Can't afford house any more - what to do with lodger/tenant?

theartfullodger

if you've been living abroad then they ain't lodgers thay are AST tenants.  (yes understand it's your registered address).

But as almost none if the normal AST paperwork done then s21 won't be usable.

Plus you should have completed and have had accepted paperwork with HMRC as a non-resident landlord or your tenants should have been withholding 20% of rent for the taxman.

Or am i wring (again)

SiliconChip

Badger_Lady said:

propertyrental said:

Not sure about Wales, but sounds tome like these are not lodgers. They are tenants.

So, who does this help? If we all agree that they are lodgers...

It helps you, because you seem to find it difficult to understand that you haven't had lodgers since you moved out, you've had tenants, and the one remaining occupant is still your tenant. I suspect selling the house isn't going to happen soon unless your tenant is prepared to be extremely co-operative. You have to give a minimum of 6 months notice to evict, and unless you have complied with all the requirements of Welsh tenancy law your attempt to evict will fail anyway.

https://www.gov.wales/tenants-housing-law-has-changed-renting-homes 

I also think your tenant is unlikely to be offered anything permanent by the council even if he is evicted, a single male with no dependents is going to be at the very bottom of the list of people to be helped.

Your best option may be to offer him enough money to leave to allow him to find somewhere else to live, perhaps in shared accommodation, otherwise you'll be in for a long struggle.

MultiFuelBurner

I believe the only thing to do is to offer the remaining lodger some money so he can find another place or shared house quickly.

As others have said you didn't have lodgers you had tenants and on your side of any goodwill you provided with cheap accomodation you do not appear to have a single piece of official documentation as required as the Landlord.

Also bear in mind investment companies do appear to have a habit of pulling out of deals last minute or another discount off the agreed selling price. You may have been better off waiting for a different buyer.

pinkshoes

You could end up in very hot water here as these are clearly tenants and not lodgers, which meant you should have been signed up to the relevant scheme and met various criteria...

The easiest way out of this is to get onto spareroom website and find somewhere else for this "lodger", then offer him a large sum of money to cover all his moving costs and the inconvenience. 

GDB2222

What stops you from moving back into your house? You have your bedroom (full of stuff you haven't needed for 3 years, so probably don't need at all!!),  plus the other empty bedroom. With a bit of luck, once you are back in the house, you can then ease the tenant/lodger out.

I'm not an expert, but this may be a lodger, not a tenant, as you have retained a bedroom. People on this forum make wild statements about this sort of thing, without any legal training. I think it would be worth running this past a solicitor. 

GDB2222

"After 10 days on the market I accepted an offer, albeit a low offer from an investment company, which will release me from the unaffordable payments."


This bothered me much, much more than anything else in the thread. If this investment company is a BTL landlord, they may have done their sums and be happy to proceed.  If it is one of the "We buy any house" companies, I'd be very wary. They are extremely likely to drop the price just before exchange. At that point, they'll have you over a barrel, as you'll have all the outgoings, and no income coming in at all.

Unless you are selling at 25% below market value, a "We buy any house" company is bound to drop the price, as they need that margin to make a profit.  Just be sure that in your efforts to escape the frying pan you don't make things much, much worse. 

I think you need to rethink what you are doing.

Badger_Lady

GDB2222 said:

"After 10 days on the market I accepted an offer, albeit a low offer from an investment company, which will release me from the unaffordable payments."


This bothered me much, much more than anything else in the thread. If this investment company is a BTL landlord, they may have done their sums and be happy to proceed.  If it is one of the "We buy any house" companies, I'd be very wary. They are extremely likely to drop the price just before exchange. At that point, they'll have you over a barrel, as you'll have all the outgoings, and no income coming in at all.

Unless you are selling at 25% below market value, a "We buy any house" company is bound to drop the price, as they need that margin to make a profit.  Just be sure that in your efforts to escape the frying pan you don't make things much, much worse.

It's not one of those companies - it's a smaller local one that's buying a couple of properties through the same estate agent. But yeah, it is about 25% off compared to the next door neighbour on the other side, who sold last year (fair enough with much better decor/dressing).

I have never been in this for profit. It was my home I bought when I was 23 and intended to keep forever, which the Pandemic made inaccessible while I was working overseas. I have only ever made a loss on the rent, my mortgage was only ever interest-only and the sale price is just a few thousand over what I paid 16 years ago.

Whilst I appreciate I didn't deal with this "properly" according to the law, I have never done anything immoral or taken any advantage of anyone. I have only tried to keep my own head above water whilst doing whatever I could to help a couple of guys through a cost of living crisis.

Scotbot

You may have had honourable intentions but by not complying with the tenancy laws you have stuffed up. I suspect you  are the type of free spirit who is not big on rules and bureaucracy.

Your only option is to buy the tenant out by paying him to go unless the buyer is intending to rent it and happy to have a sitting tenant

_Penny_Dreadful

GDB2222 said:

What stops you from moving back into your house? You have your bedroom (full of stuff you haven't needed for 3 years, so probably don't need at all!!),  plus the other empty bedroom. With a bit of luck, once you are back in the house, you can then ease the tenant/lodger out.

I'm not an expert, but this may be a lodger, not a tenant, as you have retained a bedroom. People on this forum make wild statements about this sort of thing, without any legal training. I think it would be worth running this past a solicitor. 

It’s not a wild statement to claim the occupant is a tenant rather than a lodger. Read the legislation, it met all the hallmarks of an AST back in 2020 and retaining a bedroom wouldn’t make the OP a resident landlord because a resident landlord has to be, you know, resident. A question a court would ask is, “where would the landlord ordinarily be found?” Not in this property would be the answer because the OP wouldn’t have been found there for over 3 years. Taking up occupation now wouldn’t suddenly make the occupant a lodger either. 

GDB2222

_Penny_Dreadful said:

GDB2222 said:

What stops you from moving back into your house? You have your bedroom (full of stuff you haven't needed for 3 years, so probably don't need at all!!),  plus the other empty bedroom. With a bit of luck, once you are back in the house, you can then ease the tenant/lodger out.

I'm not an expert, but this may be a lodger, not a tenant, as you have retained a bedroom. People on this forum make wild statements about this sort of thing, without any legal training. I think it would be worth running this past a solicitor. 

It’s not a wild statement to claim the occupant is a tenant rather than a lodger. Read the legislation, it met all the hallmarks of an AST back in 2020 and retaining a bedroom wouldn’t make the OP a resident landlord because a resident landlord has to be, you know, resident. A question a court would ask is, “where would the landlord ordinarily be found?” Not in this property would be the answer because the OP wouldn’t have been found there for over 3 years. Taking up occupation now wouldn’t suddenly make the occupant a lodger either. 

Can you please quote a couple of cases to back this up?