lodgers rights?

perfectpeta

i hope someone can give us a bit of advise regarding our troublesome lodger........

we took in a lodger 6 months ago who had a job, 2 days after moving in she lost it, 6 months later she got another, 4 weeks after she lost it.
We have since found out, that all the time she was working, she was still claiming housing benifit, and only stopped claiming, 2 days before she lost the job...

now... because she has spent all the money the DSS gave her for rent , she is 3 weeks behind on the rent... because shes waiting for a new claim to open, and said she had spent all OUR money the DSS paid to her to give us WHILE SHE WAS WORKING....

she has been promising for the last 3 weeks the money will be paid each wednesday, wednesday comes and she says its the wednesday after?

we had enough and on the 18th i gave her a months notice.... and since then i havent seen her, shes not been in contact at all... not answering her phone or text, so she is obviously sleeping at her boyfriends house where she intends to move in ? .... she has been home and VERY quietly opened the front door, spent 15 mins in her room, then went, i looked out the window and she had a suitcase with her , i am now thinking that if this money is not paid tomorrow ( wednesday) of changing the locks , carefully boxing up her belongings and contacting her and tell her to make arangements to collect asap?

am i within my rights to do this?

part of the original agreement was the rent should be no more than 15 days late.... she left me £200 bond , but this £200 will not cover the rent areas after saturday if she does a runner

please help me

Wee_Willy_Harris

To answer the thread title.... There are none. Change the locks, swallow the lost rent and move on.

geoffky

i dont think you have to give notice...lodgers have very few rights if any.

jjlandlord

perfectpeta wrote: »

because shes waiting for a new claim to open, and said she had spent all OUR money the DSS paid to her to give us WHILE SHE WAS WORKING....

Despite the name the housing benefit allowance is the beneficiary's own money and she can do whatever she wishes to do with it.

perfectpeta wrote: »

i looked out the window and she had a suitcase with her , i am now thinking that if this money is not paid tomorrow ( wednesday) of changing the locks , carefully boxing up her belongings and contacting her and tell her to make arangements to collect asap?

As a lodger she basically has no rights beyond was was agreed in the lodger agreement. Though I think it'd be safer to serve a reasonable notice (not sure about any legal requirements).

Remember that you have a duty of care re. her belongings, though. If she comes to collect them, hand them over without letting her in.

perfectpeta

i gave her the months notice out of coutesy .... wasnt planning on keeping her belongings, but obviously if she isnt paying rent the room isnt hers? i could be renting it out to someone else? and the sooner i pack up her things, the sooner i can advertise the room?

Yoshiro

Housing benefit is one of hte benefits thats paid for approximately 4 weeks after someone starts work, so she could well have had this run on legally, doesnt excuse her not paying her rent though!

Also, iirc new claims only take forever for "new claims" where that has been a long break. I am pretty sure that if there is a short break (8 weeks or under or something) then its classed as a continuing claim and thus sorted almost instantly.

RAS

As lodger has no rights at all.

You need to give "reasonable notice" and that depends on the situation.

In this case, text her or phone her and tell her to remove her belonging by Friday night. Change the barrels on the locks after that.

evoke

LOL.

Another benefits scrounger living it up at taxpayer's expense.

Jariya

As others have said you are well within your rights to change the locks and pack up her things.

I had a lodger who after she left was still claiming housing benefit on my property and also had a new full time job but she hadn't informed the council of that either.
I contacted the council to ensure she was no longer registered at my address as I needed to claim the single person's council tax allowance.

They actually halted her claim following my call.

theartfullodger

evoke wrote: »

LOL.

Another benefits scrounger living it up at taxpayer's expense.

Evoke seems to post along these lines very frequently (fine, it's a free country..). Is he/she perhaps upset at being turned down for a hand-out & having to work??

In answer then OP's question, in Scotland Landlord needs court order to get lodger out.. up there it's a common law tenancy, see,,,
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice/advice_topics/eviction/eviction_of_common_law_tenants

Jeffrey_Shaw

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

To answer the thread title.... There are none. Change the locks, swallow the lost rent and move on.

Not wholly true. A lodger has no statutory rights, I agree, but it's always possible for L [landlord] to grant contractual rights. These are binding as is any contract.