We want an injunction please!

Many years ago when I was a trainee, my principal and I saw some new clients, a middle aged man and his wife. His new wife as it turned out.

“We want to get an injunction against my daughter” he began, his wife nodding in the background, all blonde curls and pursed lips. “We have asked her to leave but she won’t go”.

When we enquired deeper into this unusual request, it turned out that the daughter was bringing unsavoury friends home and leaving the kitchen in a mess. “We’ve told her we are not going to put up with it any longer, and now we want an injunction to get her out”.

We explained to them gently, that an injunction was a serious legal remedy generally used, in a family context, against violent partners to protect their family from physical attack. It was most unlikely, we continued, that a Judge would award an injunction in these circumstances.

This did not go down well. “Oh well” he said, standing up and reaching for his coat, “if we can’t get an injunction, then there’s no point in staying”. We were left feeling very sorry for the daughter.

People often talk glibly about injunctions, but to a lawyer they are a serious business. They will only generally be used if someone is in physical danger, such as the violent partner situation, or if the claimant’s property rights are threatened in some way (or example you may be able to get an injunction to prevent someone building something on your land).

In a lodger situation they are almost unheard of. The only circumstances where I think an injunction would be suitable would be if a lodger had turned violent and the landlord and his family were in danger of physical attack (and the Judge would normally want to hear about an attack that had already taken place and be persuaded that a future attack was probable). An injunction may also be appropriate perhaps if a lodger became vindictive after being evicted, and resorted to stalking his former landlords and invading their privacy in an intrusive manner.

But bear also in mind the limitation of legal remedies. If someone is absolutely determined to break your knees, particularly if they are slightly unbalanced, a piece of paper with a court seal on it, may not in reality be much protection. They may of course go to prison after they have broken your knees, but what good is that? The damage is done.

It is far, far better to avoid conflict situations (so far as you are able), in the first place.

Have you every used a legal remedy against a lodger? Was it successful?

Are you worried about your lodger?  Do you need some advice?

Although our 21 days of tips series will answer most people’s questions, there are always those tricky situations where you need some professional help  If you have a difficult problem and need to know what your legal rights are, you may want to consider using my new advice service.

This is how it works :

• First – read the terms and conditions
• Second – set out your problem in the online instruction form (which you will find linked from the advice page)
• Third – pay the fee (you can either pay by paypal or send a cheque) – you will be re-directed to the payment page once you have submitted the instruction form
• Fourth – send any documents I will need to see (eg lodger agreement, letters etc)
• Fifth – receive your advice by email

The fixed fee for this is £75.  This may sound a lot if you are on a low income, but it is less than my fee on my Landlord Law site, so it will be limited *just* to lodger related problems.  Otherwise it is unfair on my Landlord Law members.

Hopefully your lodger will be wonderful and you will never need the advice service.  However if you do, it is here for you.

Although hopefully this will never happen to you, very occasionally lodger landlords will need to evict their lodger. Todays tips give guidance on this.

Caution – todays tip only applies to lodger landlords who share living accommodation with their lodgers.
The guidance given here regarding eviction, will *only* be applicable to landlords with lodgers living in their own home where at least some living space (e.g. kitchen, bathroom, sitting room – and preferably more than one room) are shared with the lodger (this is explained on day 1).

If your lodger only uses his own room, and in practice does not use any of the rooms used by you, the advice here will not apply to you and you should take legal advice.

Note  also that the property must have been your main residence for the whole of the time the lodger has been living there.

If you use the procedure set out here in circumstances where you are not entitled to, you will be committing the criminal offence of unlawful eviction.  You may also be at risk of being sued for financial compensation, and/or an injunction ordering you to let him back in again.

Notice to quit
Before following the information given in this tip, you must have given your lodger formal notice to leave. This was discussed on Day 19.  The effect of this will be to end your lodgers legal right to live in the property.

If your lodger refuses to go
In most cases, your lodger will leave as asked on or before the day given in the notice you have given him. However in a few cases (and this happens only *very* rarely) your lodger may refuse to move out. If this happens, consider first the following options:

• If your lodger is a student, complaining to his university or college may help. Or have a word with the accommodation office.
• If your lodger came to you via the HR Department of a local employer talk to them about it.
• Have a look at the lodgers application form (see Day 11). If there are any next of kin, consider contacting them to see if they can help.

However if none of this helps, you may have no option but to proceed to eviction.

