Mother wants to sell house but son is living in it...

artyboy

Keep_pedalling said:

artyboy said:

To that last point, and leaving aside the son's attitude, is he financially able to support himself/find a new place, or is he potless and in anger of ending up homeless as a result? 

It sounds like there's going to be emotional blackmail either way, but the prospect of a child genuinely being out on the street might be the tipping point for any parent...

The son is going to have to be made aware that sooner or later he is going to have no choice. If he stays put for now then he won’t be able to do this once his mother dies. The house will have to be sold to pay any deferred care costs and to enable the OP to obtain their share of their mother’s estate.

Agreed, my point was whether this was something that was likely to be dealt with now, or kicked down the road...

RHemmings

artyboy said:

Keep_pedalling said:

artyboy said:

To that last point, and leaving aside the son's attitude, is he financially able to support himself/find a new place, or is he potless and in anger of ending up homeless as a result? 

It sounds like there's going to be emotional blackmail either way, but the prospect of a child genuinely being out on the street might be the tipping point for any parent...

The son is going to have to be made aware that sooner or later he is going to have no choice. If he stays put for now then he won’t be able to do this once his mother dies. The house will have to be sold to pay any deferred care costs and to enable the OP to obtain their share of their mother’s estate.

Agreed, my point was whether this was something that was likely to be dealt with now, or kicked down the road...

In situations I've seen, kicked down the road was more common. Not a large sample. 

elsien

OP first raised the question 12 months ago, although the son was then a sister. On that basis I'm putting my money on "kicked down the road."

BikingBud

RHemmings said:

MEM62 said:

RHemmings said:

As a parent I can't imagine evicting a child, even an adult child in their 50s. If the son doesn't play ball, then it looks to me as if this will be a very difficult situation, and it's quite possible that the OP will watch the situation playing out but not be able to do anything if the mother can't bring herself to evict. 

The mother does not have to evict her son - he has no rights.  He just gets told to leave.  And as for not being emotionally able to kick him out, let's remember that he is not a child.  he is an adult that has enjoyed free or cheap accommodation and its now he stood on his own two feet.  

I believe that the son is a lodger. Even if he doesn't pay rent. I did a quick search and what I found seems to back that up. E.g. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/landlords-of-lodgers/taking-in-a-lodger-what-you-need-to-think-about-first/#:~:text=A lodger is someone who,someone you don't know.

Personally, even as an adult, I would have extreme difficulty evicting a child of mine. Other people might not, but I can see how it might be difficult. 

There's another situation in my family (don't want to give details) where something vaguely similar to this happened.

But you need to read further: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/lodgers/if-youre-being-evicted-as-a-lodger/

RHemmings

BikingBud said:

RHemmings said:

MEM62 said:

RHemmings said:

As a parent I can't imagine evicting a child, even an adult child in their 50s. If the son doesn't play ball, then it looks to me as if this will be a very difficult situation, and it's quite possible that the OP will watch the situation playing out but not be able to do anything if the mother can't bring herself to evict. 

The mother does not have to evict her son - he has no rights.  He just gets told to leave.  And as for not being emotionally able to kick him out, let's remember that he is not a child.  he is an adult that has enjoyed free or cheap accommodation and its now he stood on his own two feet.  

I believe that the son is a lodger. Even if he doesn't pay rent. I did a quick search and what I found seems to back that up. E.g. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/landlords-of-lodgers/taking-in-a-lodger-what-you-need-to-think-about-first/#:~:text=A lodger is someone who,someone you don't know.

Personally, even as an adult, I would have extreme difficulty evicting a child of mine. Other people might not, but I can see how it might be difficult. 

There's another situation in my family (don't want to give details) where something vaguely similar to this happened.

But you need to read further: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/lodging-index/lodgers/if-youre-being-evicted-as-a-lodger/

Can you please quote the bit from the link that means that I need to read further. I read the entire page and I didn't see anything that makes the son not a lodger. 

BikingBud

Thanks @RHemmings your link informs:

A lodger is someone who lives with you in your home. They might be a friend or family member, but they can also be someone you don’t know. 

A lodger can be a family member so what?

It does't really inform what option the OP has and what rights the lodger might have:

Your lodger will still have certain rights. This includes the right to live in the property as their home and share living space with you. You can check the rights of lodgers.

The link I offered advises:

If you're being evicted as a lodger......

As a lodger, you don’t have much protection against eviction but your landlord has to give you enough notice to move out. How much notice they need to give depends on your situation.

And the flip side of that is what the LL should do to ensure they do not encroach upon the very limited rights of the lodger. Hence my comment that to understand more about the situation you need to read more.

Interesting that the OP states:

The_Walker said:
Hello. My mother's husband has died recently and so she has inherited the entire family home. 

Not our father, I wonder what other potential, un-disclosed, complexities may lie behind that statement.

RHemmings

BikingBud said:

Thanks @RHemmings your link informs:

A lodger is someone who lives with you in your home. They might be a friend or family member, but they can also be someone you don’t know. 

A lodger can be a family member so what?

It does't really inform what option the OP has and what rights the lodger might have:

Your lodger will still have certain rights. This includes the right to live in the property as their home and share living space with you. You can check the rights of lodgers.

The link I offered advises:

If you're being evicted as a lodger......

As a lodger, you don’t have much protection against eviction but your landlord has to give you enough notice to move out. How much notice they need to give depends on your situation.

And the flip side of that is what the LL should do to ensure they do not encroach upon the very limited rights of the lodger. Hence my comment that to understand more about the situation you need to read more.

Interesting that the OP states:

The_Walker said:
Hello. My mother's husband has died recently and so she has inherited the entire family home. 

Not our father, I wonder what other potential, un-disclosed, complexities may lie behind that statement.

Thanks. I'm not quite sure what point you were making or what I would learn by reading further. I thought that maybe you were suggesting that the son is not a lodger, but above you talk about lodgers. Hence, I'm a bit confused as to how your post follows on from my post that you quoted. 

Olinda99

IF (and I don't know it this is true) they have exclusive occupation then it will be an AST not a lodger - even if no rent is paid. by exclusive occupation I mean they have a lockable front door and nobody else lives there.

that means the mother must comply with all the law regarding tenancy agreements and if for example she has not done gas safety certificates every year then she has been committing a criminal offence.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-4487684/amp/Can-let-property-family-member-no-rent.html

Keep_pedalling

Olinda99 said:

IF (and I don't know it this is true) they have exclusive occupation then it will be an AST not a lodger - even if no rent is paid. by exclusive occupation I mean they have a lockable front door and nobody else lives there.

that means the mother must comply with all the law regarding tenancy agreements and if for example she has not done gas safety certificates every year then she has been committing a criminal offence.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-4487684/amp/Can-let-property-family-member-no-rent.html

I don’t think they can claim to be in an AST just because one of the previous occupants has died and the other has had to move into a care home. They never had exclusive occupation prior to this. 

The OPs mother should consult a solicitor asap.

RHemmings

Olinda99 said:

IF (and I don't know it this is true) they have exclusive occupation then it will be an AST not a lodger - even if no rent is paid. by exclusive occupation I mean they have a lockable front door and nobody else lives there.

that means the mother must comply with all the law regarding tenancy agreements and if for example she has not done gas safety certificates every year then she has been committing a criminal offence.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-4487684/amp/Can-let-property-family-member-no-rent.html

It can't be an AST if the rent is less than £250 a year. If he's not a lodger, then I don't know what he is. Definitely not a squatter. 

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-agreements-a-guide-for-landlords/tenancy-types