Landlords obligation on grace and favour property

comeandgo

My elderly friend lives in a grace and favour property.   Her old employers have given her this property to live in for as long as she needs it.  She is in her 90's now so has been there over 20 years.  Does a landlord who is taking no money for rent have to comply with letting rules and regulations?   I have just noticed no fire alarms and I asked who services her gas fire, no one does, she pays to get it repaired when it needs repairing. Should the landlord be attending to these things? This is in Scotland.

davidmcn

How is her occupation documented? I'm not aware of any general legal definition of "grace and favour". If she's not liable for rent then it isn't a lease.

comeandgo

She was a housekeeper, been retired for over 20 years. Lives rent free in small cottage, does pay council tax and all bills.  I was going to fit fire alarms, just wondered if owner of house had any legal obligation to do it.  

steve866

I have no idea of the legalities, but if I was in your/their shoes I would not be raising this with the owner, I would be fitting myself. 

Smodlet

How many people get to live rent free?  Might be better not to rock the boat.

TBagpuss

It would be worth checking with a specialist housing lawyer - however, if she doesn't pay for the property then she may well not be a tenant and have no legal right to be there at all, in which case paying for gas safety checks may be a small price to pay ! 
The fact that she has lived there 20 years might make a difference but it is an unusual situation so I would definitely get specialist, professional advice before raising anything with the landlord.
Does she have any form of written agreement with them about living there?
i think that strictly, a grace and favour home is one owned by the Crown, so I would not use thsat term if you do look for formal advice. 

[Deleted User]

TBagpuss said:

It would be worth checking with a specialist housing lawyer - however, if she doesn't pay for the property then she may well not be a tenant and have no legal right to be there at all, in which case paying for gas safety checks may be a small price to pay ! 
The fact that she has lived there 20 years might make a difference but it is an unusual situation so I would definitely get specialist, professional advice before raising anything with the landlord.
Does she have any form of written agreement with them about living there?
i think that strictly, a grace and favour home is one owned by the Crown, so I would not use thsat term if you do look for formal advice. 

How much is that going to cost at £250 plus vat per hour versus ..... just buy some bloomin fire alarms for £30 and think how lucky older person is to live rent free ! 

comeandgo

I totally agree having a rent free cottage is a boon but as her income is small I think she would get her rent paid for anyway.  We are happy to pay for fire alarms but I'm thinking of where does the spending stop.  The house needs painting, inside and out.  She is in a very unusual  situation and I bet her previous employer never imagined 25 years later she would still occupy the house.  

davidmcn

Is this a property which was included with her employment before she retired? Or did she only move into it after retiring?

greatcrested

It's not a straight-forward issue.

It's Scotland (where I'm unfamiliar) and there's no rent (so no tenancy).

So my guess is that she's living there under some kind of (Scottish?) licence, more akin to letting family stay in your house.

So no legal landlord obligations

Personally if I were the owner, I'd be doing at least the minimum for safety, whether required by law or not - annual gas check, fire detector, and CO alarm too.

But having said that, raising issues like these with the LL might open a can of worms (depending on the LL) and be best dealt with by yourself.

Worst case she might get evicted (though this sounds unlikely). What exactly is the documented source and wording of the arrangement? What contact does she have, if any, with the owners?

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[Deleted User]

comeandgo said:

My elderly friend lives in a grace and favour property.   Her old employers have given her this property to live in for as long as she needs it.  She is in her 90's now so has been there over 20 years.  Does a landlord who is taking no money for rent have to comply with letting rules and regulations?   I have just noticed no fire alarms and I asked who services her gas fire, no one does, she pays to get it repaired when it needs repairing. Should the landlord be attending to these things? This is in Scotland.

I don't think "grace and favour" has any legal standing/definition either.  Your friend doesn't pay rent and lives in a property provided by her (former) employer so she might be a "service occupier" but I think it's more likely that your friend is a "non-tenant occupier" since she is no longer in service which gives her very few rights and means it would be very easy to evict your friend.