Possible eviction for being pregnant?

jacy90

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Hey everyone, I have posted this in tri 2, but someone suggest that I post on here - hopefully someone might be able to help me! This is what I posted on the other thread :

"Hey everyone, sorry, but I feel the need for a bit of a rant..
I am almost 14 wks pregnant and I live in a rented flat. We moved fairly recently (September), and our landlord is actually a family friend's boss (she's his assistant and deals with everything for him, including the flats he owns). Our flat is in a block of 4; 3 of which our landlord owns and 1 of which an elderly lady owns. We love our flat to bits and my oh (a builder and decorator) has spent loads of time (and money) decorating the flat to how we want and doing bits and bobs to it to make it our own home. Basically, the problem is this. We mentioned to our family friend that we're pregnant (as we were spreading the news!) and although she was very happy, she said that the flat is actually "no children". She said that she'd have to talk to her boss, but it doesn't look great. Their concern apparently is the elderly lady and the 'noise a baby would bring' (even tho the flats are well insulated and quite a way apart, as she lives across the hall, and she's lovely so I doubt she'd mind). Also, the guy living below us has his 3yr old daughter come and stay every weekend, and the other rented flat are ttc. She said it's in our contract, but we've all checked and it doesnt state it in any of them. My worry is that we had a 6month trial contract which ends in March. What if he doesn't let us renew?? I can't face moving whilst pregnant, and I'm also in my final year at uni, as well as spending all that time and money on doing the flat up.. I don't know what to do.. She won't talk to our landlord yet either, as he's recently found out his son-in-law has leukemia and he's having a really hard time atm (understandably). I just wanna know where we stand really.
Sorry for the massive rant, Im just feeling really confused and stressed about it all, and I have exams these next couple of weeks, as well as being all hormonal!!"

Tbh, I am feeling much better about the situation now I've given it a few days to 'sink in', but I'm still not sure where I stand really? Does anyone have any experience with this sorta thing?

Thanks for reading, sorry its so long!! xx
 
Yes, you can be evicted for being pregnant (or rather, having a baby living in the house) if it is in your lease. It may well be in your lease & maybe its legal jargon that you wouldn't know. I would take your lease to your Lawyer or citizens advice & ask them to check it over first before even contacting the landlord. If they tell you there is nothing in the lease about it, then effectively they cant change the terms of the rental which is what the lease is. However, they could definately decide to not renew your 6 month contract just because you have a baby (either new born or being pg) they dont even need to give you a reason, they can just not renew the contract, after 6 months. Either way you do have to let them know that baby is born as it is another person living at their property.

I've seen a few properties that say no children allowed never really understood it til I spoke to a landlord who said...alot of the time children cause more damage to the property. For example damage to wallpaper & walls & other minor things & also...the woman u said that owns her property in your block she might have a contract with the landlord that says no children allowed in your rentals.

Oh and it really doesn't matter how much money & effort you & OH have put into the house. I personally wouldn't put any money into a house that was only a 6 month lease. If you move out & you've done up the flat your effectively gonna allow the landlord to get more money for selling his house (at your expense)

Good luck
:)
 
I'm really sorry to hear this. My DH is a letting agent and normally there are loads of rights you have as a tenant if the landlord is being unreasonable... But unfortunately he can end the tenancy at the end of the 6 months and doesn't have to give a reason. Personally I wouldn't say anything until the contract was renewed in march for (hopefully) 12 months. If it still doesnt say anything about no kids then you should be fine. But with the family friend obviously that may not be an option for you :( Good luck, I hope he's reasonable! xx
 
Yes, you can be evicted for being pregnant (or rather, having a baby living in the house) if it is in your lease. It may well be in your lease & maybe its legal jargon that you wouldn't know. I would take your lease to your Lawyer or citizens advice & ask them to check it over first before even contacting the landlord. If they tell you there is nothing in the lease about it, then effectively they cant change the terms of the rental which is what the lease is. However, they could definately decide to not renew your 6 month contract just because you have a baby (either new born or being pg) they dont even need to give you a reason, they can just not renew the contract, after 6 months. Either way you do have to let them know that baby is born as it is another person living at their property.

I've seen a few properties that say no children allowed never really understood it til I spoke to a landlord who said...alot of the time children cause more damage to the property. For example damage to wallpaper & walls & other minor things & also...the woman u said that owns her property in your block she might have a contract with the landlord that says no children allowed in your rentals.

Oh and it really doesn't matter how much money & effort you & OH have put into the house. I personally wouldn't put any money into a house that was only a 6 month lease. If you move out & you've done up the flat your effectively gonna allow the landlord to get more money for selling his house (at your expense)

Good luck
:)

Thanks for your advice. Checked our contract several times and there's definately nothing about children - it's really simply written, our landlord wrote it himself! And we spoke to the lady that owns her flat about the situation (who's lived here since 1973) and she said it was nonsense, there's never been any rules regarding children. The reason we were given for 'no children' was the 'noise issue', but after talking to 2 of the other flats, they're both on our side, so I'm hoping that will help us!
As for spending money on the flat, the reason we did it was the flat was in a terrible state when we moved in, and it badly needed it (Noone had lived in the flat for 18months). And as we knew the landlord's assistant and I've known the landlord indirectly since I was little, the intention (on both sides) was for us to stay here for a long time. The reason the lease was for 6months was due to the elderly lady, as they've had bad experiences in the past with tenants. Nothing was mentioned to us at any point about 'no children', so we didn't know!
Unfortunately, as you say about the renewing, that's the thing that could 'get us', so to speak. I'm just hoping we can change his mind!
Thanks!
 
I'm really sorry to hear this. My DH is a letting agent and normally there are loads of rights you have as a tenant if the landlord is being unreasonable... But unfortunately he can end the tenancy at the end of the 6 months and doesn't have to give a reason. Personally I wouldn't say anything until the contract was renewed in march for (hopefully) 12 months. If it still doesnt say anything about no kids then you should be fine. But with the family friend obviously that may not be an option for you :( Good luck, I hope he's reasonable! xx

Thank you for your advice and kind words! It's rather annoying bout the renewing, but hopefully he will change his mind! I'm keeping an open mind tho - I didn't realise that he could just refuse to renew without a reason. I guess I will see in March! I don't think I'm gonna mention it until then, unless my family friend has already mentioned it to him. :/ O well! What will be will be!!
Thanks again
 
I was just thinking maybe it would go in your favour if you wrote your landlord a letter, leading up to the renewal date & say in the letter your letting him know that your expecting a baby, you know that he must know this, so at least its a nice gesture & may go in your favour?! I suppose anything is worth a try.

Good luck

:)
 
I was just thinking maybe it would go in your favour if you wrote your landlord a letter, leading up to the renewal date & say in the letter your letting him know that your expecting a baby, you know that he must know this, so at least its a nice gesture & may go in your favour?! I suppose anything is worth a try.

Good luck

:)

Yeh, think I might try that, thanks!

Was talking to a surveyor friend today, and she says that depending on the type of contract we have, we might have a case if we've added value to the property (which I'm 99.9% sure we have!) She's gonna look into it for us.

Think I'm gonna write a letter to our landlord for now and see where it goes. fx we can stay but who knows!
 

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