Evict a father- in-law - Please help

[jonwestuk]

Firstly I appreciate all your time. I have a nightmare situation which I could really use your help on.

Here are the facts:

My tenancy agreement says that the agrement is between L (Landlord) and me (T1) + my girlfriend (T2). It is also signed by us both.

Our terms of Business for tennants also indicates that we additionally have our my girlfriends father-in-law and our cat living in the property. These two are not on the actual tennancy agreement and neither the cat :D or father have signed anything.

All money to L goes from my account, the father-in-law pays us 1 month in advance and splits bills (he regularly forgets to pay bills though and steals our food etc).

Now the problem

My girlfriends Dad has recently had a huge debt but upon him and has debt collectors knocking on our door. This in itself is not an issue, however he has become "lost in rage" and started arguing with my girlfriend (long story short he believes that she should have fixed the problem on his behalf, even though it was nothing to do with her.)

Anyhow, life in the house in unbarable. He tries to pick fights with both of us and has smashed some of our belongings he also very nearly became physical with my girlfriend.

As you can imagine we now want him out.

Today he picked a fight with me. I did not engage in it but instead calmly told him to leave the property. I asked him to have a firm contract or similar to move somewhere else by the end of the month with the aim of being out of the house within 1 month.

He verbally refused to move out. He has threatened to damage our property further and "get physical".

Now the questions

1. What can I do to kick him out? The logistical/family issues I can handle, what interests me is what can I do within the confines of the law. I have no problem removing him from the tennancy. I am also happy to request and pay for locks to be changed.

2. Where do I stand regarding leaving the property? An easy option is to end the tennancy (which needs 2 months notice) but if he refuses to leave how will this affect my deposit?

3. Am I allowed to cut off services to him e.g. primarily broadband which I pay for? Electricity to his living rooms (except communal rooms)? Actually that is a bit petty but it would be interesting to know. He lives on the web so killing the service between certain hours of the day might make him uncomfortable enough to leave by himself.

4. Am I able to install locks on the doors to my living rooms to protect my property. I will of course replace the doors prior to leaving the property.

Your help is really appreciated. We are a bit lost on all this.

Thanks again,

Jon

[Mrs Jones]

From your description of the AST and the fact that he is not a party to it, I think the father in law is simply a lodger and as such has very few rights. If you have given him a month's notice then I think you can "lock him out" if he doesn't leave. In fact, if he is abusive, it may be possible to make him leave earlier and if he is violent, you could involve the police.

When you say you have to give 2 months notice and can leave - what sort of tenancy do you have? What is the term? What is the annual rent?

You can certainly cut off the broadband - but not the electricity!!

I will be interested to see other opinions from more experienced posters here.

[tom999]

My tenancy agreement says that the agrement is between L (Landlord) and me (T1) + my girlfriend (T2). It is also signed by us both.

Our terms of Business for tennants also indicates that we additionally have our my girlfriends father-in-law and our cat living in the property. These two are not on the actual tennancy agreement and neither the cat or father have signed anything.

Please confirm:

Is tenancy an Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England or Wales?
Are tenancy agreement and "terms of Business" two separate documents?
Is the other person occupying the property; your "girlfriends father-in-law" and your "girlfriends Dad", the same person?
Does the other person have exclusive access to at least one room*, for example the bedroom, i.e. no-one can enter the room without his permission (or is locked)?
Does tenancy agreement (or terms of business) mention that tenant has the right to sub-let, and that the sub-tenant (your girlfriend's dad/father-in-law) has the rights mentioned in (4)*?
Does the landlord live at the property as his main residence?


Note: Think the key is trying to establish whether other person is a sub-tenant or a lodger/excluded occupier.

[quarterday]

I think you ought to go and see your local PC plod!

In cases such as this they will, in my experience send round an experienced PC to have a nice quiet word with whomsoever in the household is threatening criminal damage (and worse, violence) and to inform the aggressor that they can expect to be carted off in the back of a police van if such threats are carried out. In the event of any of the threatened trouble, ring 999.

[quarterday]

I think the legal position is that the gentleman in question is a lodger and sufficient notice has already been given as all that is actually required is verbal notice to go; but how you would enforce this without alienating his daughter I have no idea. If it was me I'd probably pay him some relatively small amount of money which I would refer to as help with moving/ resettlement expenses! But dont pay till he's physically gone

Old legal maxim : HaPPY wIFE; HAPPY LIFE!

[westminster]

My tenancy agreement says that the agrement is between L (Landlord) and me (T1) + my girlfriend (T2). It is also signed by us both.

Our terms of Business for tennants also indicates that we additionally have our my girlfriends father-in-law and our cat living in the property. These two are not on the actual tennancy agreement and neither the cat :D or father have signed anything....
Sounds like the Terms of Business are just saying the LL gave you the official okay to have a lodger or relative plus a cat in the property - ? As opposed to an okay to "sublet"?

This being the case, the FIL is a lodger a.k.a. "excluded occupier", and as others have said, very easy to evict. All you have to do is give "reasonable" notice (and if he's being threatening/violent, "reasonable" is very short) then if he doesn't go, change the locks when he's out.


Now the questions

1. What can I do to kick him out? The logistical/family issues I can handle, what interests me is what can I do within the confines of the law. I have no problem removing him from the tennancy. I am also happy to request and pay for locks to be changed.
See above. And you can have the locks changed yourself. Keep the old lock/keys and reinstall before you eventually leave as they belong to the LL.


2. Where do I stand regarding leaving the property? An easy option is to end the tennancy (which needs 2 months notice) but if he refuses to leave how will this affect my deposit?
The easy option is to evict the lodger, not end the tenancy.


3. Am I allowed to cut off services to him e.g. primarily broadband which I pay for? Electricity to his living rooms (except communal rooms)? Actually that is a bit petty but it would be interesting to know. He lives on the web so killing the service between certain hours of the day might make him uncomfortable enough to leave by himself.
Broadband yes, electricity no.


4. Am I able to install locks on the doors to my living rooms to protect my property. I will of course replace the doors prior to leaving the property.

If it's a communal area, not a good idea as it might be construed as harassment. Much easier just to evict FIL quickly.

[jonwestuk]

Thanks for your help guys. I have given notice and will now work on getting him out. That is going to be interesting as it will be a delicate operation.