Landlord and tenant dispute

Gigervamp

Guest101 wrote: »

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.

But their rent includes utilities, so presumably they're just using the same boiler/electricity as the landlord?

Also, if it's a separate dwelling, wouldn't they have to pay their own council tax?

Pixie5740

Not if it's an HMO, in that case the LL would pay the council tax.

The whole thing sounds a bit dodgy. Is it a proper conversion or is it a hooky conversion?

Hopefully the solicitor will be able to help the landlord out before she makes anything worse.

Guest101

Gigervamp wrote: »

But their rent includes utilities, so presumably they're just using the same boiler/electricity as the landlord?

Also, if it's a separate dwelling, wouldn't they have to pay their own council tax?

Any tenancy can include utilities etc. - most dont for obvious reasons

Alys

To answer some queries.

It is definitely not a converted attic, but a (very expensively) converted large house. It's not at all hooky in that way.

The tenants do not have to go through her house to get to it, and each has their own lockable door, to the rooms that they rent out separately. She is the one who sometimes uses their front door, which us d to be her back door, to put out the bins etc. She got good legal advice when setting this up and I'm sure it complies to all building, fire and safety regulations. Her tenancy agreement was drawn up for her by a lawyer too.

She doesn't need permission from any mortgage company as she doesn't have a mortgage and all tax issues etc go through an accountant.

She has now cut off their internet and changed her password. I don't think the provider can tell her who was using what bandwidth and when.

They have a separate boiler and power supply, the only shared thing was the Internet. I think it was all included to save arguments between tenants about who owes what.

Thanks to everyone who has replied, I'll pass on some of your wisdom and hope that she backs off, though my hunch is that she won't. She seems convinced she's got them over a barrel and I was wondering if there was something I didn't know.

Kynthia

For the purposes of whether they are tenants or lodgers the important factor is whether they share living space. In this case they don't so they have an AST. With an AST there is legal protection and the landlord must follow legal processes to evict.

Whether it's a seperate dwelling for council tax is a seperate issue, but one that does affect the tenants and landlord.

Guest101

Alys wrote: »

To answer some queries.

It is definitely not a converted attic, but a (very expensively) converted large house. It's not at all hooky in that way.

The tenants do not have to go through her house to get to it, and each has their own lockable door, to the rooms that they rent out separately. She is the one who sometimes uses their front door, which us d to be her back door, to put out the bins etc. She got good legal advice when setting this up and I'm sure it complies to all building, fire and safety regulations. Her tenancy agreement was drawn up for her by a lawyer too.

She doesn't need permission from any mortgage company as she doesn't have a mortgage and all tax issues etc go through an accountant.

She has now cut off their internet and changed her password. I don't think the provider can tell her who was using what bandwidth and when.

They have a separate boiler and power supply, the only shared thing was the Internet. I think it was all included to save arguments between tenants about who owes what.

Thanks to everyone who has replied, I'll pass on some of your wisdom and hope that she backs off, though my hunch is that she won't. She seems convinced she's got them over a barrel and I was wondering if there was something I didn't know.

I sure hope they dont suffer losses as a result of her doing this....

If they do, she can expect an expensive lesson.

... what a moron

dancingfairy

Your friend needs to be very careful. Using their access door (particularly if things are getting heated) *could* be seen to be harrassment. Also cutting off their internet looks like she's trying to force them out.
Your friend really doesn't want to be done for harrassment or ilegal eviction so should stop and take stock of the situation.
She needs to ask them to leave at the end of the tenancy (nicely if possible, just let them know it's not working out) and warn them that she's been advised to serve notice just to be on the safe side but that she doesn't think she'll need it as they've been o.k. She could just serve the notice and antagonise them further but if possible she would be better using the polite friendly approach to avoid things deteriorating further.
She needs to make sure she serves the correct notice and that everything is up to date (things like gas checks, deposit registration etc should all have been sorted anyway but it's best to double check these things).
df