UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

A fantastic forum and group here! Hoping you can help.

My Mother and Father-in-law moved into a property owned by my wife approx 9 years ago, to allow them to sell their own property and free up cash for their later years.

The informal and verbal agreement was such that they would pay a rent to my wife on a monthly basis, which would cover the mortgage payments - circa £1250. At the same time, my in-laws grand-daughter was living with them (~13 years of age) as her Mother was in the States (Long Story).

Approx 6 years ago, my wife's sister (circa 50 years of age) returned to the UK after a long period of living in the US. My in-laws agreed that she could stay for a few months with her daughter until she got herself sorted. 6 years later she is still there and in the meantime she has not contributed a penny to the living costs. After lots of avoidance and tantrums she now says that is now justified as she has been looking after her parents, even though they did not want that care.

My Father-in-law passed away 18 months ago, so it is just my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law living in the property. The granddaughter is currently away at University but will undoubtedly return when she has finished next year.

Our concern is that when my Mother-in-law passes away we do not want a sticky and unpleasant situation with the Sister. We expect that she will not wish to pay a penny rent to us and to be honest we would not want her as a Tenant as we are sure she would feel and tells us that she is entitled to live there with her daughter.

Our concerns are:
1) We don't have a written agreement in place with anyone. Should we get one / do we need one or is there an implied agreement with the parents when they were both alive?
2) We are concerned that the sister may have succession rights to the implied agreement?
3) or.....would implied succession rights have already been used up when the father died?
4) Would be able to evict the sister once the Mother dies - hopefully it would not reach this stage, but knowing the sister she will drive her own agenda and expect everyone else to pay for it.

We are not clear on the best way forward to protect ourselves. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
SL

The potential death does make things complicated, but I would get your mother and father in law to sign a tenancy agreement. Best recommendation would be to go and talk to a property lawyer about how the situation can be addressed.

TOM father in law has passed away already! Bit difficult to get him to sign one?

Could you get mother in law and sis in law to sign a joint tenancy agreement?  If sis in law refuses just get one with mother in law and then once mother in law passes, sis in law has no rights?

FL

In the end it sounds like you had a verbal contract with your mother in law and father. You should never have let another person live there! That person went way beyond being a guest and became a tenant ... Does the sister in law pay rent? you mentioned living costs but not rent?

In the end you need your mother in law to kick her out. That is probably the easiest way.
But this is so complex, go and see a property lawyer!! Could save you a lot of a hassle and money further down the line.