Hi Allan, I’m sorry to hear about this.
As @Stuart11 mentioned, we do perform checks on landlords and comply with all licensing display requirements where is needed, e.g. in Scotland, to make it easy for tenants to follow up and dig deeper. We can’t go into tonnes of detail on the checks publicly as that would make them easier to cheat. More info here.
In terms, of checking whether landlords are going to stop paying their mortgage in the near future, it simply isn’t possible to know that. (If we were able to predict when someone was about to stop paying their mortgage, then we would probably be making billions of pounds as a FinTech company by now.)
Lenders are able to serve a Section 8 eviction notice if repossessing the property from a mortgagor who is defaulting on the loan. Their ability to do this is a central part of the Housing Act (1988). Sadly. there’s nothing that we can do about that.
This is clearly an area where people like us who live in the Private Rented Sector have very bad tenure security. The notion of banks being able to repossess properties if the mortgagor defaults is one of the cornerstones of buy-to-let and the rapid expansion of the PRS.
Clearly, it is very unfortunate that renters who pay their rent on time every month can have this happen to them, due to no fault of their own, but that is unfortunately the way the system was deliberately designed in the late 80s.
I wish you the best of luck finding a new place as quickly as you can. I would recommend speaking to the bank’s representative and explaining your situation and asking if they can accommodate your requirements in any way. They may be willing to be flexible with the move out date, etc.
Best wishes,
Sam