Evicting Family Members

Evicting Family Members

16:56 PM, 26th November 2014, About 9 years ago 16

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I have been in the dubious position of being my father in laws landlord for the past 12-13 years with him paying a fraction of the full market rent to which he has been subsidized by quite a considerable sum over the years. Evicting Family Members

A considerable family fallout ( surely not ) has caused me to seriously consider severing all ties with him and the extended family as I feel myself and my wife have been taken for mugs all these years and now the lack of support given back to my wife due to this considerable falling out has amazed me.

I am sure that we are not the first landlords to ever let one of their properties to family members, due to this financial crisis I had become landlord to my niece and my my own sons. Needless to say I hope you can grasp the picture that there has been an awful lot of giving with what would seem contempt from my inlaws, or outlaws as I like to describe them in the polite version.

I would like to evict him from the bungalow he is living in, his other children have extra rooms in their house so they could, if necessary take him in. He has funds to pay for another rented property but I’m sure will take a sharp intake of breath when he sees how much the market charges for a very nice 2 bed bungalow in a sought after area.

I’m looking for some advice on some permutations on handling this. It’s a month by month deal, we’ve never had any agreement in writing, so is a straight forward section 21 the best way? As this guy is 76 would he have any special rights due to his age? The old guilt trip would raise its ugly head but without going into specifics the damage done by him and his son and daughter is irreparable, so we are left with a situation of what to do.

Financially the burden of subsidizing him is no longer viable, not that the issue was his rent, its a family breakdown issue.

Sorry for posting such a wordy first post, dont want to bring anyone down reading this but some experienced advice is always good.

All the best

Brendan


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Comments

Joanne Wilson

19:37 PM, 27th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Dennis" at "27/11/2014 - 17:34":

Yes I agree David, I think maybe further legal advise needs to be taken with this one considering the length of tenancy and the fact there is no actual written tenancy agreement. I don't think it will be that straightforward unfortunately

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

20:25 PM, 27th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Dennis" at "27/11/2014 - 17:34":

AST is the default in the event of no agreement, but not recommended.
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Joanne Wilson

20:29 PM, 27th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Another question to ask then would be is there a deposit, if no then not a problem. If yes has it been registered, as if not then it turns it into an AT doesn't it.

Yvonne B.

23:44 PM, 27th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Hi Brendan,

Don't lose sight of what is best for you - regardless of your father in law.

You have a tenant who probably wants to stay and not move anywhere, which is always good when your a landlord. Empty properties always want refurb work so that will cost you money in work costs & void period.

The first question is whether your tenant is paying the rent you are charging? Is he in rent arrears? How much money does he have? Is he claiming Housing Benefit to pay for the rent?

If he is entitled to HB and you put the rent up, HB will increase the payments so neither party will lose out. Checkout the LHA rates for your area to see the maximum payable. If he doesn't pay the increased rent you can get it direct from the council when he is in 8 weeks arrears. So keep the tenant, you don't have to worry about the future rent and you won't look like your taking revenge.

If the local LHA rates don't meet the market rent or he can't claim HB due to his savings (over 16k I think!) then put the rent up and serve a section 21 but tell him you won't pursue eviction if he pays the market rent on time each month. That way you both know where you are, he gets to stay in his home and you get the rent you want without any further costs or void periods/damage to you.

It's still better renting to the devil you know than the devil you don't!

Try and make the situation work for you both of you, he is probably worried already over losing his home and will want his tenancy put on a much surer footing.

Hope it all works out.

Yvonne

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

9:37 AM, 28th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Joanne Wilson" at "27/11/2014 - 20:29":

Hi Joanne

My understanding is that it's still an AST but would share similar characteristics to in AT.

A section 21 notice could not be served unless the deposit was first refunded but could if a deposit was taken, not protected but then refunded. The penalty of 1 to 3 times the deposit would apply as a chose in action though if a deposit had been taken and was not protected within 30 days.
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Joanne Wilson

9:44 AM, 28th November 2014, About 9 years ago

Yes, I had one like thus recently and had to return the deposit before we were able to serve notice

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