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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Unwanted guest.

452 replies

melissa2929291936 · 02/04/2023 22:22

My work sent me abroad for six months.I arranged to rent our home out to a "friend".She only paid two months rent but I let it slide until we returned.When we did come home,she refused to leave the house.The police said there was nothing they could do so myself,husband and two small children had to camp out at my mothers thirty miles away.After six weeks of this,and having tried every legal avenue,I went to our home after "friend"had left for work.I still had my keys so I entered and turned the water off at the stopcock.The stopcock is in a weird place,not where you'd expect,so I was pretty sure she didn't know its location.I then cancelled the broadband for the address.That night she had the nerve to phone me complaining.She said she had an infant,a toddler and no water.I informed her she could go to her own mother (who lived in the same street.)but the rental time in our written contract had passed and she hadn't even paid me for most of it.Cue tears,threats etc but,because I knew she had somewhere to go,I held my ground.Went round next day and she'd gone,although the place was trashed.I had the locks changed,cleared up and moved back in.Now she's bad mouthing me all over,saying I threw out a mother with young children.Her main gripe though seems to be the lack of broadband rather than water! I genuinely don't think i was in the wrong "throwing her out"_I knew she wouldn't be on the street.

OP posts:
loislovesstewie · 03/04/2023 17:06

No one knows because a court hasn't had the opportunity to consider evidence.

SupplyIsLimited · 03/04/2023 17:07

It may not have been legal, but it's nice to read about CFs getting their comeuppance every once in a while.

Non-payment of the rent was the least of the trouble. After refusing to leave your home after the agreed date, she deserved what she got. Morally, if not legally. 🙄

Good luck for the future, OP. I hope you won't be renting out your home again...

Thistooshallpsss · 03/04/2023 17:15

The older I become the more I realise that the law imperfect as it often is is the only protection the weak and poor have against the wealthy and powerful. Those trashing landlord and tenant law would do well to reflect on how all our lives would be if personal direct action and effective lawlessness became the norm across society.

IAmInMeHoop · 03/04/2023 17:24

What OP did was completely outrageous and I hope she gets a massive fine.

Beautiful3 · 03/04/2023 17:51

You ought to say she was a temporary lodger, for a fixed 6 months only. As it was your main residence and she occupied a room. They have less rights than renters.

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 17:54

PrincessofWellies · 03/04/2023 16:02

Yes. Do you? You think it's OK to break the law, to illegally evict a woman and two children from their home? To enter their property and turn off water to force them to leave?

It's dreadful and so are the attitudes on here. If Op didn't want to risk non payment of rent she shouldn't have rented the property out. In doing so she accepted that risk. It really is that simple. Landlords cannot behave like this in 2023.

It's the OPs home. Hope that helps.

IAmInMeHoop · 03/04/2023 17:55

Beautiful3 · 03/04/2023 17:51

You ought to say she was a temporary lodger, for a fixed 6 months only. As it was your main residence and she occupied a room. They have less rights than renters.

That would be a complete and utter lie though and quite easily disproved.

Idiotic advice.

Crumpleton · 03/04/2023 17:55

OP hasn't said whether it was a friends agreement or written tenancy.

But it really doesn't matter as a tenant can stop paying rent once they move in and you'll have what could become a terrible long drawn out, and what can be stressful job of getting them out and end up thousands of pounds in debt through lack of rent and any damage caused.

Right or wrongly maybe OP knew that these agreements are one sided and she did what she had to do for her family.

IAmInMeHoop · 03/04/2023 17:56

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 17:54

It's the OPs home. Hope that helps.

Show quote history

No. It's the OP's HOUSE. When she rented it to someone else, it became their HOME.

MaireadMcSweeney · 03/04/2023 17:56

Beautiful3 · 03/04/2023 17:51

You ought to say she was a temporary lodger, for a fixed 6 months only. As it was your main residence and she occupied a room. They have less rights than renters.

You can't just say something is so and have it be so. She wasn't a lodger, she had sole occupancy.

MaireadMcSweeney · 03/04/2023 17:57

Crumpleton · 03/04/2023 17:55

OP hasn't said whether it was a friends agreement or written tenancy.

But it really doesn't matter as a tenant can stop paying rent once they move in and you'll have what could become a terrible long drawn out, and what can be stressful job of getting them out and end up thousands of pounds in debt through lack of rent and any damage caused.

Right or wrongly maybe OP knew that these agreements are one sided and she did what she had to do for her family.

As soon as she collected rent it became a tenancy whether written down or not.

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 18:01

@IAmInMeHoop not when she's wasn't paying for it.

bigdecisionstomake · 03/04/2023 18:05

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 18:01

@IAmInMeHoop not when she's wasn't paying for it.

