Emptied house after seperation

steeeb

Hi,

I am looking for some advice on behalf of my soon to be mother in-law.

She had an argument with her boyfriend of 7 years who moved in with her council house and is on the tenancy.

She stayed at her sisters for a few days to let things cool back and come back to an empty house.

Shelves, furniture, log burner, cooker - EVERYTHING that he bought whilst living there.

Whilst that is fair enough, the furniture that was originally in the house was gotten rid of for furniture he owned or bought and obviously she is now left with nothing, when before she had everything.

He looks to be being childish about it and taking EVERYTHING, and is likely going to take all the carpets and flooring he put down - he's already taken shelves etc and the house is a tip - ripped bathroom cabinet of the wall etc causing damage in the process.

He is still staying at the house and left a note saying he'll be going a week on Wednesday - we fear he's going to be even more pathetic removing carpets, catflap from door etc literially everything he has bought.

So, is this legal? It's certainly not fair leaving her in such a position when she had furniture etc. previous to him moving in - and he is causing damage to walls etc. in the process.

Also, she is a beautician working from home and obviously has cancelled all her clients for a week, and will have to likely for another week until he has then left and then the family all help to put everything straight again. What should she be doing about this? Perusing job seekers or benefits or something for the few weeks this is going to be going on?

The guy is a bit of a loon and is childish as you can guess, we don't want to make things worse and him end up staying there for weeks knowing she then can't work from there, and he's not as of yet broken or took her belongings or anything to do with her work.

After he initially took stuff the family went round to spend the day cleaning thinking he'd soon be going, he's since took all the shelves and log burner and gas cooker etc messing the house up again. Shes got a big hole where the log burner was with an open chimney for example, no idea if the cooker was disconnected safely.

Please can anyone advise what we should do. Tried ringing Citizens Advice after about a 5 minute recorded message the options they give are nothing to do with any of this.

pigpen

cut your losses and help him move out... he sounds like a crazy. Be glad of the escape.. there are charities that could help out, local charity shops where stuff can be picked up cheaply, freecycle, gumtree etc..

I'd check he hasn't handed notice on the house or she may lose that too.

steeeb

pigpen wrote: »

cut your losses and help him move out... he sounds like a crazy. Be glad of the escape.. there are charities that could help out, local charity shops where stuff can be picked up cheaply, freecycle, gumtree etc..

I'd check he hasn't handed notice on the house or she may lose that too.

Would he be able to do that without her consent?

She has rang the council a few days ago when it was initially emptied and they said there's nothing that can be done until he's give her the keys and then at that point then can step in and get him off the tenancy.

Isn't the fact he's damaging the house grounds for him to be removed from the tenancy and we can change the locks - help get all of his stuff and then be done with it. The worry currently is that he's going to take stuff like carpets and destroy a loft conversion he did for his daughter to live in the house therefore potentially making it unsafe and inhabitable.

foolofbeans

Could she get a free half hour consultation with a solicitor with a view to getting an injunction? I'm not sure on what grounds but would have thought his wilful destruction of the property and the theft would be a cause for concern for a judge to issue the injuction. If she can get an accredited engineer to check on the fittings for the cooker and the log burner maybe they could report that it was not done safely which puts her in danger?

tea_lover

steeeb wrote: »

The worry currently is that he's going to take stuff like carpets and destroy a loft conversion he did for his daughter to live in the house therefore potentially making it unsafe and inhabitable.

Did he have council permission, building regs etc for this?

foolofbeans

I would add that it may be useful to file a report with the police. That sort of behaviour is not normal and I would be worried what he will do to her (I assume she is worried too hence the relatives being there?)
A crime report would make getting an injunction easier.

steeeb

tea_lover wrote: »

Did he have council permission, building regs etc for this?

Nope so we can't actually mention that for reasons for him to go as it could end up her getting evicted - wouldn't surprise me if he mentions it to the council once he's gone to try get her evicted or something stupid.

Gigervamp

How has he done a loft conversion if the house is rented from the council?

Is it even safe? ie, building regs sign off, fire doors etc.

tea_lover

Is she expecting the council to pay to put right the work he's done to the house with his unapproved loft conversion?

steeeb

Of course not. It's a loft ladder with flooring, plaster boarded, electrics (not sure how) and a velux.

Main concern is him literally ripping it out unsafe my (granted it might be unsafe already) ripping out the velux and loft hatch etc.

steeeb

Gigervamp wrote: »

How has he done a loft conversion if the house is rented from the council?

Is it even safe? ie, building regs sign off, fire doors etc.

He said to her they'd just see it as storage not to worry etc it's just so his daughter could live there (granted it was for 3-4 years).