April 1st 2009

To whom it may concern,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with some information on whether I have any rights to get out of my 12 month short hold tenancy agreement. I live in a student house with 3 others.Our letting agents are Charles Lawson Lettings and our landlord is Mr. Zulifqar Hussain.
Our term is 12 months and we are just coming up to out 6 month in the house and after a really terrible week we are now desperate to get out. About 3 weeks ago we received a letter to say that our house was being repossessed on the 31st of March as our landlord Mr Z Hussain had not being paying the mortgage. After consulting Charles Lawson’s they admitted that they new about this back in September before they had even let out the property to us. In fact Mr Z Hussain was already being taken to court! So Charles Lawson were continuing to tell us the house was not being repossessed and kept asking us to pay our rent and gave a sob story about Mr Z Hussain being made redundant and having no money. However after an internet search it turns out that Mr Hussain actually owns the Letting agents and from the article attactched has been involved with several failed businesses and has in the past gone into liquidation and then has been starting up new businesses under similar names. On the Friday before the proposed eviction date my father called the bank and solicitor who were in charge of the repossession and they told us that it was still going ahead as the arrears had not been paid. The bank told us also that we should not have been in the property to start with as the mortgage was not buy-to-let. We rushed to Charles Lawson’s who said they would sort this out but to come back in the afternoon (they also used the phrase ‘no comment’ any time we enquired about Mr Hussain owning the agency). My housemates went over to the letting agency to find that they had shut the shop. Finaly on Monday afternoon we got a fax to confirm that the landlord had paid his debt over the weekend.
Could you tell me whether there is any chance that we would be able to get out of this tenancy agreement we dont want to risk any more incidents klike this and the house in really crumby anyway? Thank you very much in advanced.

Best regards

Tilly Turbett

Attached: Oxford Mail Article about Mr Hussain, Emails between the bank and my father dated 27th of March 3 days before the proposed repossession

______________________________________…
From: Hayley Watts [mailto:Hayley_Watts@wragge.com]
Sent: 27 March 2009 11:36
To: ***********
Subject: FW: 9 Glanville Road, Oxford. (W&Co Ref: 1989816)
Dear Sir,

As my colleague advised you on the telephone the eviction is still scheduled to continue on 31.03.09. I understand the rental contract is a 12 month contract but the Mortgage company are not in breach of this and are within their rights to take possession of the property. Also the account is not a buy to let product so the tenants should not be in the property to start with.

Also to confirm the tenants will need to vacate the property before the scheduled eviction. Unfortunately as you are not party to the proceedings we are unable to confirm any account details to you I.e when the proceedings were commenced.

Regards
Hayley

James C Penny staff re-employed after liquidation
12:07pm Friday 27th February 2009
By Maggie Hartford »

OXFORD estate agent James C Penny has gone into liquidation with debts of more than £400,000.
The four staff were made redundant but were then almost immediately re-employed by a new company called James C Penny (Estate Agents) Ltd, according to the report from liquidator Bridge Business Recovery.
The new company is controlled by a former director, who had resigned from the original company on February 1.
Creditors were told the assets were estimated at £1,800, while the company owed £105,429 to HM Revenue and Customs from employees’ PAYE, National Insurance and Corporation Tax, plus £71,634 VAT.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Estate Agents said it was taking action over James C Penny’s claim on the company’s website that he is a member of the association. NAEA chief executive Peter Bolton King said: “We have already sent a letter out. James C Penny, according to our records, has not been a member for some years.”
The company was owned by Israr and Zulfiqar Hussain, of Bartlemas Road, Oxford, and by James C Penny, of Eynsham. According to the liquidator’s report, Istikhar and Israr Hussain held office and were helped in day-to-day management by other family members.
The main creditor is Istikhar Hussain, who is owed £299,875. He is the only director who remains on the register at Companies House. The other directors, Zulfiqar and Israr Hussein, resigned on February 1.
Zulfiqar Hussain, the former company secretary, whose
whose address at Companies House is given as 11 Granville Road, east Oxford, is involved in the two new companies which were set up on January 14.
On January 28, he became a director of Jame C Penny (Lettings) Ltd, and of James C Penny (Estate Agents) Ltd.
Zulfiqar Hussain is also a director of another Oxford estate agent, Charles Lawson and several other dissolved companies with the Charles Lawson name.
Robin Swailes, of North Oxford Property Services, said he had teamed up with residential agent Thomas Merrifield to bid for the James C Penny name from the liquidator, Danny Wright of Bridge Business Recovery.
Mr Swailes said: “If any other estate agents would like to help, they should call the liquidator.”
Asked for a comment, Istikhar Hussain said: “I’m no longer involved after the administration.” No one from James C Penny was available to comment.
David Murray, of law firm Morgan Cole, said the Insolvency Act was specifically designed to avoid the ‘phoenix effect’ where

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