Landlord and Tenant Issues

Housing officers can negotiate with other landlords and/or tenants in order to resolve disputes or misunderstandings. Quite often even when a landlord has served notice, there are ways in which we can help you to resolve issues so that you can remain in your family home. We will consider:

• Landlord / tenant mediation
• Floating support referrals
• Debt and finance management.

Preventing eviction by resolving disputes will always be our primary aim. However, we need your full co-operation and permission before we can contact your landlord to discuss your circumstances.

Eviction from landlords

Before you can be evicted from an assured shorthold tenancy there is a course of action your landlord must legally follow.

Your landlord must:

• Give you 2 months’ notice that you are expected to move
• Give this notice in writing
• Bring the tenancy to a close at the end of a rental period.

Your landlord is also not entitled to bring a tenancy to an end until after the first fixed term of your tenancy has passed, unless you are two months in arrears with your rent or have broken other specific tenancy conditions.

If you feel that your landlord is trying to evict you without following the lawful procedure you should contact one the housing options team who will be able to offer advice and assistance. We can negotiate with your landlord in order to ensure your tenancy is ended correctly to allow you adequate time to find alternative accommodation. We could also help you understand why problems have arisen in the tenancy and try to find ways to resolve them.