Dad living in my house - is he a tenant?

princeofpounds

Some quick points that need reiterating.

Your father is not a lodger. He is now a tenant. Whilst moving back in for a week and evicting sounds like a clever plan, I don't think you can prove your occupation of the property given what you have said about bank statements and your real residence. It's a risk because illegally evicting a tenant is a criminal offence and if your father finds out about this you could be in serious trouble.

Perhaps you can demonstrate occupancy, but only you know that.

If he has been there more than six months alone, it is relatively easy to remove him. Serve a section 21 notice with 2 (or more) months notice. Establishing which dates to do it on may be tricky given the informal tenancy, but a specialist eviction company/solicitor can help on that. If he does not leave, you apply to court which you will win as long as you S21 is correctly done.

pinkteapot

cuffey wrote: »

I thought it was a great idea to redirect my post. To do this online the card you pay with has to be registered to the address you're redirecting from. Of course my account has my weekday address on . . . !!

This is for security - otherwise, I could redirect a friend's post from their house to mine as I know their name and address!

Go into the Post Office, ask for a redirection form, complete it and pay there. You'll need ID (does your driving license still have your old address on? or do you have utility bills with your name on from the old address?), but you just pay with your card in the chip and pin machine so the billing address doesn't matter.

BigAunty

Get some counselling which will help you repair the damage and provide the tools to stand up to your abusive and bullying parents - for gods sake, you've got both of them pimping off you and controlling you. Get some self-confidence and assertiveness training, even a few books would start helping.

It's shocking that your father is actively making the property unsaleable and concealing documents from you that you require to get on top of things (it's obvious why he's doing this). He's also so certain of his dominance, he's assumed the role of an owner in the leasehold group and has blocked you from it despite being an underpaying tenant.

You will need to be strong because they are very wiley and devious so the moment you start pushing back, they will up their manipulative behaviour - expect further abuse, sob stories and guilt trips, threats and so on.

This is why you need to tackle the emotional consequences of the family abuse you've suffered as well as get expert advice on your options for evicting your father, selling the property and your mother's expectation of receiving all the share.

The following link is advice from a domestic violence website for women (though it is pitched at both sexes). The reason I've included it, despite the different relationship you have with family rather than a partner, is that their behaviour probably corresponds closely to that experienced by women in an abusive relationship. You appear to be suffering the similar types of trauma from being controlled and harassed into doing things that you don't want.

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-survivors-handbook.asp?section=000100010008000100310003

sallyanne4

cuffey wrote: »

This gets more complicated!

Perhaps going back to the original post, I would be better just telling the mortgage company I live here and not there, and standing any penalty. I don't like feeling anxious that I'm doing something wrong.

You will be better off doing that for peace of mind, I've just had to renew my buy to let mortgage with my mortgage company because if you don't have permission from them to let it out it's classed as breaking your contract with them, what this actually means as regards to consequences I'm not sure, they do charge you more a month depending on what you owe etc but like I said it's all for peace of mind and if you did want to sell it in the future and your dad kicked off the mortgage co might find out anyway

pararct

sallyanne4 wrote: »

You will be better off doing that for peace of mind, I've just had to renew my buy to let mortgage with my mortgage company because if you don't have permission from them to let it out it's classed as breaking your contract with them, what this actually means as regards to consequences I'm not sure, they do charge you more a month depending on what you owe etc but like I said it's all for peace of mind and if you did want to sell it in the future and your dad kicked off the mortgage co might find out anyway

Be aware that some mortgage companies take a very dim view of this and can demand (under their terms and conditions) the mortgage is settled immediately.
Of course this would entail the sale of the property.

The fact you volunteer the information should temper their response, but there is likely to be a charge to move to a BTL product which may be at a worse rate than is currently being paid.

Although this will not apply to the OP if the loan to value calculations do not stack up they may insist on settlement immediately.

princeofpounds

If you act promptly on the eviction then you don't have to lie to the bank.

It also provides you with a good excuse - the bank will not let you rent it out to a third party.

BigAunty

princeofpounds wrote: »

If you act promptly on the eviction then you don't have to lie to the bank.

It also provides you with a good excuse - the bank will not let you rent it out to a third party.

It sounds sensible but the OP is about to unleash a concerted campaign against him by both parents whose interests he is undermining (by his mum who wants to conceal capital from the benefit authorities and expects her full 75k to be refunded but hidden and by his father who gets to live happily like a pig in poo for a peppercorn rent, both lording it over their child who has the full expense and risk that comes with the mortgage and none of its rewards).

Put bluntly, the father is likely to be a 'pro' tenant, resisting leaving.

Bribing him out is unlikely to work because the father will know he won't be allowed to live like a pig anywhere else, smashing it up without any consequences for a £100 a month but still worth a shot.

That's why I suggest the OP goes through a specialist eviction organisation like Landlord Action or a solicitor, so the paperwork is done properly with proof of sending. Plus it also acts as a semi barrier to the father's wrath - he'll still harangue the OP to try and get him to change his mind, but at least an intermediary is doing the legwork.

cuffey

Thank you all for the advice.

I contacted my dad yesterday to ask about getting my mortgage statement and things sent on. It resulted in several long texts about how bad my mother feels now I have a GF, because I have been her baby for 30 years. Not really sure what relevance that had so I have ignored it.

If I have to pay the mortgage off in full, I am in the lucky position of being able to do that (or at least my GF has said she will if it became necessary). She is helping me turn my life around.

I am gathering the information I need to get all this sorted out.

billybear1

cuffey wrote: »

Thank you all for the advice.

I am gathering the information I need to get all this sorted out.

Good, it will become hard at some point, stay strong and don't bottle it! You will be back in square one if you do!

BigAunty

cuffey wrote: »

... It resulted in several long texts about how bad my mother feels now I have a GF, because I have been her baby for 30 years. Not really sure what relevance that had so I have ignored it.

Happily, it sounds like you are getting a grip on their psychological ploys that get you to bend to their will - it sounds like he immediately got out the violin the moment he identified that you are not happy with him blocking information to you. This type of pressure is only going to get worse, be strong. There will masses more sabotage to come, all best ignored as you just go down the neutral legal route.

You also need to understand how your mother could be able to scupper any sale plans - true, you are the sole owner of the property but you need to find out any repercussions from if she insists she gifted you the 75k, in terms of whether she can block the sale by putting some kind of inhibition on the deeds or if she has to take separate legal action outside of the property selling process.