Ha ha, if only it were that simple.....

Crumpleton · 03/04/2023 18:07

MaireadMcSweeney · 03/04/2023 17:57

As soon as she collected rent it became a tenancy whether written down or not.

Show quote history

I've no doubt it does.

But non payment of rent should mean the tenant has broken their tenancy side of the agreement and should have no right to stay in the property.

These agreements really should work to benefit both parties.

MaireadMcSweeney · 03/04/2023 18:08

Crumpleton · 03/04/2023 18:07

I've no doubt it does.

But non payment of rent should mean the tenant has broken their tenancy side of the agreement and should have no right to stay in the property.

These agreements really should work to benefit both parties.

Show quote history

But That's not the law as it stands! You can't just say something should be the law if it's not...

SmileyPaella · 03/04/2023 18:14

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 18:01

@IAmInMeHoop not when she's wasn't paying for it.

Exactly!

And left the OP without a HOME. How is that fair??

loislovesstewie · 03/04/2023 18:17

If the OP had taken advice prior to renting her properly she would have been aware of the necessity to issue a correct notice and obtain a PO prior to being able to move back into the property. She clearly chose not to. Even a quick Google would have given her the information.

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 18:19

@SmileyPaella some common sense ...at last 😂

hattie43 · 03/04/2023 18:37

I hate freeloaders like her , glad you
got her out OP

IAmInMeHoop · 03/04/2023 19:06

AlwaysGinPlease · 03/04/2023 18:01

@IAmInMeHoop not when she's wasn't paying for it.

yes, even then.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 03/04/2023 19:11

Yes. Do you? You think it's OK to break the law, to illegally evict a woman and two children from their home? To enter their property and turn off water to force them to leave?

I think it's very much not OK to agree with somebody that they would have a home - their home that they actually own - by a certain time, and then to renege on that and deliberately leave them homeless.

At the least, I think there should be distinctions in law between commercial/professional landlords and accidental landlords. If we're talking about people like Fergus and Judith Wilson, with their alleged reputation for not being the most 'sympathetic' landlords, shall we say, to their tenants in their one-time 1,000 properties, then those tenants do need as much protection as the law can possibly give them, whatever their circumstances; but this is clearly based on an assumption of a power imbalance.

In OP's case, if she hadn't gone in and turned off the water, the freeloader would probably never have left - deliberately leaving OP's family in far worse circumstances than her own family, however much she whinged with self-pity.

Incidentally, I'm finding it quite amusing how people are focusing on the broadband (OP also says that the frenemy seemed even more bothered about the broadband than the water) - I'm amazed that I'm still actually alive today, considering the wanton inability to provide me with this life-or-death utility by my landlords in the 90s!

Crumpleton · 03/04/2023 19:16

MaireadMcSweeney · 03/04/2023 18:08

But That's not the law as it stands! You can't just say something should be the law if it's not...

Show quote history

Maybe landlords need to be campaigning to get a change in the law so that a contract between the two is legally binding, instead of the shambles it is, and they don't have to put up with CF freeloaders who stop paying their way and expect you to be grateful towards them that they've left the LL.out of pocket.

Rosula · 03/04/2023 19:17

Interesting that OP hasn't come back. It would be interesting to know what legal advice she got, or indeed if she actually sought advice at all.

It's daft to take a risk with this sort of thing. The chances of a pissed-off tenant going to somewhere like Shelter and learning all about their rights are really very high, and you will then be in a whole world of expensive trouble.

BadNomad · 03/04/2023 19:22

At the least, I think there should be distinctions in law between commercial/professional landlords and accidental landlords.

The OP wasn't an accidental landlord, though. She was only going to be away for 6 months. She didn't need to rent her house out in that time. She could have paid for a sitter, friend or family member to pop in once a week/month to check on the place. But instead she thought she'd rent it out on the sly, without following the proper guidelines, to make a bit of money. A decision which came back to bite her on the ass.

loislovesstewie · 03/04/2023 19:24

Jesus Christ, you know reading the responses on here I really have reached the end of my tether. No one forced the owner to rent her property, she could have chosen to leave it empty. Instead she chose to become a landlord. She should therefore have checked what the legal requirements were prior to letting the property and how to end the tenancy. Once she became a landlord she should behave in a professional manner, no matter what the tenant did, and take appropriate legal action when or if required . It's as simple and basic as that. If people reading this don't understand the law of landlord and tenant then don't become landlords. It really is appalling that you are applauding a landlord who, may, have illegally evicted a tenant. Not liking a law is not a defence. Maybe we should all choose which bits of legislation we think are stupid and just ignore them? Are you OK with that?