I have a very close friend who has rented a property for three and a half years,the property is in a terrible state of repair. She has looked after the house to the best of her ability and budget with little or no help from the landlord, she moved in on an assured shorthold tenancy which expired after six months after which the landlord said "we don't need an agreement between us" so she has in fact lived there for over three years with no written agreement and in that time the rent has been increased several times. The landlord now informs her that he was only waiting for the housing market to reach a peak and that the time has now come to kick her out, my questions are 1,Is she in fact a sitting tenant in view of the fact she has lived there three years without a tenancy agreement? 2,Can he just in fact evict her even though the agreement ran out several years since? 3,Could she claim back all or some of the increased back rent due to the fact that it went against the terms of the original agreement and there was never any written notice of an increase? 4,Would it strengthen her case if she were to go and get the rent regulated? and where does she apply?

-- david (stitsevol@aol.com), October 24, 2004

Answers

I would think that it depends on the precise wording of the original paperwork, if it was a shorthold agreement as opposed to a shorthold tenancy I think the landlord could evict your friend quite easily by going to court,I might be wrong but I think that if your friend originally had a shorthold tenancy once the tenancy had expired and the landlord accepts the rent then your friend becomes a periodic tenant and has a lot more protection under the law but as I say you would need to check this with someone who is qualified.

-- steve (powerhousesteve@aol.com), October 25, 2004.

The tenant is a periodic tenant as the existing shorthold tenancy term has expired. The landlord needs to give two clear months notice to end the tenancy and this has to be in the correct form. He then applies for a possession order using the acellerated possession procedure. If all the paperwork is in order and the tenant does not request a hearing to contest any part of the process, the possession is granted. If the tenant does not move out, the bailiffs will then evict, forcibly if need be.

As to the increases in rent - as the lady has paid the increases, it suggests that there was an amicable oral agreement to increase the rent - it is quite possible that the original written agreement carried a term that there could be periodic rent increases. If this is the case, then she cannot reclaim all the excess rent back (the excess being the difference between the rent in the original agreement, and the increases as they were applied). She cannot get the rent "regulated", you can only apply to the rent assessment committee during the first six months of an AST.

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), October 25, 2004.