Have given lodger notice-but I am feeling so awkward for this notice period!

[Sukiandme]

I don't know how to 'be' with her in the house? I am pretty annoyed with her. I've only seen her once today and we didn't speak to one another. To be fair, if I do see her, for the entire time she's been here she doesn't usually address me unless there's a particular reason to.

Reasons I am annoyed with her include;

Her room is an UTTER tip. I had to go in there for a genuine reason a few weeks ago. Clothes, food wrappers, cups, plates, glasses, food, stains, mouldy things. Glasses with things growing in them (all crockery and glassware is mine) a plate used as an ashtray, It's disgusting-and I say this as quite a messy person myself.The room was furnished and she hasn't changed her bedding since moving in either.

She moved in having just got a new job. She also had a job at a local shop.
She stopped going to work a few weeks into that job and has now been sacked. She didn't tell me this.

She has been sacked from the shop for stealing repeatedly-prior to this she'd worked there for years, I know this from going in myself-this is where I met her in fact. She didn't tell me this either, I found out via the grapevine.

She has now applied for UC but is two months behind on her rent-yet I know she's been out almost every night-people have told me they've seen her buying expensive alcoholic drinks. This grates on me, although perhaps it shouldn't.

She's been stealing my food and drink and has denied it when I asked her why some bottles of wine had gone. I am not so bothered about the food, for example I went out for the day and went to get some packets of crisps and they had ALL gone-if she'd have asked me I'd have given her crisps if she wanted it, that's what is annoying.

She took a pot of my expensive face cream that I hadn't even opened yet and used it too, actually took it to her bedroom.

So, i am not feeling great about having her here. I am worried what she might take when she does leave. She's not acknowledged the notice or said anything to me about it.

Any advice at all, anything you'd do in this situation that I may not have thought of?

It says you usually have to give the same amount of notice as how often someone pays rent. The lodger pays monthly, so 28 days will be the right amount of notice.
There is an oft repeated myth on MN that you do not need to give any lodgers any notice, that you can put them out with an hours notice. This is not true.

You are wrong, lodgers do have rights. Less than a tenant, but they do have rights and one of those rights is to reasonable notice. The link posted explains this.

Given that the lodger has broken the terms of the lodging agreement - filthy, unsanitary room, stealing stuff belonging to the landlord, and not paying rent for 2 months - there are plenty of grounds for immediate eviction, and no chance of any court siding with the lodger.

I have had lodges in my house for 25 years. I know the law inside out. Despite what everybody says, lodgers have absolutely no rights whatsoever to live in your property.

the moment you tell them to leave, they have to leave.

There is no legal minimum time or Notice Period. Only what you care to give them to be a decent human being. It seems to me that you have been far too soft with this woman and now you've got yourself into a bit of a pickle. But you know she has somewhere to go, her mother's. So I suggest you change the locks, tell her she has 24 hours to get out.

Which country are you in and we can help with legal advice

@Tarquina no one would ever be a lodger if that was true. The link explains the law and what reasonable notice means.

I'm in England. Bit of conflicting information about lodgers on here and elsewhere. 25 years @Tarquina ?! I'll bet you've some tales to tell. The one I had previously was a pain! But for totally different reasons. I vowed not to have another after that but I felt for this one and figured that she'd be out at work a lot and she was nice enough. I probably have been too soft.

You can evict sooner as she has not paid rent. This gives more advice. But since you have already given her written 28 days notice, you can't shorten that without new circumstances that justify that. After all you already knew she had not paid rent.

www.lodgerguide.co.uk/evicting-a-problematic-lodger/

@Sukiandme That poster is wrong and has relied on lodgers not exercising their legal rights. It is true that anyone a bit chaotic in their life is probably not able to enforce their legal rights. But if they go to Shelter or similar they may get help to.

Thanks again all.
She's still not spoken to me, has only left her room to go to the loo once that I am aware of.

I think you need to force a conversation Op

Gauge her state of mind if you can

I will try to. I never see her so it is difficult!

Update. I've just learned (again via the grapevine) that her previous guarantor has had bailiffs turn up at his address threatening to take his car if she doesn't pay £4,000 that she owes in rent arrears and council tax arrears from her previous place.

I know him. I know he's paid her rent twice on her previous rental when she defaulted. I rang him and told him not to pay the bailiffs anything, he isn't liable for a CCJ, only the rent, literally.

But this means that bailiffs could turn up at my address before too long.What if I am not in and she lets them in and they take everything?!

The (tiny) very assertive part of me wants to tell her to get out in the next 48 hours.
But can I do that? It could come back heavily on me and I am a private landlord as well as renting her this room-I can't afford to have things on my record like that 🙁

@Sukiandme get proper advice. Presumably you have landlord insurance? That often comes with legal advice. I am surprised you did not do a credit check if you are also a professional landlord.

@Sukiandme and be aware those who post most confidently giving legal advice on MN, often appear to be the ones who least understand the law. Anyone giving advice needs to understand what kind of legal agreement you have with your lodger.

Did you sign a contract? Presumably you did? If so, and it’s a generic one you’ve downloaded, there may well be a clause in it that states after 2 months of non payment the contract ends automatically. Have a read.

Presumably if she’s got bailiffs and CCJs etc she may be too busy/chaotic to do anything official about you kicking her out, so it might be a risk you’re willing to take.

If you didn’t sign a contract, kick her out immediately and change the locks.

People are happy to give advice on here, but it depends on what your specific agreement/contract states too.

The guy who lived here years before the woman I bought from still gets collection notices. I bought in 2018 and she had it atleast a few years before that. He must have been even earlier.

I faithfully send notices back to sender but when too much red pokes through the envelope window I open them and ring the agency. Bailiffs had turned up in the past and it was very concerning, so when I see enough red, I will open the post to prevent it happening again- and the agencies are always appreciative because it then triggers them to run other traces to locate him.

At the end of the day it's her debt not yours and no collection agency wants to seize your assets. When they turned up at the door we made it clear this is not his residence and they go away. As it was my partner who is male and a likely a similar age answering (potentially like you and your lodger), he showed them ID (they waited outside) so they knew he wasn't the guy. They can't come in if you don't let them. Even in her room the furniture is yours.

Despite this idiots inability to update his records with DVLA or pay his never ending parking tickets, all the collections have had no effect on our credit which is stellar.

Hope she's gone soon so you've gone one less thing to worry about. My advice still stands when she's gone though because her legacy will probably linger a while, unfortunately.

As she is a lodger and not a tenant, and as she hasn't paid rent, you MAY be able to evict her without notice.

Check the Shelter and .Gov websites.

However, at this point I would invest in half an hour's lawyer time. For peace of mind if nothing else.

Thank you.

I should have done. I always do for my BTLs. I just trusted others who'd said it would be okay and I wanted to help her. As I said above, more fool me!It won't be happening again.

I did sign a contract. I will read it again-downloaded from the NRLA. I was worried about that (her not acknowledging things) so I sent her notice digitally as well as a hard copy.

Thank you all. And that sounds like a nightmare @PassThePeaceAndQuiet ! I am going to get the bailiff's number as soon as I can and ring them.

She's in her late twenties and I am early forties-not sure they might mistake me for her but not impossible.