Evicting wife of tenant not on the agreement

Evicting wife of tenant not on the agreement

8:34 AM, 5th June 2018, About 7 years ago 25

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How do we go about evicting a “tenant” who was not on the Tenancy Agreement?

Our original tenancy agreement was made with the husband (he is married and lived with his wife there and has a son, now aged 13 also in the house), but his wife was not on the original tenancy agreement, only the husband was.

The husband moved in March 2009. The wife was never formally on the Tenancy Agreement as amongst other things, her English is very poor (his was not much better). The Tenancy was renewed with him in January 2015 and so has become a periodic tenancy now.

He gave us written notice informing us they were moving out on 20th May 2018. He then moved out, but it appears they have split up as she has stayed put and is now in arrears.

Can anyone advise on what procedure we are to follow? If she was never on the tenancy agreement at any point what exactly can we/should we be doing?

Many thanks

Ivan


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Kate Mellor

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15:58 PM, 5th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Trevor I don’t agree & neither did the RLA trainer at the Gaining Possession course I attended last month. She covered this specific case study as it’s such a common occurrence.
If she’s not on the Lease she’s NOT a tenant. She’s the tenants Licensee. A person living somewhere under license simply means they have permission to live there, which can be withdrawn at any time by the licensor. Doesn’t matter whether they’re, wife, lodger, or Airbnb-er.
As you rightly suggested a new tenancy CAN be created where the old one has ended by permitting someone to carry on living there unchallenged and accepting rent. A written tenancy agreement sets out the terms of the tenancy strictly & trumps everything else. Only once the written tenancy ends can an unwritten one commence.
In this position I would do either as Luke P suggests (there won’t be a challenge), or take advice as to whether I could just apply for possession immediately as I mentioned before.

bean

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17:36 PM, 5th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Kate i do not believe that you have got the gist of what i am saying. You have misunderstood my explanation.

A set of circumstances not that unusual have produced the most complex responses.
I will just leave it there.

moneymanager

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10:40 AM, 7th June 2018, About 7 years ago

"but his wife was not on the original tenancy agreement, only the husband was."

Does the poster mean she wasn't named at all i.e. ignored or was she noted as a permitted occupier?

Surrey Landlord

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13:38 PM, 7th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by at 07/06/2018 - 10:40
She was never named on the tenancy agreement

Kate Mellor

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15:02 PM, 7th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by trevor white at 05/06/2018 - 17:36
I think you were fairly clear in your explanation, I just don’t agree that your reasoning makes the wife a tenant in the eyes of the law and as such any notice should be served on the named tenant only, but we will just have to agree to disagree on that one. No hard feelings on my part & no offence intended. We are all here to offer our advice and the benefit of our experience as we see it in good faith. We won’t always agree & that’s okay. 👍🏽

bean

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23:52 PM, 7th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Kate, absolutely no offence has been taken. The whole point of this forum is to help others with knowledge and experience that one may have or gained as a Landlord.
The course you attended should of advised you of the following particularly as it relates to married couples:

1. Definition of the Matrimonial home (a family were in occupation and the marriage subsists)
2. Home rights
3. Street v Mountford (H of L).
4. Definition of a tenancy
5. Family Housing Ass v Jones (1990)
6. Matrimonial Law taking precedence over LTA.

All of the above is very relevant to the problem posed.
The law is not interested in labels, but the substance of a situation. If you call a tenancy a licence, it is still a tenancy.
If the occupier has exclusive possession, i.e., no other person, including the landlord has no regular access to their space, then it is a tenancy.
It is a total fallacy that if you are not named on a written tenancy then you cannot be a tenant. There is no legal requirement for a tenancy to be in writing. You cannot "hide" a tenant by merely not noting them on a tenancy agreement and then deny them their rights.
If only the law were so easy!

Michael Barnes

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23:59 PM, 8th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by trevor white at 07/06/2018 - 23:52
But if the wife was a tenant under the tenancy granted to the husband, then it was a joint tenancy, and notice from the husband ended the tenancy for all, and the wife is "holding over".

If that is the case, then double rent applies under Distress for Rent Act.

Mandy Thomson

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8:58 AM, 9th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Kate Mellor is spot on. Further, if you have to do the eviction yourself, to make a standard eviction claim, you need to complete forms N119 and N5 (NOT N5B which is for accelerated possession only) and pay a £355 court fee. If you join one of the three main landlords associations you can get further guidance on this, including advice on filling in the forms.

bean

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12:17 PM, 9th June 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Michael Barnes at 08/06/2018 - 23:59
I agree with all you say. A joint tenancy would be ended by one of the tenants serving valid notice.

I am not too sure that the facts of the tenancy was that the husband moved out in 2009 then as stated the wife was not formally on the tenancy agreement (language issue etc).

Alternatively see below.
There was a renewal in 2015.
The husband gave written notice in 2018 and then moved out.

Michael how do you read the facts as regards the husband moving out?

Kate Mellor

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17:23 PM, 9th June 2018, About 7 years ago

The Husband signed the tenancy agreement & moved into the property in March 2009, tenancy was renewed Jan 2015 & notice to quit expired 20 March 2018. The wife was never in sole occupation until the last few weeks.
Also just to clarify, a license is not a tenancy and isn’t an estate in land, it doesn’t give you any rights whatsoever. You effectively have the same rights as a guest.
I can recommend a really excellent resource book which covers all the legal aspects of tenancy to anyone who’s interested. It’s call ‘A Practical Approach to Landlord and Tenant’, Eighth Edition, by Simon Garner & Alexandra Frith. Published by Oxford. Make sure it’s the most recent edition (8th) which covers all the Deregulation Act changes.

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