Obtaining Possession

[AnthonyLHD]

I housed a tenant from the council via housing benefit
I did an inspection and found he rented it out to another person
Can i change the lock when this tenant is out of the property?
Or is this termed an illegal eviction?
I've assumed he has given him a fake AST contract and taken a deposit and rent from him
Not a nice situation - please help me solve this, thank you

[JK0]

Maybe wait for others to come along to advise on your current problem.

However... I bet you won't be letting to housing benefit/ council people again, will you?

[jpkeates]

No, you can't change the locks.

Yes, it would be an illegal eviction.

Your tenant can give the occupant a perfectly valid AST and take a deposit and rent, just as any landlord can. It might be a breach of their agreement with you, but that doesn't make it illegal.

You could decide to live with it, there's a tenant who's paying rent and someone is living in the property.
It might cause an issue with any BTL mortgage or insurance you have - because your agreement with your tenant (not the occupier) may not be an AST, because that requires the tenant to live in the property.

If you can contact the tenant I'd explain the problem and see what happens (if you repossess, your tenant will have issues with the occupant, who will be made homeless and the tenant will be in breach of contract),

If you can't, serve notice under s8 for breach of contract terms (which the tenant won't be in a position to defend) and secure possession.
Bailiffs will remove all occupants, which would include the occupant.

[JK0]

I suspect council would want to know about change of occupant if they are still paying the rent.

[theartfullodger]

Indeed. Sounds like a benefit fiddle, grass them both up.

And inform HMRC of your named tenant's income.

Do NOT accept the money from the occupant - that would establish a tenancy between you & him.