Help needed to evict lodger

[mistymoon7]

Slightly complicated situation, so I'll try to keep it brief! I'm trying to evict a lodger from my mum's house on behalf of her (I have power of attorney). My mum has dementia and is currently in a respite care home after being discharged from hospital. She wants to come home, but she now needs 24hr care and my sister and I want to arrange a live in carer for her. Only problem is there is a lodger living in the room needed for the live in carer! We gave the lodger a month's notice five weeks ago. She's saying she has nowhere to go and basically refuses to leave. She's also stopped paying rent and when I looked into it I found out she's missed 13 rent payments since she moved in in 2020.
I know that lodgers don't have many rights and I've been advised by the citizens advice bureau to change the locks when she's out. The only trouble is, I don't live in the house so I don't know when she's out! Also she's currently unemployed so is basically at home most of the time.
Does anyone know of anything else I can do? Would I need to apply for a court order? How long would it take to get her out using that route?
TIA for any help

Oh heck. No advice but I am sorry you are dealing with this.

If you have POA you can get the locks changed, whether or not the lodger is there or not.

Does the lodgers room have its own lock?

Can you take any time off?

Honestly I would go there and stake it out. Assume you have keys. Wait until she goes to the shop and simply lock her out. Refuse entry and bag up her stuff.

Or go there with some big friends, plonk yourself on the sofa while they take her bedroom door off its hinges…While you provide her with a list of missed rent payments and tell her you’ll be taking her to court for them.

A court order will take forever.

You have to go round there

Or go there with some big friends, plonk yourself on the sofa while they take her bedroom door off its hinges

That isn't a bad idea! Say the house needs modifying to accommodate disabled access etc and she has overstayed her eviction time.

Have a look at Shelter's website and see what rights your DM (or you as her representative) have as a landlord. It's not just there to help tenants and lodgers.

Lodgers have very limited rights. She is on what is called an excluded license. If you have given her formal written notice, then you can just lock her out. She is now a trespasser. Notice can be as little as 48 hours.

Firstly you could inform her that if she has not left by xx, date then you will issue proceedings, but are willing to waive rent arrears if she leaves without further ado.

You could try phoning the police explain the situation re your mum, and ask them to attend as you are going to throw her out and, want to avoid a breach of the peace.

Reasonable force is allowed, but I would avoid that.

Change the locks, it is your only option. Court process takes many months and costs a lot.

You don't need a court order and as a lodger she has no rights to remain in the property at all. As suggested, change the locks.

I would give her an ultimate "Move out date" and tell her that on that date you will be changing the locks. So she will be unable to access the building and her stuff if she isnt out by then. Maybe choose 7 days from now. And then on that day do as you've said you will.

If shes in the property when you arrive with the locksmith.......... well that will make things more tricky. If that turns out to be the situation Id get the locksmith/yourself/someone useful to remove her bedroom door. And then potentially........ start "helping" her to bag up her stuff and leave on the doorstep.
Ideally you obviously want to avoid a confrontation but you might have to if she continues to refuse to budge.

I think I would go over and change the locks irrelevant if she is in or not the CF taking advantage of your Mum.

She's a lodger, not a tenant. She does not have tenancy rights. Go and stake out the property, lock her out and get the locks changed. Even if you have to use an emergency locksmith. If you give her advance notice she'll likely trash the place before she goes. If she's not doing that already..

Arrange to meet the lodger at a coffee shop or pub to discuss the situation on “neutral territory”. Wait til they leave the property to meet you, and then change the locks.

Did you get her out OP?

What happened in the end?

Is she renting a room or the whole house?
If a room then just move her stuff out and change the locks. Tell her she has to go. No ifs or buts.

We put the pressure on, threatened legal action and she left not too long after my original post, what a relief! Thank you so much for all your advice 😊

Thanks for the update OP. I'm sorry about your mum, but hopefully with the lodger out, she can get the care and support she needs x

@mistymoon7 great