Evicting a family member with no tenancy?

VT1983

Hello everybody!

Desperate for any advice..

My brother has been living in my house and paying rent for the last ten years without any official tenancy agreement. The situation is I’m pregnant and now need to sell the property. He is now refusing access for the estate agents to show prospective buyers around the property. My understanding is I can issue a section 21 to start the eviction process, however, I have never issued him a gas safety or energy certificate (didn’t know I needed to - my fault entirely). What options do I have to evict?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cakeguts

Sell the house with him as the tenant. So sell to a landlord.

jonnygee2

My brother has been living in my house and paying rent for the last ten years without any official tenancy agreement

If he is paying rent then there is a tenancy and you are a landlord.

You probably mean there is no writen tenancy agreement. That's not going to be of much help if trying to evict.

As it's your brother, some sort of compromise / agreement would surely e best. The legal route to eviction could be very long and painful.

FreeBear

VT1983 wrote: »

My brother has been living in my house and paying rent for the last ten years without any official tenancy agreement. The situation is I’m pregnant and now need to sell the property. He is now refusing access for the estate agents to show prospective buyers around the property. My understanding is I can issue a section 21 to start the eviction process, however, I have never issued him a gas safety or energy certificate (didn’t know I needed to - my fault entirely). What options do I have to evict?

Do you live in the same house ?
If so, he would be a lodger and can be evicted with reasonable notice - This could be as little as one week, or perhaps as long as a month. Once notice period is up, change the locks.


If you do not live in the same property, then he is indeed a tenant along with all the additional responsibilities that go with it.

SpiderLegs

VT1983 wrote: »

Hello everybody!

Desperate for any advice..

My brother has been living in my house and paying rent for the last ten years without any official tenancy agreement. The situation is I’m pregnant and now need to sell the property. He is now refusing access for the estate agents to show prospective buyers around the property. My understanding is I can issue a section 21 to start the eviction process, however, I have never issued him a gas safety or energy certificate (didn’t know I needed to - my fault entirely). What options do I have to evict?

Thanks in advance for any help!

You do realise you are breaking the law don’t you?

wesleyad

Would he allow access for a gas check? If so that needs done as a priority. I'm not sure of the EPC given the tenancy has been 10 years, I'm sure others will know.

Is he still paying rent and up to date?

Had all the required taxes been paid? If not is there a risk of him tipping off HMRC in retaliation to eviction?

VT1983

The estate agent is marketing to both landlords and private buyers.

VT1983

Hi, thanks for all of your replies so far. Sorry I’m not sure how to reply individually but here is a bit more information.

I left the property empty when I was off to university. At the time my brothers girlfriend was pregnant and they had nowhere to live with their new family. Being naive I offered the house to them to stay while I was away. We both verbally agreed that would be until I returned from uni. However, I ended up relocating to the city I studied in and he was happy to simply stay in the house.

I told him three months ago that I was expecting a baby and would need to sell the house which he was initially very understanding about. Viewings we’re taking place and he was looking for another home for himself. The trouble is, he has always paid below market rate while staying at my property (and receives housing benefit) and can not afford a similar house in the same area. The result is he is now blocking entry to the house.

He has paid all of his rent on time and I have always declared the rental income on my tax return. I also checked with the mortgage company that I was allowed to sublet to him.

I certainly didn’t know what I was doing was illegal. I was just trying to help him out at a difficult time for him. Now it seems I’m stuck without my house?

Thank you.

csgohan4

such a shame and another thread on why money and family shouldn't mix




I'm afraid if he won't go amicably you will have to try the legal route at your cost

Get legal advice as a section 21 is not valid if you don't have things done such as protection of deposit, gas check etc.

he can also sue you for not protecting a deposit many times over

VT1983

i never asked for a deposit so luckily that’s not a concern.

Sea_Shell

It sounds like you're on a very sticky wicket indeed. You thought you were doing the right thing, and it's now all gone wrong.

If you were to put yourself in your brother shoes, paying below market rent, to family (who will be more reluctant than a "professional" landlord to take legal action), what would you do? If you couldn't afford to move, then why would you, unless FORCED to. Also, if he would need to approach the Council for housing, he HAS to wait to be evicted, otherwise he'll be seen to have made himself and his family intentionally homeless.

Be prepared for a lengthy battle, and possibly an irreparable split in the family. So sad.