Tenants refusing to move out and difficult ex

[Quixote39]

Hi - I'm seeking advice over trying to get rid of tenants who refuse to move out of a property owned jointly by myself and my ex-wife. We didn't include the house in the original divorce settlement (more's the pity!!) and after the divorce, we both got to the stage where we couldn't afford to jointly pay the mortgage and both live elsewhere, so got tenants in.

The tenants are now refusing to move out and I'm following legal process (ie. have served Section 21 and waiting for that to expire) as the house is in the process of being sold.

I have two questions:

1: My ex claims she has served her own Section 21 notice separately to me and is now asking for cash for her to initiate the next stage of the legal process. I'm saying I'm only paying to pursue my own process and need proof she has even served her own notice, as I don't have that yet! She claims her Section 21 expires before mine - is that even possible, given that my understanding is that a Section 21 has to follow the terms of the tenancy to have any weight in court?

2: The tenants are on benefits (only discovered by me after they moved in!) and the council are refusing to tell me anything about their status because my ex has forbidden them to talk to me. Accepting that she signed the tenancy agreement, not me, are the council not still legally obliged to communicate with me as I jointly own the property and the inquiry has a direct bearing on the sale?

[Mortitia]

Hi there,

Forget about the sale and arguments with your ex for the moment. If you both want joy out of this you will both have to co-operate. The Landlord can issue a S21 for posession. Are you the landord? No your wife is as she signed the AST. You are a joint owner but not the landlord but you could issue a S21 as the landlord's agent.

1. Only 1 section 21 will be needed/used to evict tenants provided it is fill out correctly. (that last bit - 'correctly' is the reason why 80% section 21's fail so pay attention).

Both get your section 21's and see which was issued 1st. That will be the one which the courts will use.

Check the dates and wording against other posts on this site. The words 'one or before ( +date) ' should be present.

Have you calculated the date correctly?

How was the section 21 served? If posted did you keep proof of posting? If not abandon and start again.

This time fill out 2 section 21's identically and post from 2 different post offices getting proof of posting - this way tenants can not say they did not recieve section 21.

OR use SPECIALIST LANDLORD SOLICITOR to do this for you - NOT one off the High St.

2. The council will not discuss its clients (ie the tenants) with the landlord be it you or the ex or Uncle Tom so you are wrong to think she has prevented you doing this.

The council are not obliged to talk to you as the owner.

My strategy would be:-

1. Co-operate with ex and get tenants removed.

2. Sell house.

Mortitia