weeks before the end of the new rollover period jusrt entered, and if he finds a really good place, give notice and leave! That would cause the landlord a major headache, as he would have to commence a new shorthold tenancy with a new tenant.

Good luck, and let us know what he is advised, and how it turns out.

Thanks for the pointers Andy, my son is currently 6 weeks out of his aggreement,and the landlord wasn't bothered about it being renewed.....
My son gets on well with him,so can't see him being stitched up.
I was more concerned with the buyers attitude,he might want him out in a week

That's where i see the problem,but as i'm sure your aware it can take several weeks for the sale to go through.......so hopefully in that time he will find somewhere else.

Will go to the local housing authority next week and perhaps cab to discuss.

Thanks for your time and effort andy....it was enlightening.

Petralva,

My pleasure, and that is my understanding of the shrthold tenancy law, but the other sources will know for sure.

As he knows the landlord, perhaps they can come to some sort of agreement?

The agreement does not rollover for another similar period. It turns into something called a statutory assured shorthold tenancy, which effectively has the same terms as the original tenancy except that the landlord needs to give the tenant two months' notice to expire on a rent day, whereas the tenant leaving needs to give one months' notice, again expiring on a rent day.

There are however some differences in certain unusual cases, e.g. if the rent is paid weekly rather than monthly, so the suggestion to get advice from the CAB (or there is plenty of info on the web) is a good one.

The landlord can sell the property with a tenant in residence although of course most sales are with vacant possession and the landlord would be in serious problems if he did not manage to obtain it by the day of completion. For this reason most landlords would negotiate a free month or two at the end or whatever to try to ensure the tenant left, but there is certainly no right to compensation. Most sales take two months or more from the time the price is agreed so I would suspect that the landlord is relying on the good relationship with the tenant.

Kayak,

Well done, I hoped you would spot this thread.

If your son is happy in the place, do as a pall of my daughter's did negotiate for a free or reduced rent, just for keeping the place clean and tidy, and allowing them to look around the place, (at short notice). Your son still has the right to ask for notice if the landlord or anyone enters His rent paid up home.