query regarding tenancy & eviction

[MOLITTLE]

My friend and her husband rented an unfurnished house and signed a tenancy agreement with the landlord, which states 2 months notice can be given by either party to terminate the tenancy. They checked the Land Registry site to make sure he was the owner as they do not have an address to contact him only a phone number. He calls each month for his rent.
Over the last 3 month's they have had baliffs at their door looking for him. My friend showed them the tenancy agreement and her passport to prove who she was and that she had no connection with him. She asked what the problem was and was told by one set that he had not paid a motor fine and the other set said that he owed a large amount of council tax. She has paid her council tax up to date and they phoned someone to confirm this.
Yesterday they received a letter from the Council asking them to forward their tenancy agreement and his phone number.
The other thing to mention is that he collects some mail from the house and she says lots of it look like red final demand letters - so obviously there is a big problem.

Sorry to be so long winded but my question is:
Can they be evicted instantly from the property if all these people claim the house or are they entitled to two months notice as stated in the agreement with him.

[Buenchico]

If the landlord continues to own the house his financial problems are completely separate to your friends' tenancy of the property and (assuming that they keep to their side of the agreement) they can't be prematurely evicted.

However, if the landlord has a mortgage or other loan secured on the property, and the property is repossessed by the lender, the tenancy agreement would not be binding on the lender. (There are very limited circumstances where that would not be true, but I very much doubt that they apply to your friends' tenancy). See here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advic e_topics/eviction/repossession_by_a_landlords_ lender

You, or your friends, might be able to learn more about the landlord's financial position by checking the publicly available records. First, check to see if he's been made bankrupt. (That would be extremely worrying because he'd almost certainly lose possession of the property):
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/bankruptcy/bankru ptcysearch.htm

Then check for CCJs, High Court judgements and fine defaults:
http://www.trustonline.org.uk/

Chris

[MOLITTLE]

Thank you so much for your reply, I will pass this information on so they can check the websites you mention.