problems with my brother

[GlasweJen]

My younger brother lets a room in a house that he shares with the home owner and his wife. He had exclusive use of his bedroom and shared use of the kitchen and bathroom, he paid £300 a month and was a good tenant. He even went for 6 months without a washing machine while the homeowner was saving money to buy a new one, he is also meticulously clean and never cooked at his home as he is a chef at a big hotel and eats at work or orders take out food after shift.

Recently a friend of the home owner was separated from his girlfriend and came to live in the house sleeping on the sofa. Last night after shift my brother returned home to find his belongings had all been removed from his bedroom, too tired after an 18 hour shift to argue with the very drunk home owner he went to sleep, leaving his things in boxes in the hall. During the night the home owner entered my brothers room and removed his bed clothes, he demanded that my brother leave the house immediately. My brother produced his contract and reminded the home owner (who was more sober at this point) that he had paid £300 only the week before for a months stay at this house. The home owner proceeded to tear up the contract in front of my brother, he was told he could stick his contract up his **** and the home owner was sick of having a "poofter" living under his roof.

My brother was most upset and called me (I live 60 odd miles away) and my older brother to work out what to do. At the moment he is living in the staff quarters of the hotel he is employed at as he can't live at home due to my sister having a contagious illness that could be a public health matter should my brother contract it and then prepare food. Most of his belongings are still at the flat but the homeowner is refusing my brother access to collect these things.

Amongst the items are a £1500 set of knives, money that he has raised for a charity but has been unable to bank so far (roughly £600 and he has invoices proving that amount is there), several boxes of clothes, items donated by Celtic Football Club and Gordon Ramsay Holdings for the charity he is raising funds for and other personal effects.

My brother wants to enter the house tomorrow to remove his belongings, the home owner is refusing access and has already told my brother that he plans to "make as much money as possible" with the items on eBay. Obviously my brother is very upset by this, i've advised informing the police but the homeowner has told the police that he is merely storing the items so the police wont intervene.

What can my brother do in these circumstances?

[MrShed]

The important thing to do here is contact the police. Explain the position, and ask them to be present in order for him to enter the property to reclaim the property. If for whatever reason this does not result in the full recovery of the property, send an LBA for the £225 rent and for the return of the property, and proceed to small claims as per normal.

Jen as you are a regular I assume you know that he has no real security of tenure as a lodger, hence why I have skipped over that bit?

[Joa]

Oh, Jen, what a bummer!
There may be no gold-plated security of tenure but a licensee is still entitled to a "reasonable" notice. It seems however that arguing points of law would not be helpful to your brother at present, but it may be of use in future, if your brother decides to claim compensation for illegal eviction (no notice and threats of violence)
The police need to be told that there will be a breach of peace if they do not attend. They may need to have it laid on thick- as the poor sods really are under pressure (I couldn't get one today for a client in domestic violence situation!).
What could work also, if coppers are reluctant, is emailing your MP.

Finally, does your brother know any well build, shaven-headed Easter Europeans to accompany him? Half kidding but that's what I did many years ago. They did not even have to speak or do anything, lol

[GlasweJen]

Yeah I already told him that he doesn't have the same sort of rights as an official tenant does so that's not an issue, he mostly wants to get his stuff back. The hotel are allowing him to stay there as long as he needs to and he's using his old set of knives from his college days until he can get hold of his good ones.

The big concern is for the charity stuff, signed football strip, football and VIP tickets to a big match as well as the stuff from GR holdings which all (technically) belongs to the charity, brother was just the intermediate while the event was being organised and only had them at home to have photos done for PR purposes by our uncle who is a photographer.

He has arranged for the police to meet him at the hotel to take a statement tomorrow, the police say that depending on what he says they will most likely send a team of cops to make sure he gets access to his stuff, so we've got my uncles van on standby.

[GlasweJen]

Well the police were none too helpful until they heard the homophobic remark from the house owner, that strung them to action (no doubt trying to avoid a discrimination case) and my brothers things are now being stored at my mums house. Big brother is looking to buy so they've decided to buy together to get a larger house and split the mortgage, they're both professionals so getting a mortgage shouldn't be a problem, they're going to look at the legalities of it all this afternoon with the family lawyer.

[Joa]

thanks God for homophobes, heh? they have their uses after all, lol
good luck to your brothers!

[MrShed]

So he managed to get the stuff back? Thats a good result. I would be attempting to claim back the rent though!!

[GlasweJen]

He's going to ask the lawyer what the chances of him getting the rent back are, i recon quite high as there is a consistent transfer into this guys account every month by my brother. For now he's happy to have all the stuff back, he was worried that the charity would see none of it which isn't fair because he works hard for them.

[MrShed]

I think it is quite high also. If the landlord agrees with his version of the events, he will definitely win it back. The problem comes when the landlord says "oh he gave notice, he left without notice" or such like...

[GlasweJen]

Well apparently the police have written in their statement that the landlord reeked of alcohol and shouted homophobic comments at the police for letting my brother collect his stuff. They helped my brother make sure all his stuff was taken including the ripped contract which was still on the bedroom floor and the police are now investigating a homophobia related assault in this incident. According to mum the guy was blind drunk this morning and actually told the police that he kicked my brother out for being gay and he didn't need my brothers money since his pal was going to pay to occupy the room. The police have all this in their hote books and my brother is to get a copy of the write up when they do it. If there's a problem I'll know where to come

[MrShed]

LOL some people are right idiots!!

[GlasweJen]

Well sometimes even idiots have their uses!

[jansus]

just wondering if the owners have a mortgage - maybe the lenders dont know they are subletting? on some mortgages you to have permission - so maybe a way of gently "threatening " them to refund the money. Glad he got his possesions back

jan

[MrShed]

They arent subletting though, it is a lodger - different kettle of fish, no mortgage company will have a problem with that.

[jansus]

ok stand corrected -