Abortive purchaser lodging with unhappy vendor

[kate30]

hi i hope someone can help? i currently own a part buy part rent property the housing assosiation owns 70 % of the house. in february this year i moved out to another property which i am renting with my partner.i have been trying to sell the property and a lady claimed that she was going to buy it off of me, as she had problems at her end i allowed her to move into my property on the assumption that she was going to buy it and pay the rent in the mean time.. un fortunately since moving in she has decided not to buy the property and has refused to pay me any rent.. i have no idea how to get rid of her and cannot sell the property until she has left, the housing assosiation cannot help me as i should not of sub let the property??? i am in a real pickle can anyone help me?

[P.Pilcher]

Oh dear - I think you re going to need some professional legal help here. By agreeing to let this person occupy your property you have probably made her a tenant, despite her not paying you any rent. You will need to serve a section 21 notice to oblige her to leave, but you will have to allow her to stay for six months before going to court. A court hearing will be necessary as there is no written tenancy agreement. Alternatively when she is in arrears by two months you can use the section 8 route, again a court hearing is required.
What are the housing association doing? Are you still paying them the rent you owe them? Is the other person? Of course you could say goodbye to the bit of the house you own and let the HA evict her for non payment of rent but they could take action against you for some kind of recompense.
I am suprised, if you intended to sell your share of the property, that you didn't engage a solicitor or licenced conveyancer to deal with this then hopefully your problem would not have occurred.

P.P.

[Uncle Fester]

I smell a 'Professional Tenant'

Housing Associations always let you Sublet..You just need their consent first!

[attilathelandlord]

No they don't Uncle Fester, I've seen plenty of HA leases that do not allow you to sublet under any circumstances, in fact, I had to drop purchase of two ex-HA flats when I inspected the lease which stated quite categorically that the flat could not be sub-let.

Ex-council leases generally let you though.

[Paragon]

Anything in writing that she was going to pay rent? Perhaps you only allowed her in to view the property so she could make a decision on buying. She perhaps is now squatting. Can this be fast tracked under this scenario? Anyone know?

[attilathelandlord]

Not squatting you'll have to go the usual route

[happiness323]

As you have not accepted any form of payment at all I dont believe the statutory 6 months contract would be enforce, so it looks more like a squatter!!