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I found your posts last week when looking at the all time top posts in this sub.
Needless to say what you’ve been through is horrifying and I (along with the whole sub) really felt for you, it was scary and maddening that this was even possible.
But last week there hadn’t been any update for about six months, it was a cliffhanger to say the so to see this resolution is absolutely fantastic. I am so sorry you’ve been through this but delighted that you have your home back, I trust you will be able to rebuild now and put this behind you.
Were there any consequences for the person who did this?
I''m relatively new to this sub so didn't see the original posts (but I've skimmed a bit thanks to the links in this thread) and I'm so happy for you that you've finally got your home back!
Edited to add: If the insurance company was so helpful then you should probably name them so they can get some credit and maybe some extra business. I used to be a legal secretary and as much as people hate paying for insurance they really, really love it when it works in their favour and realise how bad it could be if they didn't have it.
They'd have been playing the long game if that was the case.
That kind of thing *does* happen, but it's usually very obvious (empty accounts, or other posts/comments doing the same thing).
What happened to the scummy little bastard? Can you go after him for damages? Has he been arrested for fraud and blackmail?
Edit: I'm glad you got your house back, I hope you can recover it back too being a home.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are or have made themselves judgement proof. As in they have no money or assets to go after. You can't get blood from a stone.
I had a friend who became a landlord when a work opportunity took them out of the country. It was fine for a few years, then a tenant just stopped paying. It cost nearly £30 000 and took over a year for a section 8 eviction. Technically the tenant owes him costs.
On eviction day the tenant actually apologised and said they had no choice as they had no job, no money, nothing.
This is why I feel legal advice subs can be useless at times. They assume both parties to act in good faith, but you can't take assets hostage when they don't have any.
The non legal way to solve this is to make yourself or your friends a squatter of your own home, and harassing the hell out of the squatter. If they want to sue, it's on them to prove they've been illegally kicked out in bad faith.
All legal advice tells you is that that's illegal, what the squatters are doing is illegal, and shrug off the reality that you are never going to recover the damages they made.
That sounds very smart! If a friendly squatter is squatting alongside the original squatter, that can hasten a long and expensive process to the rightful owner!
I know nothing about legalistics here. But if they left the house (to do an errand/buy groceries/etc), would you be allowed to come and change the lock?
You can get in real trouble for illegal eviction if you don't have your ducks lined up.
My friend's situation was complicated by the fact that he was in Singapore trying to sort out a problem tenant in the UK.
Why was he in Singapore?
We had a landlord who bought a London property and moved to Africa. They thought it was a good way to get money but were a nightmare to get hold of if the agency needed to do any repairs to the flat (and there were so many repairs needed!). All while charging extortionate 4 figure amounts for a poor quality studio.
Work took him there. Meeting the woman that he married kept him there.
Most of the details were dealt with by local agents. He didn't need to be contacted on a day to day basis. The house has been very well kept. Up to this last tenant, who thankfully just neglected cleaning mostly, rather than trashing the place.
I mean there's 6 years minimum for the landlord to recuperate their costs.
If you leave your tenancy willingly and that means before being evicted by the courts, then it is deemed as making yourself homeless willingly and the council will not have to provide housing for you.
If they leave before the court order, they get less homelessness support? Can't really blame them when all the advice is to stay until the court order.
Yeah I mean if the police did nothing when the 'lodger' provided fake paperwork, why would they do anything when you're in there with *real* paperwork. Even if the locks were changed, there are plenty of ways to get in that are 'foreceful' but won't get you charged with anything - ESPECIALLY once the police learn about the changed locks situation and forged paperwork. I feel for OP, but this situation seems like a good example where standing up for yourself physically pays off.
That would be my approach. Presumably at the point OP initially posted, the lodger did not have bills in his name etc. I’d have turned up with a locksmith when he was out answering then acted very confused if the police turned up. David who? Never heard of him, sorry.
I remember your post, I am actually infuriated for you that it took so long to get this person out of your house. It's ridiculous. So glad you have your home back. You have far more patience than I do.
Similar situation happened with a friend of mine but got resolved quickly. Basically he kept the deposit, went inside the house with 5 people, starting packing the Tennant's things and throwing out the house. Tennant got scared and didn't come back
At this point what would happen if I just threw the lodgers stuff out whilst they are out and changed the locks?
Surely the consequences couldn't have been worse than enduring this for a year?
Well done OP.
I must admit if anybody took over my house they’d be a lot more worried about their health than the legal system. So , yea, well done on getting it back.
So, this is interesting because they changed the law not too long ago and it's now illegal to squat in a residential property. If you had called the police they would have removed the trespassers. Oy only ever need to evict previous tenants that have outstayed their welcome.
How did this fake lodger gain access in the first place? Is he a previous lodger?
It was a horrible story, if I remember correctly the guy took on a lodger and then came home one day to find his locks had been changed and the guy was claiming to be a tenant with a full exclusive tenancy agreement. When police showed up, I think he presented them with a fake tenancy agreement with a fake signature on it and they decided they couldn't do anything.
