Hi, It was a secure tenancy but the notice says it's not anymore. My solicitor has said today it may cost me £5000 to go to court. What a shock but do you think it'll even get to this stage? I think I will proceed with the Right to Buy and see what they come back with. Thanks. Alison

Hi All, I'm hoping someone can help. I am a Council Tenant and have recently been served the above. I have been served this on the grounds that I breached the tenancy on subletting and sublet the whole of the property with a sub heading of instructing letting agents to let the property. The first gripe I have with this was how it was done as I don't feel this process was correctly followed. I called the Council about an ongoing issue with my garden fence as I have been having issues for the last year with neighbours wandering into my garden, threatening me and generally just not being nice and knocking on my door late at night. As the missing fence was at the back of the property and the council were digging their heels about whether they were liable for this this was never resolved. So in Sept I contacted the council for an update to be told I was being investigated for the above. I was horrified so, asked if I could go in to see them to discuss the matter further so, arranged a meeting with my Estate Officer and her Manager. I went to the meeting and was served with the notice and basically given a few accusations (no evidence of these) which I was able to back up but was basically told I had 4 weeks to vacate the property and if I wanted to try and sort it out I was to seek legal advice. I immediately sought legal advice and my solicitor has since written to the Council stating that I did the sublet which they were aware of and was working through the week somewhere else but returned on weekends. The Council were made aware at the time of the sublet that I was working away at the time and still authorised it. As I still had a room in the house, my house was not entirely sublet and I did return to it. Also, they are saying I don't live at the property now. I do still work away and due to the issues with the neighbours I have been spending very little time there as I do feel unsafe and only stay there when my boyfriend visits. My subletters moved out in May this year and the issues with the neighbours worsened (I was then a young lady living alone) and felt very unsafe at times. I was told at the meeting that the situation with the fence would not be resolved until the situation with the Possession Notice is resolved. Anyway, prior to receiving the Notice to Quit I had applied for the Right to Buy the property which has now been formally accepted after me receiving the notice to quit. I only have 90 days to respond to this. My solicitor has advised me not to respond to this whilst we are working on the Notice to Quit as she feels it has only "leaked" through due to Coucil Depts not communicating with each other. However, the Acceptance of the Right to Buy has still not been formally withdraw. This is the part where the instructing letting agents part comes in. I did visit a few agents to get a feel for market values and possible rental rates etc but at no time instructed anyone to do anything, signed any contracts or even had anyone visit the property. The council are saying things like "I told them I was the Landlord" which I maybe did at the time but there was no way any of this was going to be or was pursued or followed up. I do realise that in doing that it was very premature of me but the way I saw it was that I was simply looking at options and as I later found out I would have needed a buy to let mortgage and it is also not legal to do this under the Right to Buy scheme. Hence, it would never have actually happened. My solicitor has written to the Council since I received my notice and they have written back with yet more different allegations against me that have still not been backed up with any evidence. It's very much this neighbour said this and some vague statements that have been taken out of context. The letters are also very badly written and their latest letter advises me to return the keys to the property to them asap or they will take me to court and I will be liable for all costs. None of the points made in my solicitor's letter have even been addressed. I am just baffled by all of this tbh, I am scared I am going to become homeless very soon, my legal action seems to make no difference as they do not respond to any of the points made in the letter and the Council are not giving me any support or opportunity to state my case or fight my corner. Unless they take me to court and I foot the bill. I do feel I have a solid case if it were to go to court as I haven't done anything wrong apart from make a few enquiries but if I were to lose, the thought of having no home and the legal costs to pay does scare me. I also would like to know where I actually stand with the Right to Buy, can I accept this or not? Also, could the Council be digging their heels in purposely for this to time out? As it has not been withdrawn so, I'm wondering if it would do any harm for me to send my acceptance back just to keep things moving? I have recently written to the Housing Liaison Officer at the Council to ask if there is any way we can meet amicably to discuss the matter further before proceeding further down the legal route. I thought this would have been the case initially anyway but I have been given no opportunity to do this at any time. I am now even beginning to doubt my solicitor as even she seems unable to fathom what is really going on. She is currently writing another letter which I've not seen yet but this is going to cost me another £180 and I just wonder if it is worth continuing down this route as the Council seem to have decided I'm out and won't listen to reason. Oh, and I had a call from the Council today to say they are coming to build a wall (not a fence) next week which has further baffled me. I have tried to contact Shelter but no one seems to come back to me. I just need to know where I stand and if I should possibly consult another solicitor or if anyone knows of any similar cases/outcomes? Alison

Done!! Changed the burglar alarm pin too! It's just infuriating that people can do such horrible, nasty things and just walk away and show no remorse or anything. I'm researching letting agents as we speak and will be choosing my next tenants very wisely! Alison

Thank you all for your help. I have tried calling Shelter already but just seem to end up in an endless loop of automated messages. I have a feeling that I may just have to cut my losses and move on from this and just be grateful he is finally out of there. I just hoped I could make him accept some responsibility for what he had done. A lesson learned and all that!

Hi Stu, Unfortunately my inventory just listed the items. There was not a deposit taken as I thought I was doing a "favour" for a friend. Alison

I have taken numerous pictures of how the property was left, the only thing is I don't have any "before" I rented it out pics. Totally kicking myself now....

This is where it gets worse...I didn't take a deposit as it was a "friend" so, there was nothing to return.

Hi, I have been subletting my house for the last two years. Recently I received a call from my tenants to say they were leaving that day. When I went round the house was filthy (it has taken me a week to clean it, remove carpets and paint). It was so bad. When they moved in they signed an agreement that they would give me one month's written notice if they were to leave which as of now I still haven't received. They had also signed an inventory of which none of the items are left (well, apart from the bed which I have now thrown out). I am just looking for some advice on where I stand legally and if you could advise any agencies that I could use to seek further advice. The tenants will not give me their new address.