LPA for incapacitated relation - a landlord with no contract

jzco

I've recently been granted LPA for a relation who has a degenerative disease.  They've been in hospital for 6 months and are due to return home with round the clock care.  They rented out a house down the road that they used to reside in, but intended to sell that house should they need the money for end of life care, which is where we are now. 

I've now discovered that they didn't issue a contract, didn't keep a rent book and collected the rent in cash, so there's no paperwork.  The tenants paid a very small amount of rent (less than £100 per month for a 3 bed house).  Their tenants have kept the house in good order and have been there for 11 years.  

As my relation's attorney, obviously I want to act in their best interests.  I know they like their tenants and have had no problems with them.  I don't want to rush them out of their home, however the costs of my relations care is approximately the same per week as the tenants have been paying per year.  The tenants are also aware that their landlord has been in hospital and has a degenerative disease. 

Anyone have any clue of their/my rights?  I really don't want to be an accidental ars3h0le landlord by proxy.  

  

BobT36

Eek. Which means there will have been no compliance with the long list of mandatory stuff landlords have to do nowadays, How to Rent guide and all that.. Fat chance at eviction, I'd guess. Cross your fingers they'd want to buy it lol. 

Has he been having gas safety checks done annually for them, at least? 

tacpot12

It's probably time to sit down with the tenants and explain that their landlord is nearing the end of their life, if they are not already aware of this. Ask them if they are prepared to move out when the landlord dies. If not, explain that they will have a new landlord when their current landlord passes away. Ask if they are prepared to sign a Tenancy Agreement with the new landlord. If they are, it is worth getting a professional agreement drafted, or the landlord can sign up with a letting agent and can they use their standard contract. If the landlord is going to be new at being a landlord, I'd definitely recommend using a letting agent.

You need to find out the situation with all the mandatory items; deposit and its protection, EPC, Right to Rent booklet, EICR, Legionella Risk Assessment, Gas Safety, and then remediate anything that is missing.

If you are lucky, the previous landlord didn't take a deposit - there is no requirement to protect a deposit if one wasn't taken.

If the landlord did take a deposit, you should put the amount of this deposit into one of the tenancy deposit schemes and give the tenants all the scheme information so that they know that it has been protected. They could still sue your relative for compensation of three times the deposit, but having protected it, you have remedied the problem as soon as you were aware of it, and their ability to sue will probably expire six years after you have protected it. (Have a look here for why this is only probable: Shelter Legal England - Sanctions on landlords for non-compliance with deposit protection rules - Shelter England)

With all the defects remediated, you or the new landlord could try increasing the rent. If the tenants object, you will have some chance of evicting them, and even the chance of this could persuade them to accept a reasonable rent increase. Ultimately it will fall to a court to decide if you or the new landlord can evict the tenants. The longer the tenancy continues with the defects remediated the more likely it is that a court will agree to evict the tenants. 

propertyrental

There IS a contract - probably an AST. Rent is paid and property provided, ipso facto.

It is a verbal contract. But that's the least of your problems. If that paperwork was ignored I guess so was the legal requirement to provide

* a gas report every year

* an electrical report

* the gov leaflet 'how to rent'

*right to Rent checks

 * variousn other requirments.

Without these (apart from some opening up the LL to criminal action) eviction via an S21 Notice will be impossible. The only other ways to get the property back are

* a S8 Notice using one of 28 grounds (see here) eg rent arrears)

* the tenant voluntarily giving notice to the LL (perhaps in return for a financial incentive?)

This assumes then property is in England - is it?

theartfullodger

Indeed: Verbal contract.  Entirely legal in England (bonkers I know) - other countries do this much better.

Start talking to HMRC about declaring relo's rent income.

CGT on their death will be fun.

Sorry but you are in a terrible position.  

theoretica

In terms of rights, you seem to be in a very weak position.  Talking to the tenants, seeing if they can, and want, to buy the house or can move and not needing to use the landlord's rights might be the best chance.

If they aren't going to budge, an option might be to auction the property as tenanted - probably won't get nearly as much as if it were empty or sold to the tenants, but likely enough to pay for a good deal of care and the problem becomes someone else's.

jzco

Thank you all for taking the time to respond with such thoughtful feedback!  What an amazing bunch you all are   

I'm going to try and find out if any gas checks etc have been done, but I'm not holding my breath.  I need to sell the property to pay for care costs so unless they'd like to buy the property, their tenancy can't continue at the current rate of next-to-nothing.  I can't see anyone wanting to buy the house with sitting tenants who are paying the equivalent of a loaf of bread (or less?!) every day.  

I'll look into all your very helpful advice.  Ooof, what a wonderful sh1tsh0w. 

propertyrental

As for the rent, since there is no written contract, and since it is unlikely (and impossible to prove) that there was a verbal agreement regarding rent increases, or a verbally agreed fixed term

1) the tenancy is periodic, and so

2) rent can be increased via a S13 Notice using form 4

https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property/rent-increases

jzco

propertyrental said:

As for the rent, since there is no written contract, and since it is unlikely (and impossible to prove) that there was a verbal agreement regarding rent increases, or a verbally agreed fixed term

1) the tenancy is periodic, and so

2) rent can be increased via a S13 Notice using form 4

Thanks!  Really not wanting to be that landlord (albeit by proxy) suddenly hoiking up the rent and tbh, the rent still won't cover the care costs.  But if it's the only option I have to move the issue along then I'll have to consider it.  

Again, thanks for taking the time to advise!  It's so appreciated. 

housebuyer143

jzco said:

propertyrental said:

As for the rent, since there is no written contract, and since it is unlikely (and impossible to prove) that there was a verbal agreement regarding rent increases, or a verbally agreed fixed term

1) the tenancy is periodic, and so

2) rent can be increased via a S13 Notice using form 4

Thanks!  Really not wanting to be that landlord (albeit by proxy) suddenly hoiking up the rent and tbh, the rent still won't cover the care costs.  But if it's the only option I have to move the issue along then I'll have to consider it.  

Again, thanks for taking the time to advise!  It's so appreciated. 

Potentially increase it to fair market rent, then if they can't or don't pay it you can go down the S8 route for rental arrears? Someone might pick holes with this plan but just a thought.
It's not nice but I doubt they are going to leave, not because they don't want to buy because they probably can't afford rents that are being advertised.

Ksw3

How do you know what the current rent is? From tenant or relative?