UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hey Guys,

Seem like this is a helpful forum! Hoping you guys can advise...

Basically, my mum, being nice (it was close to Christmas and he has a kid) - allowed a gentleman to move into her home before he signed a contract and paid a deposit (he also hasn't paid his first months rent). She delivered a contract to him, but it was never signed.

Over the past few months he keeps saying there are faults in the house etc - when mum requests access to view the faults to see what needs fixing/how they need fixing, he refuses and keeps threatening her with environmental health and legal action if she doesn't just 'get it sorted'. Obviously she is reluctant to just hand over money or pay for people to go round as she doesn't have that kind of spare income.

We also still have belongings in the flat, we have requested many times for access (completely at his discretion) and he has refused and he has also changed the locks. We believe he may have damaged or disposed of some of these goods. He has not given her access to the property in over a year.

The tenant in question only ever contacts her late at night and his texts can be quite threatening at times.

What is her rights in this case? She is also trying to sell the house, and we believe he may be attempting to put off potential buyers as well. There are also numerous other things going on with him, but the above situation is our biggest concern.

If anyone can offer some advice as to what she can do, I would be very greatful!

Most ASTs do have a clause in there that says the Landlord has the right to enter the property if they give appropriate notice, except in terms of an emergency when they can enter immediately... think flooding or gas leak, I expect.

Now, it sounds like there's no contract signed in this case... so that might make things tricky, but if the AST has something like that contained within, you would think it appropriate to follow that course, considering that the AST should have been signed just as (or slightly before) the Tenants were given the keys and allowed into the property.

Is this something you've investigated just to get the access that you want?

Following-on from that, I would already be looking for [the right] ways to evict this non-paying, threatening, non-signing Tenant... but that might be a question you get to later. And, finally, don't let your mum do this again... no money, no signature, no keys.

Absolutely finally... you say "her home"... but I'm assuming you mean her previous house that she is now letting out? Obviously not that your mum and this guy and his kids are all under one roof?

Her home = the house she is letting out, not her current home. She doesn't live there.

I think she has definitely learnt her lesson from this guy! If I had known about it before this all happened, I would have discouraged her against proceeding until she had all those things in place. She is a little bit more trusting than I am...Unfortunately its backfired on her a wee bit!

I will get mum to send me a copy of the AST she issued and find out what she put in it in regards to accessing the house and get back to you

Thanks