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?

Appalling behaviour by your (now very wealthy )friend.

If that was my friend of many years l would be telling him exactly whay l thought and then getting the elderly man some legal support as he does have rights to stay and they are robust.

In principle, this is wrong.

Legally, it may be wrong also.

You need legal advice.

The CAB might be a good (free) place to start.

When tenants are in tithed cottages, I'd have thought it was usual to re-home them on the estate, when they can no longer work, for a peppercorn rent.

If there was another agreement that he had to vacate the home once he no longer worked, that ought to have been made clear in a legal contract at the start of his employment.

I couldn’t be friends with someone like this.

If you are in Appalachia, what I was going to post may not help. I'll post more when I have read this very long thread. Over here, the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers would have been the place to aim for, thought they are now merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union (Agricultural Section) at 308 Gray's Inn Road, London.

This behaviour is not new. Both sides of my family have been affected by verbal promises for lifetime occupation of homes which have turned out not to be worth the breath they were uttered with. Stories later - did turn out OK but not through lega constraints on the LLs.

OP, in addition to contacting local media, vicar and assorted charities, you could also contact local Social Services and advise them you believe the old gentleman is a vulnernable adult.

Your 'friend' needs to be outed for the despicable horror of a person he is.

this is awful! I couldn’t condone this behaviour. Poor, poor man.

Dreadful.
Really heartless. I couldn't do it.

That's what I meant. He won't know any better and will be at risk of eviction.

If there was another agreement that he had to vacate the home once he no longer worked, that ought to have been made clear in a legal contract at the start of his employment

This is the sort of thing I was wondering about, but since OP said the man can't read or write, the situation's a non-standard one and anyway it was all a long time ago it's likely to get complicated

All of which is why proper advice is needed, rather than just indulging in name calling and mudslinging

Seconding this suggestion! I was scrolling through in hope that RABI had been suggested. They are an excellent organisation who can provide financial, legal and emotional support and advice to the elderly farm worker.

The reason, BTW, that the Agricultural Workers formed their own union ws because the NFU was set up to support the farmers, not their workers. Very much not their workers. They may have changed, of course, but I would not assume that they will not be advising your friend on how to get access to his property, especially if he has been describing it as beiung squatted.
IANAL and my knowledge here may be out of date and maligning the NFU.

maybe he will let the smaller property to the tenant?

Inheritance of an estate /multiple properties can be a double edged sword; the larger run down property is a financial liability, he still has to pay council tax on it, insure it (not cheap for a vacant property) protect an empty tempting property from intruders and keep it weathertight. Plus other estate expenses on landowners (maintaining fencing and waterways, road maintenance)

You don't know the financial ins and outs of running the estate so best not to judge. Landlords are not a social charity.

As for the illiteracy point; I taught basic literacy to adults for years and one of the most surprising things I learned from my clients, was that anyone who'se spent a working life unable to read and write has almost invariably developed a number of highly effective skills to compensate. Don't write them off as weak; they tend to be exceptionally smart, capable and competent in other ways.

Just because someone's made poor lifestyle choices doesn't mean they should cause someone else hardship (or live in anther person's property for free).

Your friend probably can't afford to do up the big house.

Evil.

THIS! @AppalachianWoman I know a woman in her Seventies who lives in a Garden flat of a Georgian property in an expensive area.
She is a ''Sitting tenant'' and various landlords who bought the house cheaply because she was in the basement have tried to get her out , but cannot.

I hope the Tenant farmworker is allowed to stay where he is.
Your friend sounds incredibly entitled and unkind to be even contemplating this.

As for the illiteracy point; I taught basic literacy to adults for years and one of the most surprising things I learned from my clients, was that anyone who'se spent a working life unable to read and write has almost invariably developed a number of highly effective skills to compensate. Don't write them off as weak; they tend to be exceptionally smart, capable and competent in other ways.

Absolutely so!
I offered to help an adult from Travelling community to be able to read, and he said ''I've lived 55 yrs without being able to read, I don't need it now!''

Legally it may be possible.

Morally, there will be a special place in hell prepared for him if he does evict.

What a shit thing to say.

It's hard to believe that people this callous actually exist.

It sounds like something from Tess of the D'Urbervilles, where an older and likely impoverished worker is turned out of his home by a wicked landowner.

Definitely one for the Guardian or even Daily Mail to pick up on.

That's an appallingly awful way to behave. I hope the tenant is able to get legal support if your "friend" does decide to pursue this.

The land agent and other friends are all for it.
Then they are all cut from the same cloth. Aka cunts.
Honestly, how people behave makes me despair, and no I wouldn't class this as a difference in values. I would completely drop this arsehole from my life, regardless of our history, and tell them why.

This! Absolute cunts...😡😡😡

This is revolting. I really hope you are able to find a way of getting the tenant some support, pps idea of contacting the local pub landlord or vicar is a good one as is contacting the NFU

I think they are in the US and things are done differently there. The inherited estate is in the UK. At least that is my understanding of it.

The Crawley's would never have evicted him without rehousing him.

Yes! Although given the time of year I also thought “cartoonishly evil villain in a Hallmark holiday film”.

I'm actually going to go against the grain here but why would the employee believe that he could live forever in a home he pays nothing for? Was there a spoken agreement or contract with the deceased? Was the £60 per week an official wage? Was the accommodation part of his contract while he was working (assuming that he no longer works?).

Your friend inherited an estate and lives in a smaller house than the farmhand. While it would be fabulous if he could afford for the farmhand to continue to live rent free in the 4 bed house on the estate which your friend now owns, it doesn't sound like your friend is in a position to afford that. Ok, he could wait in the 3 bed home with his wife until the grand house is ready, or he could swap with the farmhand?

I would love to be able to claim squatters rights on a property. Because the elderly man is illiterate, it doesn't necessarily follow that he's stupid.

I agree that inheritance can often be a double-edged sword.

The OP hasn't been back since page 3 though, so I doubt she/he cares to reply or read opinions further. I also doubt that this is a 'friend'. I suspect the OP is related to the farmhand just my opinion