Need to move soon - please help!

keisha30

please help!
October 7, we're out of the lease. We decided not to renew the contract. Unfortunately, still not found a new apartment.
we were interested in some, unfortunately agencies never rang us.
No one ever gave us a chance to show references etc. We waited for the phone from them , and then we called ourselves the next day to find out what is going on. They answered that the apartment is already rented. but to  who??
At the meeting they didn't take the references from anyone .
 Sorry for the long description.
My question is, what can happen to  us if we don't  leave the house?
We asked the owner to give us a few more days . She refused .
She didn't find a new tenants yet .  
We don't  want to stay for free, we would have paid for each additional day.
we have a 2 year old son.
We really don't have a place to go .
Thanks !

murphaph

How long have you been in the house?

If more than 6 months, then you have a Part IV tenancy and unless you have given your landlord notice in writing then you should be ok (you can't legally be thrown out at least) even if your fixed term lease is up.

How is your relationship with your landlord?

silja

"A few more days" is difficult for a landlord as if someone is interested in the property, they cannot say when exactly it will be available. How about offering to sign a (very) short term lease> say for another month or two?

keisha30

thanks for the reply.
7 th October will be one year. agency sent her a written notice on our behalf . She is living abroad. Until now we had only contact with her by e-mails . Unfortunately, she did not seem nice.  we waited forever to get repaired broken equipments .  we took care of the house, the rent has always been paid on time. We moving out only because She dont  care about her  tenants. Also raised the rent. I thought  that we had the good relationship with her. Unfortunately, she  says that my e-mails were not nice , which is not true . She is flying back on the 8th and wants the keys from the apartment on the 7th because she wants  to check everything etc.

Procrastastudy

In all honesty better planning would seem to be the order of the day. Having said that if you can't find an apartment in this climate something seems a miss - I assume you're in rural Kerry or somewhere.

Have you tried DAFT? There are also places that do short stay but they are quite expensive.

keisha30

Silja
The agency found potential tenants. Who can move in on the 16th . So we would have been up to that time. That gave us more time to find a new place .
But She said that either we sign a new contract for another year, or  we have to move out.

Procrastastudy
I'm on daft 24 h lately . We are going on another view on Tuesday , our last hope , after that I don't know what we gonna do . 

StillWaters

Are there any friends you could stay with until you find Somewhere? The landlady does not have to let you stay after your lease is over, and you should be concentrating on finding a new place to live for your family.
You should go to the housing section of your local Council if you cannot find somewhere. They can help with emergency accommodation. It is not great, but you will not have to sleep on the streets.

aN.Droid

keisha30 wrote: »

The agency found potential tenants. Who can move in on the 16th . So we would have been up to that time. That gave us more time to find a new place .
But She said that either we sign a new contract for another year, or  we have to move out.

That gives the landlord 9 days to get the house in order for the next tenants which if she is living abroad is not very much time at all.

She will have to make sure that each room is ok to live in and if the place needs new paint or anything like that which can take a few days.

Unfortunately OP I am with the LL on this one. Sign a new lease or stay in a cheap hotel for a few days until you find somewhere else.

djimi

Have you given written notice to the landlord/letting agent that you intend to leave the accomodation? If not then you do not have to vacate just because the lease is up.

The_Conductor

djimi wrote: »

Have you given written notice to the landlord/letting agent that you intend to leave the accomodation? If not then you do not have to vacate just because the lease is up.

No- however you are liable to pay the rent periodically as prescribed in the original lease- and the amount of notice you give when leaving increases by a few days. Also- the landlord now has set rules for terminating the tenancy- such as stating that she needs the property for herself, and can serve you with notice of termination, and follow this up with eviction proceedings. All of this is time consuming- and could potentially take up to a year- however particularly if you have small children, you do not need this hanging over you.

You *need* to contact the council regarding emergency accommodation asap- and if you're on half way reasonable terms with the letting agent- let them know whats happening.

The landlord is within his or her rights to request you sign a new lease- If you did not serve notice of your intention to leave the property at the end of the original lease- the terms and conditions of the original lease continue to apply, however with the additional security of a Part 4 Tenancy.

Unfortunately you really are going to have to be a lot more pro-active about seeking new accommodation- if you have no intention of continuing in this apartment. Sitting at home waiting for agencies to call you- is not going to cut it- someone else will beat you to the post. A lot depends on exactly where you are, and what the rental demand locally is like- but it seriously sounds like you've been dropping the ball on this one........

StillWaters

keisha30 wrote: »

thanks for the reply.
7 th October will be one year. agency sent her a written notice on our behalf .

The OP has given written notice. He has no right to stay there, and advice advocating doing so is irresponsible IMO, as it sounds as if relations are not good with the LL.

The priority is to find alternative accommodation for next week!

djimi

Sorry, I missed the part where written notice has been given. That being the case then you are expected to vacate the property once the notice period has been served. It is up to you to ensure that you have somewhere to move in to. The landlord is well within their rights to expect their keys back at the end of the notce period. They may agree to allow you to stay on a bit longer, but its at their discretion. Honestly it sounds a bit like you are messing them about if you have told them you will be gone by a certain date and do not want to leave on that date.