Sitting Tenant - Awkward Situation

Anon2102

Myself and my 2 siblings own my nanna's house, my father purchased the house from my grandparents and when my father passed on we inherited 1/4 share each, my mother has the remaining 1/4.

It was agreed my nanna would remain in the house until her final days which has never been an issue, it is her home afterall.

However a few problems have arose and I would appreciate some advice. When my father passed his brother became very spiteful and annoyed that we had inherited the house his parents lived in, he ended up brainwashing my grandfather to seek legal advice and wanting to buy the house back off us, we refused, it wasn't what my grandfather wanted, as a result he became very ill and passed away also.

My nanna is now left alone in the house which makes her happy and us but my 'uncle' I use the term loosely as we hardly saw him growing up keeps phoning my mother to insist certain things get done (i.e. washing the curtains, nets, decorating, new carpets etc :eek:) My nanna is in the early stages of dementia and sees things, she also leaves taps on and causes floods etc in her house, each time this happens my uncle insists my mother foots the bill. Uncle lives 3 hours away so communication between nanna and him is over the phone but she's easily confused and when she phones to say the taps are leaking he phones a plumber straight away, the taps just need turning off but each time my mother gets the call out bill!

My uncle has all of my nanna's money paid into his own bank account, does her weekly food shopping (tins of spagetti, ready meals so cheap stuff!) and gives her £5 pocket money per week and keeps the rest for himself

Today my mother got a phone call from uncle informing her the drains are blocked and he wants to claim on the house insurance (which my mother pays and then claims back from us) to get them unblocked and also the front door has broken and won't lock and is going to cost £200 to fix :eek: He's already got the locksmith there to do the work and just said to my mother 'shall I tell him to crack on with it then? And send you the bill?' All it needed was a new barrel fitting!

My mother is sick to the back teeth of him phoning up demanding things but getting the work done and then telling her how much it costs. My uncle (mothers brother) is a handy man and can do almost everything himself and would carry out the vital maintenence for us yet our money grabbing uncle would rather hire the 1st person in the yellow pages.

Legally what work do we have to carry out?

There is no tenancy agreement in place. I just want to add we would do anything for my nanna no questions asked but we feel uncle is screwing us over big time because we refused to sell the house for £15,000 :eek:

BitterAndTwisted

Uncle needs to be told very firmly that any repairs or maintenance contractors instructed by him will be paid for by him.

ILW

Why has the uncle got her bank account under his control?
What has any of it got to do with him anyway?
Why do you not just tell him to sling his hook?
How often do you visit the lady?

GMS

Tell your 'uncle' to cover any work he instructs. If the tradesman has been told to send the bill to your mother then he should have the decency to call her first to check.

Why does 'uncle' control nannas bank accounts? Does he have power of attorney or anything?

Whilst I understand and sympathise with you regarding your nanna's condition, and I do not mean to make light of it in any way but have you considered replacing the taps with the push down type? That way you would eliminate the taps left on. I am sure there are many other issues but as you mentioned this one I thought it may be a solution.

poppysarah

Your nan needs more daily assistance maybe. Has she been assessed to see if she can get home helps, meals on wheels, personal care?

Her money needs to be safe from people taking advantage. Who if anyoine has power of atorney? That needs looking into and uncle has his hands removed from it ASAP.

mlz1413

Who else calls on this phone? Can you get it re-numbered and not tell the uncle? get the locks changed and not give uncle a key? Get a phone with pre-programmed numbers so nanna calls you or your mother and not uncle?

Is the uncle power of attorney? if not why is money paid directly to him? if he is then that may change things but I thought that POA meant doing the best for someone and not just frittering money away.

If your nanna is leaving taps on then realisticly she needs someone looking after her, preferable living there - is this possible so that uncle doesn't have ability to rail road your nanna?

Sitting tenants are entitled to their home being kept in good order and the rent remaining the same (I think increases can be made but not sure of rules). Cleaning curtains and nets is up to tenant. Decorating and carpets are normally discussed with long term tenants but landlord would be responsible for these costs.

I think you may need to go to a CAB or a free session with a solitor to get some basis legal info.

DKLS

If hes 3 hours away wouldnt it be prudent to change nannas number?

lynzpower

Does nanna have a social worker/care manager? Has she had a full assessment to ensure the full compliment of care that she might need.

Uncle having control over the accounts and gives her £5 !! sounds like financial abuse to me and if this was my nanna Id call social services or AGEUK asap for advice on what to do about this.

cooltt

Just tell him to !!!! off, give your Nanna a mobile and disconnect the land line.

He's just trying to drain all the equity out of the property because he's bitter and twisted and doesn't want you having anything!

Chinkle

It's not his house, so make it clear to him that if there is any work needing doing he tells you/your mother and you arrange and pay for it. He's trying to make trouble there and inconvenience you because he doesn't have a share it in, or maybe want to give it over to him because of the hassle of maintenance.

Likewise, I ask why he has control of her finances. And that you should arrange to have nanna assessed so she can have some daily social help if someone was keeping more of an eye on her some of these problems might not crop up.