Friend evicting elderly tenant

[AppalachianWoman]

Would it change the way you felt about your friend if he evicted an elderly (70+) tenant so he could move into the house instead? The rent was paid upfront through a lifetime of agricultural labor from late childhood but the friend who recently inherited the estate feels they are owed cash payments and the property. The tenant cannot read or write and was widowed a year or two ago, has no children of his own but some step children from his marriage. The friend currently occupies another, smaller, property on the estate and was expected to move into the largest house which is very grand indeed but requires extensive renovation. He is daunted by the work and expense and has instead become fixated on the property the elderly farmhand lives in.

It feels emotionally immature of me to drop a friend over a difference in values but I am shocked that he would even consider this course of action. I don’t want to be friends with someone who acts this way, how can I exit gracefully or should I try to support him as he has supported me emotionally through decades of friendship?

The link above to shelter gives some good advice. england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/farm_workers_living_in_tied_accommodation. and lots of information on www.gov.uk/agricultural-workers-rights/agricultural-tenancies.

He should think about how this relatives wealth was built on the work of the tenants and that the law of the land confers lifetime tenancies on agricultural tenants for this very reason.

If you have any contact with the tenants step children - share the details of the government and shelter advice pages and suggest that they reach out on his behalf.

If they just wait a few years they will have the house back! It does sound immoral and also illegal. I would distance myself from someone for this, absolutely, and give them a piece of my mind about it first.

He needs legal friends and advisors - it was common place for farmworkers to be paid poorly on the promise of a lifetime cottage but at his age, he may well have been on trust rather than written contract. That said, if there are records of his pay and accommodation from tax returns etc there may be a way around it.

The fact that your friend thinks a lifetime of work makes him a "squatter", rather than accepting deferred payment in kind, says a lot about your friend and about a lot of landowners. The idea that he won't swap because his current place is too good for the labourer is shocking.

How do you feel about a "friend" who having done nothing to earn this estate and immediately goes about evicting someone who spent a lifetime working on it for their relative? I'd struggle with that frankly. Different opinions is one thing, profiteering and exploiting low paid workers after a lifetime of work puts it on another level.

wow what a wanker-it makes no odds to him does it if this man stays-hes got umpteen other properties

how greedy and heartless would you have t be to turf this man out

Get in touch with Age UK and similar charities who will be able to advocate & signpost the gentleman to help. Please let the man know asap that he isn't to sign or put an x on any document given to him by your friend or his employees. I've heard of cases where a signature/ agreement has been taken by fraudulent means.

www.gov.uk/agricultural-workers-rights/agricultural-tenancies

Because it’s almost certainly tied accommodation and the law provides for continued tenancy in retirement. It’s not free - the tenant had paid for his lifetime tenancy by working for it his entire life. He’s just as entitled to the house as he is to his old age pension.

The law was put in place precisely to prevent this sort of situation - a young owner moving in and deciding to evict all those too old to work.

Oops see this link has been posted before.

Just wanted to add that if you are currently in the US and not sure how to make contact with the tenant/his stepchildren(perhaps not even his name?) maybe give the landlady/landlord of the village pub a call? If the pubkeeper doesn’t know something about a local family, they’ll soon find out for you (via talking to their regulars).

Also: village vicar, although if it’s a very rural area they are often looking after 3 small churches nowadays so might not know many villagers beyond the congregation - the vicar will probably be willing to knock on the tenants front door and help him make contact with a local solicitor tho.

You can be vague and just say it’s just rumours about the new owner of the estate’s future plans for all his cottages/farmhouses property but you just want to ensure the elderly tenant has access to legal advice in case he needs it.

To add, try the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution- rabi.org.uk. They will help him!

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/ you can look for a solicitor specialising in this area here

Won't that house need renovating too?

That's no friend.

If he’s been there since before 1989 then he’ll have the same rights as a normal private tenancy and these rights carry into retirement. I believe the owner can only evict by provide other equivalent accommodation.

Contact shelter on his behalf and make sure he knows his rights

Sounds evil and there are many cases of a lifetime of work being disregarded. Would judge severely.

Tenant needs advice. Friend might want to realise how any agricultural neighbours will know they are evil, judge them and will probably offer less support in the community.

Yup this.

This fucker has come along and is currently taking all the inherited benefit of a lifetime's work. Oh yes, he's more than happy to do that.

He just doesn't want to fulfil the estate's side of a lifelong bargain that was struck years ago.

Wants the benefit but not the responsibilities.

He doesn’t want this old man to enjoy the mod cons? Scum

Thank you for looking out for this old man and seeking support for him. I wouldn't like your friend.

If it comes to it, I would make sure local press are informed, and the elderly worker's MP.

I think a difference in values is a very good reason to end a friendship.

Your friend thinks of the farmhand as a squatter? Does he realise why the farmhand was paid a pittance and housed on the estate?

I wouldn’t be able to keep the friendship with people who have that attitude.

Many properties on estates have a lifetime right to live in even after retirement. Is you friend sure that this tenant wasn’t granted the right to live there until he passes away? Even if the tenant doesn’t have a written legal written right doesn’t the fact that he has been doing so for so long suggest there was a verbal one. Like you I’d struggle to be friends with someone so callous; someone who could do that to an elderly person after a lifetime’s work.

I was thinking the same thing. If it was left to him by a parent, he would almost certainly have been brought up with an understanding of the responsibilities he has as a landowner and employer, and towards the wider community. If he's inherited from an uncle or something then the uncle probably didn't have the opportunity to reinforce the culture of such estates to the same extent as he would if it were his own child.

You wouldn't see the Earl of Grantham acting like this!