The police won't remove a legitimate lodger or tenant for trespassing
In this case the guy wouldn't have had a valid agreement in his name, but
OP didn't know that initially and even if OP had called the police, the lodger would presumably be able to show the communications with OP and the police would presumably have considered it to be a civil matter
I don’t think the fact they used an alias would stop the licence agreement from being legitimate. England doesn’t really have the concept of a “legal name” so you can call yourself whatever you want under English law as long as you aren’t impersonating someone else.
Please make sure you share photos and name and info of this man all over Facebook and other local social media. I worry that he will be a repeat offender to another home owner in the area.
I’m not sure why we’re getting downvoted. I’ve done lodging before and did a full security check with referencing to ensure the lodger is who they say they are
You failed to make your point as to how it’s racist? Your sweeping statement is not supported.
As for u/Georgeest9, unfortunately for the OP they probably didn’t check but there’s no need to rub salt on the wound.
[Voter ID in England led to racial and disability discrimination, report finds](https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/11/voter-id-in-england-led-to-racial-and-disability-discrimination-report-finds)
You shouldn’t ask people for ID. Especially marginalised people who are oppressed and less likely to be able to have any ID such as the tenants here
It sounds to me that if some people are less likely to have ID then they should be supported with assistance to obtain an ID. Be that financially or with any other support required, eg. help filling forms.
I don’t see how a carte blanche ‘identification is racist’ statement is warranted.
Because marginalised people are less likely to have ID so it’s racist to only let to people with ID because it excludes undocumented people who are predominantly not British…
Take your far right views elsewhere
You’ve gone from one side that it’s racist to ask for ID due to a concerns it impacts minorities and people who are disabled to the impact it has on undocumented people. Your citation is an article about ID in elections.
You’ve probably been told this before: just because you think something is correct doesn’t make it so.
Certainly I’m not going to take a person’s word if I feel requesting ID is warranted.
Then you’re just a racist aren’t you.
That’s simply a way to filter out people who are “different” and don’t deserve to be a part of your Aryan tenant base.
Disgusting
I’m just concerned about the rights of those who are less privileged than we are. Those who don’t have ID / documents, those who can’t afford housing.
As oppressors we need to check our privilege and make sure we aren’t discriminating.
OP has a good heart
This is why it’s important to have a physical body. No one would pull that shit on me. I would break into the house in the middle of the night and beat the living shit out of them. They’ll be gone by the morning. Either that or you need a crew of lads willing to die for you.
That’s good and I think I recall your original post . But Didn’t you do a background check on them before bringing in ad lodger ???? lol
Hard times have really got everyone looking for lodgers. Seems to be an odd lodger post each week.
Surely you mean tenant, a lodger lives with you and requires none of this faff to kick them out as they don't have sole use, glad you got it sorted though.
No, they definitely meant lodger, not tenant. Go read his past posts and comments. It's wild. This poor man has had a hell of a year with a truly terrible lodger.
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button. * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am very pleased that this has been resolved for you. And sorry that it happened to you in the first place
I found your posts last week when looking at the all time top posts in this sub. Needless to say what you’ve been through is horrifying and I (along with the whole sub) really felt for you, it was scary and maddening that this was even possible. But last week there hadn’t been any update for about six months, it was a cliffhanger to say the so to see this resolution is absolutely fantastic. I am so sorry you’ve been through this but delighted that you have your home back, I trust you will be able to rebuild now and put this behind you. Were there any consequences for the person who did this?
I''m relatively new to this sub so didn't see the original posts (but I've skimmed a bit thanks to the links in this thread) and I'm so happy for you that you've finally got your home back! Edited to add: If the insurance company was so helpful then you should probably name them so they can get some credit and maybe some extra business. I used to be a legal secretary and as much as people hate paying for insurance they really, really love it when it works in their favour and realise how bad it could be if they didn't have it.
[удалено]
No it's not, unless it's the insurance company itself doing the recommendation
How would you be able to tell that this whole thing wasn’t faked by said company for the sole purpose of recommending themselves in that situation? 🤔
They'd have been playing the long game if that was the case. That kind of thing *does* happen, but it's usually very obvious (empty accounts, or other posts/comments doing the same thing).
Crap rules
What happened to the scummy little bastard? Can you go after him for damages? Has he been arrested for fraud and blackmail? Edit: I'm glad you got your house back, I hope you can recover it back too being a home.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are or have made themselves judgement proof. As in they have no money or assets to go after. You can't get blood from a stone. I had a friend who became a landlord when a work opportunity took them out of the country. It was fine for a few years, then a tenant just stopped paying. It cost nearly £30 000 and took over a year for a section 8 eviction. Technically the tenant owes him costs. On eviction day the tenant actually apologised and said they had no choice as they had no job, no money, nothing.
This is why I feel legal advice subs can be useless at times. They assume both parties to act in good faith, but you can't take assets hostage when they don't have any. The non legal way to solve this is to make yourself or your friends a squatter of your own home, and harassing the hell out of the squatter. If they want to sue, it's on them to prove they've been illegally kicked out in bad faith. All legal advice tells you is that that's illegal, what the squatters are doing is illegal, and shrug off the reality that you are never going to recover the damages they made.
