It's eviction time I think?

[MCC]

Hello can anyone help?

I signed a short hold tenancy agreement with Mrs X who has moved her daughter in at the beginning of the tenancy. Mrs X lives in her own property. I was ok with this arrangement as long as the rent was paid. The rent was always paid late and this month not paid at all. On the 7th April she is due to vacate the property.

It transpires that the daughter is claiming housing benefit and I was not aware of this. The housing benefit office has told her to stay put and wait to be evicted. She has told me this today.

Can anyone please advise what I should do?
1) Can the daughter stay there seeing that my contract is with the mother who cannot make herself homeless as she has her own property?
2) If she can claim squatters rights, how do I get her out?

Thanks

MCC

[MCC]

Hi Jonboy

I agree, it's not fair how council's behave. It seems like we seen as the problem and not the tenant!!

Yes we knew about the daughter, but did not add her to the tenancy - big mistake. We already served a section 21 and that 2 months notice ends this Friday. What's the process now - section 8? What's the fastest way of getting her out?

mcc

[Jonboy]

now it's the courts i'm afraid, :( good luck.

accelerated possession prcedure of something it think it's called.

there is more on this forum, topic has been covered a few times i'm sure!

[Paul_f]

Oh dear! you just don't know the problems you have created!


Mrs X could not be the tenant as she never had any intention of living there!
An Assured Shorthold Tenancy can only be created for whom the tenant is living there as their only or main residence - clearly not the case here with regard to Mrs X.
Just by accepting rent from the daughter you have automatically created an oral or parol periodic AST and any moves to evict her before she has lived there for 6 months will almost certainly fail. An inventory will be worthless too!
Ultimately you will have to obtain a court order to evict her and that will take a lot longer than you envisage, I would guess about 9 months from when she moved in.
There's no point in serving her with a S.21 Notice unless you know the exact date she moved in as that will determine the commencement of the tenancy and will allow you to get the date right to determine the tenancy - after then you will have to pay court and bailiff fees to evict her and that will take as long as the court needs.
Your agreement with Mrs X is probably void.
If the tenant requires you to give her written terms of a tenancy then you must, but it will be a simple document where only standard and core terms will be allowed to be operational and is very restrictive on you as landlord. You should not attempt to ask her to sign it as it won't be necessary, but you might want to.
Apart from that you're probably okay!