Elderly parents non paying tenant.

[citychick]

My parents have a small flat they rent out. One family has lived there for 14 years. No issues at all. Son moved out, she divorced her husband and now lives alone in the flat. She has not paid rent since Feb 2024. Her son brings her food parcels. She has no job and will not apply for any benefits. Will not return to her homeland. Despite her mother pleading. Her son is upset and has asked her to live with him. She refuses. Local community mental health team were called. She turned them away. She sits in the dark all day. She does go out, apparently.

My parents are following legal guidelines for eviction. However, the stress of this situation is pushing them over the edge. I have stayed out of it, but continue to call and discuss, offer up potential solutions. I feel her ex-husband, who brought her to the UK, should step up. He's just flaked off but remains in the city.

This lady is not yet 50. She won't budge. My parents are falling apart over this. Their retirement nest egg has disappeared for now.

My question is, how can I support my parents. The stress is awful, and it's affecting our whole family.

They are in Scotland, so eviction is a lengthy process.
Thanks for reading.

Who is named on the tenancy? Was it transferred to her sole name?

It's in her name. Her ex transferred it. She had a job at the time but stopped working at some point.

Can you not get a power of attorney for finance and act on their behalf to evaluate the burden for them

My question is, how can I support my parents

-Take them out for lunch, afternoon and just spend time with them
-Plan something in the future and ideally don't discuss the tenant
-Would you want to deal with the solicitors/eviction people instead of them? Would they be willing to make you a power of attorney and deal with it rather than them?

I am not in the same city, and they keep in contact with her every 2 weeks. I couldn't do that. I could ask re power of attorney. They might consider it, both and very alert and able. They're just very tired.

So she has no income and pays no rent? How are the bills being paid?
I wonder about getting social services involved on the grounds of her vulnerability- no-one should be living on such circumstances and your parents should not be bearing this burden.
I wonder if Shelter could advise you?
Sorry to read about this @citychick and you are right to advocate for your parents but it seems to me that the tenant is ill, and not coping, and a solution needs to be found that helps her too.
Ring Shelter? And local social services?
Best of luck.

I need to go out for a couple of hours, I'll respond later. Appreciate your replies.

If your parents are pursuing eviction then this person becomes a vulnerable adult and as such you can refer her to SSD and ask them to do an assessment as she has mental health problems. They can help her apply for housing benefits in order to pay the rent to your parents. Getting in the door will be the problem for the SWs - but that is their problem.

Quite simply, she needs to be evicted. She can't just dig her heels in and do nothing to help herself. Does she think she won't get benefits , because not even putting in a claim makes no sense. I'm wondering if she has no recourse to public funds and has never regularised her immigration status.
Whatever, your parents need to crack on and serve notice and then get a PO.

@citychick In scotland, if your parents have sent a section 11 to the council informing them of the pending eviction and sent the relevant document to the tribunal, all they can do is wait till tribunal send the docs to sheriff officer to be served. they will then send the docs to your parents with the certificate of execution. after the appropriate time they can be evicted by sheriff officers, (they are the only ones allowed to evict in scotland. after she is evicted, your parents can pursue the debt but sometimes it is throwing good money after bad if tenant has nothing and does not work. your parents need to sit back until docs are done. you can tell them not to stress about it all and not to contact the tenant at all.

Are they using a specialist eviction service? Or trying to do this themselves, perhaps with a general solicitor?
I would strongly recommend they use a specialist. They might think it is yet more money, but every month without rent is costing them, & this should take a lot of the stress.

Your poor parents what a shame. Hope it’s sorted soon for them.

Do they not have rental guarantee insurance?

The only thing they can so is wait for the legal process to take its course.

they keep in contact with her every 2 weeks

I'm not sure why? I don't know what the eviction process is in Scotland, but does it require such regular contact with the tenant?

I agree with @PineappleCoconut they need to let a professional handle this for them; eviction needs to be done very careful to comply with all the regulations, and it would remove a huge amount of stress from them.

It's clear the tenant is not going to move until she is forced to, at which point her family will presumably intervene. It sounds as if they're also helpless whilst she has somewhere else to live.

You have my sympathies, it sounds awful. They just have to go through it until the process completes.

I sincerely hope they learn their lesson and sell the property once the eviction process has been completed.

The tenancy agreement will have a clause about payment, she can be evicted for non payment, can her son pay until it's all sorted. Was the transfer to her name done legally. Who is paying the bills. If her son is so worried he needs to call the mh team and have her urgently assessed and possibly would the police get involved if she's vulnerable.

They don’t need to sell they just need to get rent guarantee insurance if they don’t have it.

When is she due to leave, assuming they have served the appropriate notice. There is no point them ringing her if it is going through legal channels. Why has their nest egg disappeared as presumably there was no mortgage to pay from rental income. Will they rent it again or sell?

Or they could just get insurance?

Hello, and thanks to those who responded.
She has no income and pays no bills. Her son delivers food.
Until recently, her son just thought that she was short on food money. He had no idea she had no job. She will not find one. She worked as a dental hygienist. My parents said they could help her find a new position. She refused.
Many services have been called. Mental health, social. She will not engage, speak, or answer the door.
Yes, she's clearly vulnerable but has family who desperately want her back with them. She won't go.
All her paperwork seems to be in order. This has been checked.

Yes a solicitor and the sheriff's officers are all aware , have paperwork etc.
My parents will not chase for arrears. It's pointless. They just want her safety away. They are good and kindly landlords.
I would assume they have insurance.
They visit every 2 weeks because they need to keep communication lines open and as cordial as they can. They also need to check the flat for heating etc. It's getting cold in Scotland and if the heating is not on, pipes will burst and thus affect other flats in the building. Her behaviour is far reaching and no, they will not sell.

It's a very sad experience for all concerned.

City x

Shelter do not assist landlords so I would not suggest calling them. However if the process for eviction has been started hopefully they have a solicitor dealing with it. Or ring the local authority private housing sector if you want independent advice.

Shelter have not been contacted.
We did think that asking her priest to talk with her might help. She has a large Virgin Mary ornament in the living room. We decided that would not help.

I'd be concerned that contact with the tenant every 2 weeks, contacting social services, her family, her ex husband & considering contacting her priest are all veering towards a claim of harassment territory.

For whatever reasons their tenant isn't paying. Her reasons really aren't their concern if it isn't related directly to the property, eg a disrepair claim.

All they should be doing is waiting for the legal process to come to a conclusion.

No one is harassing anyone. Her family are the ones who have contacted services. The law is being followed.

I know it's frustrating but I would not be contacting her 2 weekly, sorry that could very easily be construed as harassment in housing cases in England /Wales. I have no knowledge of Scottish law so unsure if they have a different definition. Your question though was how to support your parents through this and it would seem you are doing that be keeping in touch and offering to help them. If no rent paid since February they must be almost through the process now. So hopefully their ordeal and the tenants will be over soon , she sounds very frightened and if the authorities in Scotland are like over the border she will have been advised to stay out until she has to vacate . Good luck with everything