20th
Oct 2021
A Wiltshire landlord is raging at the council as he is unable to sell his property because the authority cannot find a property for his tenant after being given six months’ notice.
The unfortunate landlord Gary Mortimer has been trying to sell his property because the mortgage is due to finish soon and if he is unable to complete a sale then the property could be repossessed.
He had no other recourse than to apply for an eviction notice.
Mortimer issued his tenant of ten years with a Section 21 notice earlier this year so the tenant had six months to find a new home, the tenant immediately contacted the council to be re-housed.
However since the tenant’s initial contact with the council the deadline has since passed without any further help or progress made by the housing department.
Mortimer says: “The council phoned me about two weeks ago to ask for an extension on the notice.
“I said no because we’ve got tradesmen coming in. If I say no to all the people I’ve pencilled in, they’re going to do other jobs and won’t have time to do mine for another six to eight weeks.
“I phoned the council on October 7 to see what’s happening with the tenant’s accommodation, and they said they hadn’t found her anything.
“They’ve had six months to do this. What’s the point of the law if they’re not taking any notice of it?”
The landlord says the tenant is totally reliant on the council to find her a new home which has him asked for many extensions to the notice, Mortimer says: “The council is just palming it off and waiting until the eleventh hour. Six months is a long time for them to know if they are in a position to do something for a potentially homeless person or not.”
Mortimer has no issues with the tenant but with the mortgage ending soon he has to either sell the property or see it repossessed.
Cabinet member for housing, Phil Alford said the council could not discuss individual cases but added: “When a landlord provides a tenant with written notice to leave a property, we will work with the tenants to create a personal housing plan as we have a duty to help them avoid homelessness.
“We will help them to try and secure another home which may be social housing or another private rented property.
“The demand for accommodation is extremely high and we do all we can to try and prevent families from becoming homeless, but it isn’t always possible and in some cases families are provided with temporary accommodation until more suitable accommodation can be found.
“If a family decide they do not want to leave the accommodation they are past the notice expiry date we would explain the rights they have and the implications if they decide to stay.
“The council is not able to force a family to leave or give them permission to stay in a property. Our role is to advise tenants on their legal rights and explain the options available to them and the implications of each option. Once the tenant has made a decision about what they are going to do we would continue to work with them to secure suitable alternative accommodation.”
News Archive »