Landlady presence in the house when renting the rooms

theartfullodger

Talk to council HMO department and grass  her up to HMRC re rent.  She's on the fiddle - or very stupid.

 You all have entirely valid AST tenancies.  With no paperwork she's very unlikely to be able to legally evict any of you.

Is there one joint combined bank transfer or 3 individual ones?

Artful, landlord since 2000

km1500

because she does not permanently live on the premises you have assured shorthold tenancies or ASTs

you are thus entitled to quite enjoyment and the landlady is not allowed on the premises. furthermore she needs to abide by all the regulations include in a gas and electrical safety certificates how to rent guide etc otherwise she cannot evict you and in the case of gas safety she is breaking the criminal law

you would be entitled to change the lock on the main front door and not allow her access except for regular inspections. 

furthermore she cannot evict you unless she issues a valid section 21 notice which she can't do without a gas safety anyway but even if she could it would need a court order to evict you if you refused to go

I would have a word with your local housing department

sevenhills

theartfullodger said:

Talk to council HMO department and grass  her up to HMRC re rent.  She's on the fiddle - or very stupid.
 You all have entirely valid AST tenancies.  With no paperwork she's very unlikely to be able to legally evict any of you.
Is there one joint combined bank transfer or 3 individual ones?

But if the house does not conform to planning laws and fire regulations, that could take weeks/months to sort out.

What would happen in the meantime? The tenants wouldn't be evicted by the landlord, but if the house is not safe, they cannot stay.

Alderbank

sevenhills said:

theartfullodger said:

Talk to council HMO department and grass  her up to HMRC re rent.  She's on the fiddle - or very stupid.
 You all have entirely valid AST tenancies.  With no paperwork she's very unlikely to be able to legally evict any of you.
Is there one joint combined bank transfer or 3 individual ones?

But if the house does not conform to planning laws and fire regulations, that could take weeks/months to sort out.

What would happen in the meantime? The tenants wouldn't be evicted by the landlord, but if the house is not safe, they cannot stay.

What do you mean by that? 
Are you saying that the Council will step in to house them in the meantime until everything is sorted out?

Sadly, the reality is that many thousands of people in the UK today stay in houses that are not safe because they have no alternative.

sevenhills

Alderbank said:

What do you mean by that? 
Are you saying that the Council will step in to house them in the meantime until everything is sorted out?

Sadly, the reality is that many thousands of people in the UK today stay in houses that are not safe because they have no alternative.

It would depend on what the issues were, just asking the question so that the OP is aware.

user1977

Alderbank said:

sevenhills said:

theartfullodger said:

Talk to council HMO department and grass  her up to HMRC re rent.  She's on the fiddle - or very stupid.
 You all have entirely valid AST tenancies.  With no paperwork she's very unlikely to be able to legally evict any of you.
Is there one joint combined bank transfer or 3 individual ones?

But if the house does not conform to planning laws and fire regulations, that could take weeks/months to sort out.

What would happen in the meantime? The tenants wouldn't be evicted by the landlord, but if the house is not safe, they cannot stay.

What do you mean by that? 
Are you saying that the Council will step in to house them in the meantime until everything is sorted out?

Or that the council is likely to take action any faster than “weeks/months”?

Grumpy_chap

Alderbank said:

Sadly, the reality is that many thousands of people in the UK today stay in houses that are not safe because they have no alternative.

"not safe" is also a term that requires definition and varies across a very broad spectrum of severity and immediacy of danger.

In some cases "not safe" means the house is at imminent risk of total collapse - think of cliff tops houses after a major land slide.
In some cases "not safe" means not complying with latest rules - I'd say that the mere fact of an absence of gas safety certificate is in this category.

There is a massive range of variance between the two extremes I suggested

theartfullodger

sevenhills said:

theartfullodger said:

Talk to council HMO department and grass  her up to HMRC re rent.  She's on the fiddle - or very stupid.
 You all have entirely valid AST tenancies.  With no paperwork she's very unlikely to be able to legally evict any of you.
Is there one joint combined bank transfer or 3 individual ones?

But if the house does not conform to planning laws and fire regulations, that could take weeks/months to sort out.

What would happen in the meantime? The tenants wouldn't be evicted by the landlord, but if the house is not safe, they cannot stay.

Tenants can leave any time they like (eg today at 17:45..) but Mrs landlady may claim they are still liable for rent...  Very hard to prove with no paperwork at all 

Trust if tenants have paid deposit they sue for up to 3xdeposit.

Landlords like her give decent ones a bad name.

For the avoidance of doubt I make no claim for what sort of landlord I am ...

anselld

There seem to be multiple suggestions to change the communal door lock, however if this is a HMO (it sounds like it is) with individual room tenancies then the Landlady is legally entitled to enter the communal areas of the building.  It is a bit rude to do so without good reason but it *is* legal. 

The Landlady may or may not be dodgy in other respects but please do adequate research before confronting her with a bunch of opinions from t'Internet.

km1500

only true if they each separately pay their rent for each room ie there is a communal area

if they pay as one unit then the whole house 'belongs to" the three tenants