Tenant Vacated but left behind sub tenants Help

ritz55

I'll try and keep this short. 

Last Month my tenant gave me notice and wanted to leave on 26th May. I accepted as I wanted him to leave in any case, as I know he's been out of the country for a while and not living in the UK. 

I met his wife at the house for the checkout to find there are 9 other people living in the house (been told 2 Family's) so clearly been subletting the house. The wife told me they are refusing to move out and have no where to go. 

After talking to the 9, it does not look like they have any intentions to move. I made clear to the Tenant and his wife its there responsibility to move them on. They have handed back the keys however the 9 people still remain. 

Any suggestions on what I can do next

Just for ref the tenant has been lived in the house for 7 years

deannagone

I used the above forum search boxusing the phrase 'evict subtenants' and came up with a few threads as I know questions like this have come up before.

One thread is https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78418388#Comment_78418388

If you do a similar search yourself, I hope you find something useful to your situation.

SiliconChip

Rather than rely on anecdotal experiences you need proper legal advice.

ProDave

They are not tenants. They have never been there legally.

So in law are they to be treated like squatters?

GDB2222

ProDave said:

They are not tenants. They have never been there legally.

So in law are they to be treated like squatters?

It may come down to whether the original tenant had a right to sublet. The op can try asking the police to evict them as squatters, but it would be best to get legal advice.

newsgroupmonkey_

GDB2222 said:

ProDave said:

They are not tenants. They have never been there legally.

So in law are they to be treated like squatters?

It may come down to whether the original tenant had a right to sublet. The op can try asking the police to evict them as squatters, but it would be best to get legal advice.

Even if they had right to sublet, they've given their notice.
Is it not now double rent?

GDB2222

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

GDB2222 said:

ProDave said:

They are not tenants. They have never been there legally.

So in law are they to be treated like squatters?

It may come down to whether the original tenant had a right to sublet. The op can try asking the police to evict them as squatters, but it would be best to get legal advice.

Even if they had right to sublet, they've given their notice.
Is it not now double rent?

Good luck chasing them, if they are now overseas. 

ritz55

The tenancy agreement I have clearly states no subletting alllowed in the contract. 

3card

As squatters in a residential property is illegal surely they can be removed without any process?

warwick2001

3card said:

As squatters in a residential property is illegal surely they can be removed without any process?

No, there is a process to follow. Following link has the basics to evict squatters, I advise you investigate further as to whether they are indeed squatters, or if they are considered sub-tenants (even tho you knew nothing about them staying there (and gave no permissions), they may still have legal protection if your actual tenant sub-let 'properly')

How To Get Rid of Squatters in the UK | County Enforcement

Good luck, this could be a costly and long, drawn out process getting your property back.

You NEED advice from a legal professional, this could be an absolute minefield.

london21

Hopefully can get rid of them without having to go through a really long process.

They are there illegally so assume they have minimal rights. 

But then have to follow the correct procedure to not complicate things further.