Getting ex partner out of house - help!

superhez

Hi there, hope someone here can give some advice, sorry it's a bit of a long story.

My husband owns a property (not the one we live in) which he used to live in with his ex partner and her son.

When they split up he moved out and allowed her and her son to stay in the property on the understanding it would only be for a year till they could find somewhere to go.
This was three and a half years ago and they are still there.

The mortgage is in my husbands name only, his ex and her son have been paying this (interest only) and the bills. We are now in a position were it is getting close to the repayment date for the mortgage so we need to sell the property and we advised his ex of this at start of the year and asked for them to be out the property by end of March.

Unsurprisingly they have come up with many excuses why they cannot, they are now saying to get a council house my husband must sent an AT6 and give them another 2 months from when this is sent to move, however this is for a landlord which as far as I am aware he is not, there has never been a tenancy agreement and he has never made any money from them staying there.

Does anyone know where we stand and how we go about getting them out, in case it makes a difference for the law we are in Scotland.

My husband has let them stay out the goodnes of his heart and has even given them money (I know he's mad) to help them move out!

BrassicWoman

they've been paying interest on the mortgage = rent = tenancy exists, I think!

superhez

so if there is no tenancy agreement in place where do we stand, they have been given dates to leave several times and not done so, we even offered to let them buy the place for only the remaining mortgage but they could not get a mortgage.

silvercar

The ex may have some rights over the beneficial interest in the property as (a) she has been paying the mortgage, (b) they were living there together.

superhez

It is the son's housing benefit they have been paying the mortgage with as he doesn't work and she only works part time, not sure if that makes a difference.

superhez

Oh forgot to mention he has also offered to give them 50% of any profit (although he's probably given them most of that already)

Pixie5740

If there's no written tenancy agreement then I assume there's no AT5 meaning that if she is a tenant then she has an Assured Tenancy.

Pixie5740

How was the mortgage being paid? Was she paying the money directly to the lender or to him and then he paid the lender?

superhez

The son's housing benefit was paid to my husband who then paid the mortgage, which I think may be our problem. The son did ask him to sign something years ago for the housing benefit and stupidly my husband didn't take much notice, but I'm assuming this makes out that he is the landlord who the housing benefit is being paid to.

Pixie5740

Your husband sounds like an idiot. I'm guessing that he has not fulfilled any of his obligations as a landlord. For example, if he has not been registered with the local council as a landlord then he's committing a criminal offence letting that property out. All it takes is for the ex or her son to call Shelter Scotland for some advice.

If the ex and her son want a council house and are asking your husband to evict them property then he's going to have to evict them properly. If he doesn't know how to go about this then he needs to contact the National Landlords Assosiation, Scottish Association of Landlords or a solicitor.

sparky130a

Not helpful ( That's me apparently)

But what a mess. Legal advice needed.