Landlord and tenant dispute

Alys

Cherry, I completely agree! And she does indeed plan to get a separate network set up before getting in new tenants.

She says that she did not give them admin access to her main hub, only to the extender, and is convinced that it was hacked to change the password and lock her out when they felt like it.

I must stress that this is what she claims, I have no idea if it's correct!

Pixie and Fairy Lights, I agree with you too! I just can't convince her that it's a waste of her time and money. One of the tenants does sound like he's not very nice, and I understand why she wants him out, but don't see how she can do so quickly.

They have separate tenancy agreements btw, the other one is to go because he's friends with the other one and agrees with him...

Property is in England.

The 'words' were regarding 'hacking the hub password and denying my friend access, it got heated when the tenants denied doing any such thing. To be fair to my friend, her tenants do have jobs that would suggest that they might have the skills to do such a thing.

fairy_lights

Alys wrote: »

She says that she did not give them admin access to her main hub, only to the extender, and is convinced that it was hacked to change the password and lock her out when they felt like it.

That does make her sound pretty paranoid, unless her tenants are devious computer whizzkids I can't imagine how or why they would want to do that.
I don't mean to sound rude, but does your friend tend to be overly dramatic about things?

Alys

Well they are actually computer whizzkids, and she thinks they did it to get the speed necessary to play games. But, as you may tell from my tone, I'm not really convinced they did it.

She's not dramatic, so much as convinced that she's correct and unwilling to listen to any thoughts to the contrary.

[Deleted User]

I'm afraid you've given her accurate advice.., all that's left is for her to learn the hard and expensive way.

I have to say that my ex had his router hacked. He was stupid enough to not change the password to something more individual. He had someone to stay who it turns out was someone who enjoyed 'playing' with people. He found himself locked out of the router and a server my ex ran taken over. Believe it or not, the guy carefully made friends with someone who was admin on the server, put a keylogger on her pc, and used all her passwords to wreck the server. It was quite deliberately planned and took some time.

Yes it does sound far fetched, but I was there, it did happen.

Not saying this is what your friend is experiencing.., but the mindset does exist.

It may be, depending on the broadband speed she has available, her tenants playing games took all the bandwidth. They may not have needed to hack her system. But she should phone up the broadband provider to check this.

Guest101

Alys wrote: »

I'm posting on behalf of a friend who has a flat that she rents out that's above her own house. It has three rooms (and a separate kitchen) and she rents out two, and keeps the other for when her daughter visits.

My friend would now like her tenants to move out as she feels they may have prevented her from using her internet at times so that they can keep all the bandwidth to themselves. She thinks that they have 'hacked' into her home hub in order to do this. This, if true, has caused her some major inconvenience. - Then she should change the password on her homehub.
All amenities are included in the rent, and although I do not think that the internet is specifically mentioned by name, they have had use of it for some 8 months now. - She needs to sort out separate internet for her use and their use. The tenants deny all this and she has no real proof so far as I can see. One tenant also had her friend to stay for more than a week, which is against their tenancy agreement - again this can't be proved, my friend is just 'sure' that it happened. - That clause is not enforceable. Your friend sounds like a nightmare control freak(as well as not very bright.)

She has asked the tenants to leave before the tenancy ends and they have refused to do so unless she compensate them by several hundred pounds, which she really does not want to do - the tenancy ends in late December anyway. - They still don't have to leave then.

She and her daughter have both had 'words' with the tenant, and her friend, and her daughter has been accused of being aggressive, which she denies. - So? Your friend can carry on having words and get arrested if she wants to

I'm telling her that I think she's on a hiding to nothing and that she should either wait for the tenancy to end, or make an offer of her own for compensation just to get rid of them. She refuses to give them a penny and is certain that she's in the right. She going to visit a solicitor to get them thrown out. - What a waste of money

Surely the process of removing them will take so long that she might as well wait for the tenancy to finish? I see this as a total waste of time and money, but can't make her see this - am I wrong?

Your friend is an idiot.


She's going to go to court for illegal eviction if she's just seeing a generic solicitor.


Fingers crossed she only rented out room (in this separate accommodation) and not the whole flat to these tenants.

GwylimT

She is sure its a separate dwelling, well in that case they wouldn't need tk access it via her house!

Its clearly a converted attic, not an independent flat, that would have an entrance that couldn't access 'landlords' home and it would be liable for council tax.

Hacker her internet, if they are using it, no, if she can no longer use it due to a chnaged password yes. Again, further proof it isn't a stand alone dwelling.

You cannot prevent tenants have other people to stay.

she needs to get a grip!

I assume he is adequately insured, her mortgage company are aware and deposits are protected it she believes it is a stand alone flat?

thesaint

I suggest you post on landlordzone.co.uk

dekoder

If internet is not specified in Tenancy Agreement why not cut it off now? There should be a physical way to return the router to factory settings and change login/wifi passwords, and unplug any ethernet cables going to upstairs flat.

DandelionPatrol

Alys wrote: »

No, no accommodation is shared, the tenants have their own door, which is incidentally also the back door to my friends house. She does use it sometimes, but only goes through the utility room, which is downstairs whilst the rest of the flat is upstairs.

That is a contradictory statement. The accomodation is shared unless both parties have their own lockable doors behind the back door which prevent either household accessing the other.

Guest101

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

That is a contradictory statement. The accomodation is shared unless both parties have their own lockable doors behind the back door which prevent either household accessing the other.

If she just rents out the rooms, the LL can access the rest of the property. Still a tenancy

This sounds self contained - own kitchen etc.