Letting a Property

Cakeguts

You can't just let out a flat of someone who is in hospital. You are talking of letting a tenant into your brother's home. How would you like it if you were ill and someone let your house so that when you left hospital your home was being lived in by a complete stranger?

An assured shorthold tenancy agreement can be for only 6 months but the tenant doesn't have to leave after the initial 6 months. They can stay on. If they stay on and your brother wants his home back it can take more than 6 months for the case to get to court. Would you be happy telling your brother that he can't go home because the tenant doesn't want to leave and you can't make them and he will have to wait 6 months?

What are you going to do with your brother's personal possessions if the flat is let? You can't leave them in there. This means that you will have to go through all of his personal stuff and store it somewhere else. All done without his permission. How would you like someone to go through all your personal effects when you were not there and hadn't given permission?

Your brother needs protection against you.

Start again. Work from the point that you can't let his home. It is his home and you can't let it.

Go to CAB and find out how people who are in hospital manage to a) pay their mortgage and b) pay their bills.

Do not look through anything in his flat apart from any recent bills he might have. The fact that he has a mental illness and is a family member does not give you the right to interfere in his life or move any of his possessions. You do not have the right to let his home.

tlc678910

While their (elderly?) mother is picking up the mortgage for a vacant property letting the property out (with brother's agreement) seems sensible to me. If not it may be that he doesn't have a home to come back to, or has large mortgage arrears and threats of repossession which won't do his mental health any good.
Tlc

MoneySavingMission

You must inform the lender

It's not as easy as just switching to let - being a proper regulated, local authority approved landlord is very difficult. Gas safety, improving electrical standards etc - you can't just let and not manage all these things