Um…hello? A tenancy involves a contract, which is a consensual agreement between both parties, which they actively sign. I doubt anyone forced them to sign against their will. And that equals a duty to honour their word and respect the request of the landlady. So where exactly is she taking advantage of her privileged position and treating them unfairly? Six months to find a new place is very generous in my eyes. She has done everything she is duty-bound to do. Now they won’t speak to her or take calls from the agency, and you consider them to be the victims here, so you are excusing their behaviour? Bizarre! Whatever their past behaviour, she has every right to request that her property is vacated, and she has given them shelter for four years, yet you are advocating that she shouldn’t have let them stay in the first place so that they don’t have to be displaced? Bizarre! I know it’s tough for tenants, not having the security of a permanent home, but they could perhaps look for ways to create greater security for themselves while still behaving with integrity and self-respect, which doesn’t appear to be the case here. And that’s one thing we are all privileged enough to be able to choose. We can sink into victim hood and blame anyone who has more money than us and thinks they owe us the world, or we can act with a little self-respect and take responsibility for our own decisions.
Sadly, these people could find themselves charged with several additional legal charges, including intent to avert the sale of the property. If they genuinely can’t find another place and will be left homeless if forced to move out, then the courts would favour them, but this clearly isn’t the reason that they haven’t left, and therefore are literally behaving with complete stupidity, since they are potentially totting up court fines and legal fees through their choices.