Evicting family member from residential property

elsien

Glover1862 said:

They can’t just change the locks when the son is out, they have to give notice, they would not be safe there during this notice period, hence best to be away. 

How can you sell a house when you effectively have squatters?? Would you buy a property with not guarantee that the property will be vacant on completion?? No responsible solicitor or lender would allow a sale when another family is present amd doesn’t want to leave!

On what basis do they have to give notice? There’s no tenancy or anything like that. They aren’t lodges, and even if they were there’s no obligation to give lodger’s a month notice, unless that’s what any lodger agreement says.

The son can’t argue he has a beneficial interest that he’s never paid anything towards the property. I suppose he could argue that he’s a financial dependent, but

I do think I’m leaving him in the house and going elsewhere for a month is a very bad idea. If anything happens and they are scared, then they would need to call the police. 

Glover1862

elsien said:

Glover1862 said:

They can’t just change the locks when the son is out, they have to give notice, they would not be safe there during this notice period, hence best to be away. 

How can you sell a house when you effectively have squatters?? Would you buy a property with not guarantee that the property will be vacant on completion?? No responsible solicitor or lender would allow a sale when another family is present amd doesn’t want to leave!

On what basis do they have to give notice? There’s no tenancy or anything like that. They aren’t lodges, and even if they were there’s no obligation to give lodger’s a month notice, unless that’s what any lodger agreement says.

The son can’t argue he has a beneficial interest that he’s never paid anything towards the property. I suppose he could argue that he’s a financial dependent, but

I do think I’m leaving him in the house and going elsewhere for a month is a very bad idea. If anything happens and they are scared, then they would need to call the police. 

I’m not 100% certain hence why I posted here on the off chance that someone has specialist knowledge. From my research, even a family member becomes a lodger regardless if rent is paid or not, CA mention that reasonable notice must be given, it mentions that it depends on circumstances but as they have kids and been there many years, the notice should be weeks not days. I’d imagine that if a court order is required it’s more likely to be granted if some reasonable notice is given. 

Yes, I agree that they could call the police if they feel unsafe, however being elderly they’d rather not experience being scared in the first place, that might make it more complicated but they feel it would eventually end up in court and messy anyway, so another few weeks won’t matter. 

They also would like to give them notice regardless what the law says, it gives them time to find another place, turfing their goods out and changing the locks is not something they want to do, they’d probably go as far as paying the deposit for a rental and even a couple of months rent, the idea is to get them out not cause them pain even though they’ve been treated appallingly. It’s their view and not everyone would agree but they don’t want the grandchildren to suffer more than they need to.

RAS

This is why the parents need proper advice. They may need to enlist help from family. They need to give reasonable notice but that depends on the circumstances.

They may need to engineer a month's paid alternative accommodation for the abusive son and his family, in lieu of notice. They may be able to get an injunction to stop the abusive son going to the house.

Speak to Age UK and enlist support.

T.T.D

Shelter is best placed To advise your family member. 

I would call Adult social services and report the elderly couple as being in a place of elder abuse by the son so a support network can be put in place.

Generally lodgers if there’s a “tenancy agreement” are given notice as per the agreement, in the absence of an agreement it’s usually 30 days or shorter depending on a gentleman’s agreement to leave sooner in the absence of domestic violence or harassment.

There is nothing preventing (from my knowledge) the couple getting an emergency without notice occupation order ( to paraphrase its an order that makes a decree that you have right to occupy and someone else doesn’t and restricts that persons right to be in that home) authorising them having the locks changed to prevent the abuse in self defence. They can make arrangements with the son and police (a breach of peace request to attend) to get access at a later date to obtain their possessions. 

Glover1862

T.T.D said:

Shelter is best placed To advise your family member. 

I would call Adult social services and report the elderly couple as being in a place of elder abuse by the son so a support network can be put in place.

Generally lodgers if there’s a “tenancy agreement” are given notice as per the agreement, in the absence of an agreement it’s usually 30 days or shorter depending on a gentleman’s agreement to leave sooner in the absence of domestic violence or harassment.

There is nothing preventing (from my knowledge) the couple getting an emergency without notice occupation order ( to paraphrase its an order that makes a decree that you have right to occupy and someone else doesn’t and restricts that persons right to be in that home) authorising them having the locks changed to prevent the abuse in self defence. They can make arrangements with the son and police (a breach of peace request to attend) to get access at a later date to obtain their possessions. 

Thanks for the reply, that's useful info I'll look into the emergency without notice occupation order, that might be useful. Either way, they need professional help, the question is where to get it at a reasonable cost.

Shelter have not been helpful, they more or less admitted that there focus was to to keep occupants in homes and not to assist in evictions, they were sympathetic but offered no help.     

Stateofart

You can evict someone in your house.  It will be messy.  It will ruin the relationship.  However, if determined most solicitors will help and it takes around six months.

_Penny_Dreadful

T.T.D said:

Shelter is best placed To advise your family member. 

I would call Adult social services and report the elderly couple as being in a place of elder abuse by the son so a support network can be put in place.

Generally lodgers if there’s a “tenancy agreement” are given notice as per the agreement, in the absence of an agreement it’s usually 30 days or shorter depending on a gentleman’s agreement to leave sooner in the absence of domestic violence or harassment.

There is nothing preventing (from my knowledge) the couple getting an emergency without notice occupation order ( to paraphrase its an order that makes a decree that you have right to occupy and someone else doesn’t and restricts that persons right to be in that home) authorising them having the locks changed to prevent the abuse in self defence. They can make arrangements with the son and police (a breach of peace request to attend) to get access at a later date to obtain their possessions. 

Lodgers in England don’t have tenancy agreements and I don’t know where you’re getting the 30 days from. Resident landlords, if that’s in fact what the parents are, in the absence of any written contract with a clause covering the notice period just need to give lodgers reasonable notice. What is reasonable? Certainly not 30 days notice in the case. The parents are being abused so changing the locks at the first opportune moment would not be unreasonable. 

MattMattMattUK

Get the parents to change the locks whilst their son is out, refuse him readmittance to the property, if the son attempts to force entry then call the police. 

molerat

MattMattMattUK said:

Get the parents to change the locks whilst their son is out, refuse him readmittance to the property, if the son attempts to force entry then call the police. 

The police may not be as accommodating as you would hope.  The son can likely prove it is his home and his parents are acting unreasonably by throwing him and his family out for no reason. So unless it is obvious the son presents an immediate risk of violence to the parents they may lean towards the son.

Glover1862

molerat said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Get the parents to change the locks whilst their son is out, refuse him readmittance to the property, if the son attempts to force entry then call the police. 

The police may not be as accommodating as you would hope.  The son can likely prove it is his home and his parents are acting unreasonably by throwing him and his family out for no reason. So unless it is obvious the son presents an immediate risk of violence to the parents they may lean towards the son.

I would probably agree with this.

What is reasonable? on one hand, the parents are being abused verbally which is unacceptable, but then there is a family with two young kids removed from the only home they know, changing the locks while the son is out without any notice is not acceptable to the parents regardless what the law is, I can understand that.

Essentially, the parents want something formal in place so the sons knows they are serious, they don't want them to suffer and be homeless without notice. I'm trying to work out how we can put this in place without costing the earth but gets the job done, so is this eviction specialist or general solicitors or a charity that may help. While the process is going on they would rather be away from the property, watching the kids being evicted would be heart breaking for them