Sub letting ???

[donbracho]

Hello everyone right my mate has a serious serious problem that needs urgnet clarification as its the weekend cant go to the CAB just yet ...

 

Right he has entered into an informal agreement nothing signed etc (he has signed rent slips ) to rent out his Mums friends daughters flat whilst she is away,

He has been there since December 2006 and now they want him out he was told had 8 weeks which was reasonable but that was shortened to the end of April as the council were sniffing around but till left enough time for him to get sorted elswhere but then last thursday was told he has to be out on the weekend of the 22nd a week shorter !

Now as he has no agreeement in wirting and what they are doing is well illegal what rights does he have ? ?

he wants to tell them to get stuffed a promise is a promise if you get funny ill report all this to the council and youll lose the property etc but what would happen if he did would the council straight kick him out or give him 28 days ?

[blacksheep1979]

If he has proof he was renting the property he has rights and a contract in principal. If he wants to he can stay till they get an eviction order, which in this case could be rather messy for the friends daughters aunties sister or whoever it is . Furthermore they have to give 2 months notice minimum.

[donbracho]

would you say that rent slips signed by both parties is good enough proof ?

[blacksheep1979]

more than enough

[donbracho]

thanks for the info i have told him and am sure he'll sleep sounder now, what happens if he has to report them for illegal subletting hten would he beforced out straight away by the council or would they allow him time to find somewhere else ? he wasnt made aware that the property was being sub let unitl the council came round and started fitting a new kitchen/bathroom

[blacksheep1979]

I'm not entirely sure about the council kicking him out, but have a feeling that they would have to effectively give notice to the true tennant and then evict whoever was in there after the notice period etc.

 

Personally I'd be trying to get out of there asap as it could turn a bit nasty but he should be fine for a month or so.

[donbracho]

a bit nasty ? between the people concerned or with the council he is trying to get out but just needsthat extra week they promised

[Joa]

standard tenancy agreements still state that subletting is prohibited but OFT has decided some time ago that this may be considered an unfair term (http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf para 4.22 - 4.28 )

So; , (a)you are entitled to a standard two months notice, but I would not advise you to be too precious about it if personal/family relationships are at stake (b) council may sniff but I do not think they would issue any proceedings against the true tenant as the tenants would have a strong defence, but I think it may have something to do with Housing Benefit, as there are very strict rules about absences and benefits payments. If there is no benefit involved at all it may be possible that the council is trying just to find out what's happening, after all they have a duty towards tenants.

I would just try to negotiate with the tenants; you are prepared to concede your rights but not to the point of unreasonably short notice. You may wish to stipulate that you'd need for the deposit to be paid back in full to compensate you for this inconvienience.

[blacksheep1979]

It wasn't just the oft - I thought it had always been the case that subletting had to be allowed if the tennant asked unless there were some unusual circumstances. Unfortunately the case here is that they didn't ask.

[donbracho]

well as far as benefit goes she is still claiming council tax benefit for the place !

and it has come to light that other tenants have complained firstly that the property was abandoned then that someone other than tenant is living there