Buying the House from my landlord

[lz57s9]

I have a scenario panning out at the moment which I would like some clarity on. I am currently in the process of buying the house I am letting from my Landlord. He issued me with a Section 8 for the 01/07/07, at which point I got in touch with him and he told me the reason for the section 8 is he wanted to sell the property. I advised him I would be willing to purchase, we agreed a price and set the cogs in motion. My solicitors have been waiting for over 7 weeks now for the landlord's solicitors to complete, meanwhile the Landlord is still expecting rent from me when we should of exchanged weeks ago!. The more he delays the more money he will get from me. I feel this is totally unfair and puts him in a win win position.
As the section 8 means as of 01/07/07 our contract which each other has ended am I still legally obliged to pay rent?. I appreciate morally I am obliged as I am living in his property, but what is the legal view?.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[jeffrey]

1. It seems that you have not exchanged contracts.
2. Rent continues to run up to (and including) the actual completion date, so you will need to clear the arrears then (or before).
3. Even the s.8 Notice does not change this. The AST is still running as is your rent payment liability. Expiry of the Notice period simply means that your landlord could now start posssession proceedings.

[lz57s9]

Ok, thanks for this, there are no arrears and i have been (and will continue) paying rent to date, just think its odd that he can delay as long as he likes to continue to recieve money from me each month.. I guess thats the benifit of owning the property!.

Thanks again for your swift reply.

[justaboutsane]

What was the grounds used for the section 8?? It should have been a section 21!!