Eviction
If you have a lodger who refuses to go, you can follow the procedure below. Note that save in cases of exceptional bad behaviour (preferably where you have reported matters to the police), you should not use this procedure unless you have given your lodger at least 28 days formal notice to leave. In all cases, at least one letter giving notice to vacate *must* have been given to the lodger, and the notice period must have expired.

Where you are evicting your lodger for violent or criminal behaviour, you should make sure you will be able to prove this if it is ever challenged by your lodger.  This is why getting the police involved when there are incidents, as suggested on Day 19, is a recommended.  Keeping a diary of events is another good idea.

1. On or shortly before the day the lodger is supposed to move out, ask him when he will be leaving. If he asks for just a day or two longer, you should normally agree to this, particularly if there is a genuine reason for his request (e.g. if he cannot move into his new accommodation immediately).  Otherwise, proceed as follows.

2. Arrange for the locks on your property to be changed at a time when your lodger is likely to be out for some time. (It is probably best not to warn your lodger of this beforehand in case he decides to stay in the property to prevent you doing it).

3. When you lodger returns, refuse to let him in. If you think that he is likely to cause trouble, arrange for the police to be present (it may be a good idea to arrange for this anyway). The police should attend if you tell them that you expect there to be a breach of the peace. If the police will not attend, make sure that you have someone else with you, to act as an independent witness.

If the police are not there and your lodger starts causing trouble, do not open the door (or shut the door before he gets in). Ring the police and ask them to come out immediately. Do not let the lodger back into the property.

It is very important that you use no force or violence whatsoever when evicting your lodger. If you do, this will put you in breach of the law yourself, and you will be vulnerable to being arrested and prosecuted by the police. This is why a passive eviction process of refusing to allow him back in is recommended. If your lodger attacks you, you can defend yourself, but you should be careful to avoid any situation where this can happen (e.g. don’t open the door). This is why having a Police presence is so important, as if your lodger becomes violent, they can deal with it for you.

4. Your lodger will be entitled to have his possessions returned to him. However, in most cases he should only be allowed back into your property (e.g. to pack) if there is police presence.

5. Under no circumstances should you or anyone in your house let the lodger in again after this. If he continues to cause problems, consider going to a solicitor and asking for an injunction. However it is most unlikely that this will be necessary. In most cases the lodger will accept the situation, particularly if the police have been involved.

General notes on eviction
The procedure outlined above should only *ever* be used as a last resort, against a lodger who has behaved badly towards you, and who has either been given several warnings and written requests to vacate but has totally ignored them, or who has behaved so appallingly that it is unreasonable for anyone to expect you to allow him to stay in your home any longer.

If you are worried about forcible eviction, it is a good idea to take legal advice first, but make sure it is from someone who knows and understands housing and letting law (preferably a solicitor). Give them a copy of this blog post and ask them if, in their opinion, the advice given here (and the section of the Protection of Eviction Act 1977 referred to below) applies to you.

If you decide to proceed without taking legal advice first, and are challenged about your right to evict a lodger in this way without a court order (either by the lodger himself or by any legal advisor on his behalf), tell them that your legal authority is contained in section 3A(2) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

In the first part of this act, it states that no residential occupier shall be evicted other than by ‘due process of law’ i.e. by obtaining a Court order for possession. Section 3 of the Act then goes on to list various types of occupation where this rule does not apply – they are described in the act as ‘excluded tenancies and licenses’.  Sub sections (2) and (3) are the sections which provide for lodgers to be excluded.

You can read Protection from Eviction Act 1977 via this link.

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What is your experience of the things in this section? Have you ever had to evict a lodger forcibly? Were the police supportive? Do you have any tips for other lodger landlords?

In most cases your lodger experience will be a positive one. However sadly, this is not always the case. If you do experience problems, todays tips should help.

Stage 1 – talk to your lodger
If you are unhappy about something, have a word with your lodger about it. For example if he is not complying with your house rules (discussed on day 14), or is starting to pay rent late.

Bear in mind that it may be that your lodger is unhappy about something that *you* are doing, and this is the reason for his behaviour. We all have irritating habits – your lodger may find your love of opera played loudly as annoying as you find his failure to wipe the kitchen surfaces down after use. If you are both reasonable people you should be able to sort something out.

Getting it out into the open so you both know what the problem is, will generally be better than letting things fester.

