(Advice for a friend) Friend is lodger and having LL problems

kinger101

The problem with this whole thread is its LL > tenant > lodger > friend. By the time it's filtered though you, we don't really have much information, and it's not practical to say "can you ask your friend to ask the actual tenant......."

Regardless of whether the LL has served correct notice yet, the writing is on the wall. Your friend has no control over how long the tenants want to string this out. They might wait for legal eviction by bailiffs. They might find another tenancy in a couple of weeks. The only way for the lodger to take control is to find somewhere else to live.

dekaspace

Luckily my friend is here, just had a text from them saying can they borrow £200 from him until next weekend as landlord won't chuck them out if they can find it.

This sounds really dodgy, they know my friend doesn't work (hes a student but gets DLA and ESA just like me) so he struggled to even pay the 3 months they wanted.

dekaspace

Another strange phone call it was from a number we don't recognise and I answered it (me and friend sound the same so the person thought I was him) it was his lodging people asking if he could pay £200 today as they were desperate, I said that "I" didn't have any money and mentioned their landlord can't illegally evict them and they seemed to keep changing the subject and not taking notice just saying "the landlord wants us out"

They know my friend isn't working and gets benefits so why ask him for £200!

dancingfairy

I suspect your friend is being caught up in a scam sadly.
Firstly he has paid up until august already which is already ringing arm bells, secondly he is being asked for more money. Either the couple or the landlord ( or borh) appear to be pulling a fast one
He either needs to sit it out to make the most of the rent he's paid or he needs to find a new place and consider the money spent to have been lost. Yes he can try and fight the tenants for his money back but either they genuinely don't have it or they are scamming him, either way I can't see him getting it back.
I'm really sorry
Df

dekaspace

The main problems is his rent is cheap there, I assume its more they have found another person to take the room who is willing to pay more so want him out and the £200 is the shortfall they would of got if they were paid by the other interested party.

That or they mentioned that a member of family was pregnant and wanted to move in after summer maybe they wanted to move in earlier.

dekaspace

Right so i went down with him on train and when almost there got a text saying their ll is evicting them sunday so friend has to move out. When we got there a to let sign was in the garden and checked online and their agency has it as available straight away. They told me they paid their landlord 1200 without receipt the other day who never gave them receipt so they cant afford to pay my friend the 2 and a half months remaining left so my friend is in a pickle. He has a few boxes of stuff which is too much for us to carry and nowhere to store it.

What to do?

WibblyGirly

That is a massive pickle! Does he have any friends/family nearby to help store some of his stuff? Does he anyone he can stay with?
Did the couple have permission to have a lodger? It all sounds a bit dodgy, if it were me and the other couple had left while I still had a key I'd be tempted to stay in the house while I found another place asap but I don't know what the consequences of that would be for him.

dekaspace

No one. If he had the money back he could move somewhere else but as is he has nothing he cant even get somewhere else if lucky he could fit everything bar his tv into a single large moving box and send by courier. Else will be like 4 or 5 smaller boxes which will mount up.

What the couple said was the ll wanted them out sunday but they were going to beg for another week to pack they need the space it seems they are genuine about their eviction

So he can move in with me but its getting stuff to me.

dekaspace

Thought i would add this, when i was in their kitchen i saw 3 unpaid gas bills including 1 to debt collector, a provident payment book, a handwritten note mentioning they wanted holiday in june and have 300 budget. A benefits overpayment and court appeal letters, a cash convertors 28 day buyback slip.

The gas thing makes me think when i visited both times the heating was on full despite the weather being hot outside i mean literal sweating.

They even said to us their parents can store the small boxes for 15 a week id expect free after the hassle

G_M

Sounds like the couple he is living with have financial problems and are trying to get him to help them out. Either via emotional blackmail, or a complete scam.

1) he should NOT pay anything more than whatever rent he pays them. Even paying in advance up to (august was it?) was unwise. Do not pay any more.

2) if the landlord is really selling (not part of the couple's scam to get cash from your friend) then they cannot just 'evict' the couple. The landlord must either
i) serve a S8 Notice (eg if the couple have rent arrears) and then go to court, or
ii) serve a S21 Notice, wait 2 months, and then go to court (assuming the ouple do not have a fixed term contract - see link below)

3) if the landlord sells the property, that does not end the couple's tenancy. The buyer/new owner will become their new landlord. The only ways the LL can end the tenancy is as 2) above

4) the lodger, of course, has less security - the couple (HIS landlords) can evict him without going to court since he is a lodger, not a tenant. but then they have even bigger financial problems.

For the couple's rights, see

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?