Evicting Family Members

[Badger07]

First post, hope somebody can help!
For the last 6 years our daughter, husband and their now 2 teenage sons have been sharing our house. Not that my wife and I stay there all year as we enjoy to get away since we've been retired so only stay there for 3/4 months during the winter, although we drop in every week to see our daughter but don't stay overnight as it's a bit of a squeeze and we've come to learn that her husband isn't one who likes to share and only tolerates us - with a smile - when we're staying there.
The problem is that my wife now suffers bad health and needs to stay at the house all year so last October (2014) we told them they need to find their own place to live.
We've always made it clear that we would ask them to move one day as there really isn't enough room for all of us.
Our daughter was fine about it but her husband wasn't too happy! Also he could have saved some money for this moment as the rent he gives us is low, but we knew he hadn't saved a penny so offered to pay their security deposit and first months rent when they found a suitable place, to a max of £2000.
Having looked at a few places they realised how expensive they are to rent and decided to use the £2000 to buy a co-ownership home! Although that wasn't what we offered them money for it made no difference to us, but when asked by my daughters husband to loan him £2500 as well as the £2000 the answer was no... so they couldn't go ahead.
They (he) then decided to wait it out until September this year so he could save some money and reapply, which for us was totally unacceptable as that would mean them sharing the house with us for over a year!!
The next plan he came up with was to give them a section 21 eviction notice so they could apply for a council house. I explained I couldn't do that as they had no tenancy agreement and could only issue a section 21 notice if they had an 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy' agreement and had paid a deposit, which they hadn't! (Husband not happy)
So the situation we're in at the moment is, our daughter is fine with us but her husband has stated to make life difficult for us without her knowledge. (Small things, won't go into detail) We don't want it to get worse or to say anything to our daughter as we don't want further friction, however they still need to move out and the only way I can see is to change the locks and evict them (is that legal?) We really don't want to do that! Are we being soft... any ideas on what we can do without causing world war 3? Thanks.

This is difficult. I'd have a sit down conversation with your daughter and outline the obvious difficulties so that she is isnt getting lead by what her husband is saying...

Then give them an end date whereby they must be out in writing.

I suppose in law they have some kind of licence but you might need a property lawyer to advise on that. They haven't got an assured shorthold so I hope that does not make them have rights to stay for life given you are not there most of the year but that may be a risk.

As I understood the law it appears they don't have many rights as they are sharing our house and we have the right to live in our own house alone without sharing it if we so wish. The problem is we don't want any upset.

Yes, particularly ify ou lived in it all the time. As they have exclusive possession for at last 7 months of the year that might be enough to make them more like tenants than lodgers as you aren't actually there. That is what would trouble be legally. However they have not suggested that and not sought legal advice so you can probably persuade them to leave without anyone turning to lawyers.

There are all kinds of really horrible laws to stop things like changing locks, turning off electricity and forcing people out (to protect tenants). However you probably can argue they are not tenants so you could certainly do something like hire a storage unit for a month, put their stuff in there one day when they are out and change the locsk in the mean time. They are not likely to speak to you again though. it is hard. All 3 of my older children moved back home after university when they went to law school etc. which was fine. At the moment one still lives here and he is basically the au pair for his brothers so hugely helpful, no conflict.

A neighbour had to buy his son a flat eventually just to get him out. It's a big issue. In fact in some cultures where I live which is 25% hindu, 60% non white etc more families than not live together mulit generationally and can be a brilliant solution to cost of living and caring for older relatives but is not for everyone.

They are either licensees or assured shorthold tenants. Either way you can serve a s21 Notice. Ideally serve it "without prejudice to our contention that you are licencees". The council will house them once you have a court order. A solicitor can sort this out for you. You may not need a court order if they are licensees.......