However you should try not to get into an argument or say anything you might later regret. If you don’t think this is possible, it might be best just to write. Although if your relationship with your lodger has deteriorated to the extent where you cannot have a proper conversation with them, you may want them to leave anyway.

If the problem is about late payment of rent, there may be a reason for this – perhaps your lodger has had to take a cut in salary for example and is finding things difficult. It is better that you know this sooner rather than later.  For example, with good lodger who you would be sorry to lose, you might consider giving a temporary rent reduction.

Stage 2 – write a letter or note
If talking about the problem has not done any good, the next thing to do is to put it in writing. This may also be a good idea if your lodger is out a lot, and it is difficult to find a time to speak to him.

You may also find it easier to put your complaint in writing anyway, particularly if you get flustered and are easily intimidated by your lodger, or if you feel that he does not take any notice of what you say.

Your first letter need not be very formal. Just set out clearly and without using any language that might antagonise, the things that have been concerning you. Don’t be too accusatory, or say anything that you will later regret. Make sure you keep a copy, and that the copy is dated.

Stage 3 – write a second, more formal, letter
If your chat and first note doesn’t seem to have worked, you might want to try another letter. Or perhaps your lodger improved after your talk but has since slipped back into his old ways.

Make the second letter a bit more formal. You should also  warn him that if things do not improve you will be asking him to leave (assuming that this is in fact what you are thinking of doing).

Note that you do not *have* to do a second letter, and if you have already decided that you want your lodger to leave you can skip this stage and go straight to giving formal notice to leave. (Or if you are not going to ask him to leave, and think that he just needs a further reminder, you could do another informal letter, as discussed above)

The threat of being asked to leave may bring your lodger to his senses and hopefully you won’t have any more problems. However if he takes no notice and just carries on, then you should consider seriously asking him to go.  This is after all your house. If your lodger is behaving badly or not paying rent, you should not be expected to put up with this.

The first stage of getting a lodger to leave, is giving him a formal written notice

Stage 4 – give formal notice to leave
[Note: Todays tips are about problem situations. However in most cases where landlords ask lodgers to leave, it is for something non controversial which both parties understand (such as the landlord needing to use the room for something else). However, even here you should (just for the record) give your lodger a formal (although pleasantly worded) letter asking him to leave.]

Giving formal notice is the first stage, legally, in recovering possession of a property.

The standard notice period (for lodgers)  is ‘not less than 28 days’, ending at the end of a rental period. So, if their agreement is monthly and runs from the 12th of the month to the 11th, the notice should ask them to leave on the next 11th day in the month after 28 days.  If they have a weekly agreement which runs from Saturday to Friday, the notice period should end on the first Friday after 28 days. You should be able to tell from your lodger agreement (discussed on day 15) what the relevant days are.

If you are asking your lodger to leave because of relatively minor matters such as personality clashes or because they never clean the bathroom, you should give them the full 28 days so they cannot criticise you.

You should also read your lodger agreement carefully (if you have one) and follow any procedure set out there. For example it may state that you should give a longer notice period. If your lodger is not seriously in breach of the agreement, you should do this.

However for more serious problems such as aggressive or violent behaviour, or if you find your lodger has been using your property for criminal activities such as using or dealing in prohibited drugs (which will put him in breach of his lodger agreement), a shorter notice period may be appropriate.

Note – For very serious incidents, it may also be a good idea to tell the police when incidents occur. This will be helpful if you then need their help later if you have to evict your lodger (discussed on Day 20) as there will then be a documented history of (for example) violence, and they will be more likley to co-operate with you.

For cases of rent arrears, if you are using a professionally drafted agreement (as discussed on Day 15) , this will often say that the lodger’s license to occupy your property will end automatically if he is in arrears of rent of two months. However you will still need to give him a formal letter asking him to vacate.

There is a printed form of ‘Notice to Quit’, which can be used (the wording should have an option for licenses), but generally a letter saying that you are giving them 28 days (or whatever other period is appropriate) notice to leave, will be sufficient.  The notice to quit letter should just be about asking them to leave, and perhaps giving the reasons for this.  If you want to discuss something else, put it in a separate letter.

Note that the section 21 and section 8 notices used for assured shorthold tenants should *not* be used (for more information about these, and evicting tenants, see my Landlord Law web-site).

Tomorrow we will look at what you should do if your lodger refuses to go.

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What is your experience of the things in this section? Have you had any problem lodgers? What sort of things have caused problems? Do you have any tips for dealing with problem lodgers?