Compensation for landlord selling flat?

[Julia121]

Hi

Our landlord has sold our rented flat after he told us he wasn't going to sell it and I was wondering if I am entitled to any compensation. The flat is going to a private buyer to live in so we can't stay on as tenants.

We are under an AST agreement which is valid until December 2026 and there is nothing in the contract about the landlord wanting to take early possession. We pay £6,400 a month.

Anyone gone through this scenario before and could offer some advice?

Many thanks.

[ChocolateFrog]

Nope, but that must be a nice flat.

[stuthemongoose]

I don’t have a clue but chat gpt thinks you may be able to negotiate a deed of surrender. I’ll let you do your own research on this as it may be noise…..

But in interim, whatever you do don’t agree to move out by email / any comms / or do anything that breaches tenancy (eg withhold rent) while you’re working out your options!

Good luck- what a pain.

[C69]

As a general rule, your tenancy should continue unchanged if the landlord sells the property.

But has the landlord already issued a section 21 eviction notice? If not, they've got until the 1st of May 2026 to do so, because the law's changing then.

I'd suggest getting in contact with Citizens Advice: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/eviction...

Charities such as Shelter should be able to offer advice too: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/priv...

[LooneyTunes]

Julia121 said:

Hi

Our landlord has sold our rented flat after he told us he wasn't going to sell it and I was wondering if I am entitled to any compensation. The flat is going to a private buyer to live in so we can't stay on as tenants.

We are under an AST agreement which is valid until December 2026 and there is nothing in the contract about the landlord wanting to take early possession. We pay £6,400 a month.

Anyone gone through this scenario before and could offer some advice?

Many thanks.

What form of notice, if any, has your landlord given you?

Put aside any thoughts about being “entitled to compensation”. That is not where you are if you’re within term and the landlord has no legitimate grounds for posssion. Where you are, if the landlord hasn’t given you proper notice / used the correct process, is in a commercial negotiation situation.

Put bluntly, if he has actually sold the property to someone who is expecting vacant possession, it is likely that the landlord is the person with a problem, not you…

[Amateurish]

Your tenancy is still valid until December 2026. The fact that the landlord is selling up makes no difference. The new owner will become your landlord.

[RSTurboPaul]

ChocolateFrog said:

Nope, but that must be a nice flat.

A bog-standard PH-director pied-à-terre, surely.

[Geertsen]

RSTurboPaul said:

ChocolateFrog said:

Nope, but that must be a nice flat.

A bog-standard PH-director pied-à-terre, surely.

I was imagining a two storey apartment, complete with stairs to dominate.

[Geertsen]

Has the landlord served a written 'notice to quit'? The notice period will depend on the tenancy or agreement and will be written in the contract you have. If they haven’t served you with a formal notice and you want to stay on, I wouldn’t highlight it until it’s too late for them (with regards to the completion date) and stay in situ.