excluded or AST?

Vvalentine

We have been evicted from our home, but we had a AST contract.
The landlord's son lives with us- does this make us a excluded tenancy?
Which one wins, the situation with the son, or the contract?
I am concerned that I wont be able to remove our stuff in time today, so need to know basically if the son has the right to chuck our stuff out or not, which he would have under excluded rules, but not with AST.

Thanks,:beer:

Jowo_2

As far as I am aware, living in with a landlord (the person that you pay rent to regardless of whether they own the property) is more likely to be a lodger/excluded occupier status.

And, whether or not the document says 'AST' or not, as long as the clauses within it correspond to housing law and don't over-ride them, they are valid.

And that a landlord has a duty to look after left belongings for a while after a tenant has left. Check with Shelter that this also applies to lodgers (it probably does).

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/uncollected_goods.htm

But the best way to prevent any dispute is through communication so contact the appropriate person to notify them that you are struggling to get your belongings out in time, making a plan of when you intend to collect them that's convenient to them and make sure you stick to it.

N79

You say you live with the LL's son. Provided the LL does not reside at the address and the son is not also your LL then the tenancy is not exluded by Schedule 1 (10). Therefore you have an AST and can not just be evicted without a court order.

Can you confirm details of the living arrangements?

silvercar

If you have a valid AST you can still be evicted.

Has the landlord given you notice? When does the fixed term of the AST end? Do you have rent arrears? Has the landlord been to court?

On the subject of living with the landlord's son, it is a difficult area. Even if you consider the landlord to not be the son, the son's father may consider his son to be your landlord.

princeofpounds

Your LL is your LL. His son is NOT your LL. Therefore I think you have a strong case for illegal eviction, which is a criminal offence.

Contact a lawyer, call shelter, get as much evidence as possible (writing, photos, recordings, witnesses etc). You can even try calling the police to help force re-entry (although many police think that it's a civil offence as the training isn't very good on this matter, you might have to be insistent - search nearlylegal.co.uk for illegal eviction to find relevant parts of the housing act). Keep receipts from alternative accomodation and all costs involved.

Your AST was for a room or the property? If the property it's a rather odd situation where the LL's son was actually lodging in your property. If for a room then he is just another tenant.

His likely defence will be that he was living there, not his son, would that be at all credible? Does he have bills going there? Does he stay over?

Edit: Didn't read ir properly. I notice now that you have already been evicted. Was this by court order? If not, then it would be illegal eviction most probably, assuming you have an AST.

Silvercar's worry about who the LL is isn't really a big deal. Your landlord is the person who granted you the tenancy, that would be the father. For £3 or so the land registry will also confirm who the legal owner is.

Jowo_2

If a tenant left of their own volition after being served notice or agreeing to a surrender, then it is not an illegal eviction. It's only when they do not agree to go that a landlord must seek a court order. I'm not sure there's enough information provided by the OP to determine this.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/Legal/Residential/Tenancies/ending-assured-shorthold-tenancy.htm

Fire_Fox

Earlier thread gives a little more detail, I don't think the OP has been evicted at all simply told verbally to leave:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=24673355

theartfullodger

Did the Landlord ever live at the property?? Either before your tenancy or during it??

Also you say "been evicted" - can you confirm you've left (and did the Bailiffs turn up or did you leave beforehand??)

Sorry to hear your story..

Cheers!

Lodger