FAMILIES have been left shocked after being evicted from luxury flats with just two weeks notice – after the landlord ‘stopped paying the mortgage’.
The plush Strada complex averages £900 per month for a one-bed flat and £1,200 for a two-bed flat.
2
2
But a third of the 67 flats, in Edinburgh, were owned by one landlord, based in Kent.
A total of 22 flats have now been repossessed, with 15 tenants served with eviction notices yesterday, giving them two weeks notice to move out.
Another tenant of the same landlord received an eviction notice before Christmas, and six other flats were previously repossessed, the Edinburgh Evening News reported.
One family evicted yesterday has a newborn baby, and letters sent to some tenants said mortgage payments had not been made since 2017.
Landlord Roy Mark Fever is still registered owner of 16 flats at the Strada, the EEN reported.
Mr Fever, reported to have been a director of Evolution Properties who lives in Ashford, Kent, also owns properties in Glasgow and London.
Five tenants showed letters confirming debts of hundreds of thousands of pounds per flat owed by their landlord, amid calls for better legal protection for tenants.
Most read in The Sun
Dad-of-two Marc Rendle, who lives with his partner Jade, said: “We got an eviction notice giving two weeks to move out.
“We have two children. We are good tenants who always pay rent on time yet we can be thrown out.
“There’s no excuse for this.
“We’re fighting this and hope to get at least another couple of months to find somewhere.
“But then we’ll need one month’s rent plus deposit, so about £2,000 upfront.
“This is so stressful.
“The landlord hadn’t paid mortgage since 2017.
“Where’s my money? Hundreds of thousands forked out in rent.
“It beggars belief and makes me really angry.”
My horror landlady only let me go downstairs ONCE a day, banned deliveries, and called me a ‘c***’ in the kitchen
Other flats owned by the same landlord have also been repossessed after eviction notices were served just before Christmas, it was reported.
One month after the eviction notice was served the lender took the landlord to court and repossessed the flat.
Another tenant, Karis, who received a letter in December, said: “We had received letters about mortgage default payments by the landlord.
“But when we got a knock on the door and given an eviction notice we had just two weeks notice to move out.
“It was hard not to panic. Tenants shouldn’t be treated this way. We’ve always paid our rent on time. It’s devastating.
“We got advice from Shelter and contacted the lawyers of the bank and got extra time.
“Now the bank plans to sell it.
“We asked if we could buy the flat but they told us we’d need to move out, offer on it and then if accepted we could move back in.
“It’s as if we’ve just been left in the dark.”
“Renters are messed about. We tried contacting the landlord but he blocked us on Facebook.
“It’s as if we’ve just been left in the dark.
“We told the letting agent too and showed them all the letters, including the bank taking the landlord to court to repossess the flat.
“They just said ‘let’s wait and see what happens’.”
Ben Macpherson MSP said: “I am shocked and saddened to hear about what my constituents have experienced in this case, and my office and I will do all that we can to help anyone who gets in touch with us with housing or other issues.
“Situations like this emphasise the need for further reform to support tenants, like the new Rented Sector Strategy that the Scottish Government is progressing.”
A spokesman for Living Rent Tenants Union said: “Living Rent has heard many stories like this from our members in Edinburgh and across Scotland.
‘MESSED ABOUT’
“The increase in landlords mismanaging multiple properties despite tenants paying extremely high rents for their homes, shows the extent to which the current rental system is broken.
“There’s a monopoly on housing by a privileged few leads to a system in which tenants are at the whims of landlords.
“Rapid rent rises to over £1,000 in Edinburgh for a two bed flat and evictions without due process are a direct consequence of this.
“Landlords and letting agents need to be held accountable for damage to renters’ lies.
“Giving people two weeks to evacuate their home in the middle of winter and in a public health crisis is unacceptable and dangerous.
“Tenants should feel protected and secure in their homes.
“Introducing legislation that ensures tenants will not be unfairly evicted is needed to defend renters from precarious situations such as the one these tenants are in.”
Roy Mark Fever has been contacted for comment
