tenants lease up

[chelsea78]

Hiya me and my partner are meant to be movin out of our rented flat in a couple of weeks coz our lease is up even though we paid extra for a year lease the agents are saying the landlord only wanted to do a 6mth one so that is when its up, we have fallen out with our neighbour because she is very nosey and dont stop complaining about anything miserable old lady really and coz of her we cant extent our lease anyway we have been looking and no luck so last resort was the council and they have told us only way they will help us out is to refuse to leave property and get evicted, this sounds awfull and im wondering how long it will take to get a place with the council and the thought of looking over my shoulder of the agents trying to get there property back.
Does anyone no if we continue to pay the rent then the agents cant do nothing and how long does it take to get evicted from a property?

[sally1001]

goodness that sounds a horrible situation and i'm sorry i don't know anything about the law of it but if you signed a yr lease and you have a copy then you have a yr lease. I HATE estate agents and think you should stand your ground. It will depend on where you live but in london the council will take ages and as you said will only house you if you become homeless. if you move out voluntarily then you're stuffed. you'll never get any help from the council and you've lost anything on the agents.

[themas]

You need to read your tenancy agreement carefully. Sometimes they are written as being for a 1 year tenancy but include a "break clause" which can mean the landlord (or the tenant) can terminate the tenancy earlier than the expiry of the 1 year. If your agreement includes something like this and you have been given the proper notice to quit then the landlord can go to Court to get you evicted if you don't leave voluntarily. But if you have a 1 year lease without a break clause then you cannot be evicted until the year is up.

I think Councils quite often tell people they won't house them unless they are evicted but in most cases I think this means they want to see an application to Court from the landlord (or a Court decision that you have to leave) before doing anything.

There are a number of rules that have to be complied with if the Council is to house you. If you are both under 60 and with no health or vulnerability problems then they normally don't have to house you (even if you have not left voluntarily) unless you have dependent children.

You could go to your local CAB with your tenancy agreement and ask them to advise you about all this.

[chelsea78]

cheers guys for your answers,
i would love to stay on or just untill we find some where else, its just the thought of havin to get evicted that worries me. Council havent said they wont house us and i hope they dont turn around and say they dont have to, that would be even worse, homeless at christmas great! i will get my agreement out and go through it with a fine comb.

[velvet lady]

OMG u poor b*******uggers. most leases are 6 months so themas is right, theres probably a clause at 6 months, did u get written notice?

def get advice from CAB, they were great when i got sacked, they are also free

good luck to you both

[Suetheramble]

Velvet Lady Sacked? I cant believe such a charming educated lady would ever get the sack