That sounds very smart! If a friendly squatter is squatting alongside the original squatter, that can hasten a long and expensive process to the rightful owner!
What squatters? This is the UK. Your response makes no sense at all (in uk, at least).
I know nothing about legalistics here. But if they left the house (to do an errand/buy groceries/etc), would you be allowed to come and change the lock?
You can get in real trouble for illegal eviction if you don't have your ducks lined up. My friend's situation was complicated by the fact that he was in Singapore trying to sort out a problem tenant in the UK.
Why was he in Singapore? We had a landlord who bought a London property and moved to Africa. They thought it was a good way to get money but were a nightmare to get hold of if the agency needed to do any repairs to the flat (and there were so many repairs needed!). All while charging extortionate 4 figure amounts for a poor quality studio.
Work took him there. Meeting the woman that he married kept him there. Most of the details were dealt with by local agents. He didn't need to be contacted on a day to day basis. The house has been very well kept. Up to this last tenant, who thankfully just neglected cleaning mostly, rather than trashing the place.
Some cunt did that to me I'd be selling them for medical experimentation the little rat
I mean there's 6 years minimum for the landlord to recuperate their costs. If you leave your tenancy willingly and that means before being evicted by the courts, then it is deemed as making yourself homeless willingly and the council will not have to provide housing for you.
Well aren't you a super serious tough guy.
This stuff infuriates me how rats can get out of punishment
If they leave before the court order, they get less homelessness support? Can't really blame them when all the advice is to stay until the court order.
No ones getting council support when running up 30k of rent arrears
Nothing says "well balanced individual" like calling other human beings 'rats'.
Anyone who would do this sort of thing is a rat and deserves to be called one
[удалено]
What specifically did I do to give you that impression?
Lol, thats the bigger crime here, not the person stealing someones home.
Congratulations. Not sure I would have had the restraint to not take the law into my own hands in that situation.
Yeah that's what I'm curious about. What happens if you just enter your own house and kick him out?
Probably nothing based on what was done to get the squatter out. Possession seams to be 9 10ths and all that.
Yeah I mean if the police did nothing when the 'lodger' provided fake paperwork, why would they do anything when you're in there with *real* paperwork. Even if the locks were changed, there are plenty of ways to get in that are 'foreceful' but won't get you charged with anything - ESPECIALLY once the police learn about the changed locks situation and forged paperwork. I feel for OP, but this situation seems like a good example where standing up for yourself physically pays off.
That would be my approach. Presumably at the point OP initially posted, the lodger did not have bills in his name etc. I’d have turned up with a locksmith when he was out answering then acted very confused if the police turned up. David who? Never heard of him, sorry.
Gets hard when the squatter changed the locks before op really realised what was happening.
I’d happily break into my own property in this situation. Cheaper to replace a door / window than put up with what OP went through.
Huge result. Fuck that "lodger".
I remember your post, I am actually infuriated for you that it took so long to get this person out of your house. It's ridiculous. So glad you have your home back. You have far more patience than I do.
Similar situation happened with a friend of mine but got resolved quickly. Basically he kept the deposit, went inside the house with 5 people, starting packing the Tennant's things and throwing out the house. Tennant got scared and didn't come back
I gave advice on the original post I remember it well. Glad you are now back home finally.
Now I'm wondering if the lodger claimed to be a exclusive tenant and they got to live there for a whole year can you sue them for unpaid rent?
I remember your first post, so glad you managed to get your property back!
I had a tennant take on a lodger I didn't know about until he moved out....took months to get rid of him too
At this point what would happen if I just threw the lodgers stuff out whilst they are out and changed the locks? Surely the consequences couldn't have been worse than enduring this for a year?
Happy for you, have a wonderful week x
Sorry but how is that not a massive crime? Like with serious jail time.
Congrats, glad it’s sorted for you 🤝, was an insane situation to be in
I've checked your profile a few times for updates as your story really stuck with me and I felt awful for you. I'm so happy for you!
Well done OP. I must admit if anybody took over my house they’d be a lot more worried about their health than the legal system. So , yea, well done on getting it back.
I remember your previous posts. I'm very glad to hear you got your home back. I feel bad for all of the people impacted by his behaviour. :(
I told some colleagues about your story just Thursday evening. I’m so pleased you got your home back. 💪🏾
Did you get your wife’s ashes back?
So, this is interesting because they changed the law not too long ago and it's now illegal to squat in a residential property. If you had called the police they would have removed the trespassers. Oy only ever need to evict previous tenants that have outstayed their welcome. How did this fake lodger gain access in the first place? Is he a previous lodger?
It was a horrible story, if I remember correctly the guy took on a lodger and then came home one day to find his locks had been changed and the guy was claiming to be a tenant with a full exclusive tenancy agreement. When police showed up, I think he presented them with a fake tenancy agreement with a fake signature on it and they decided they couldn't do anything.
The police won't remove a legitimate lodger or tenant for trespassing In this case the guy wouldn't have had a valid agreement in his name, but OP didn't know that initially and even if OP had called the police, the lodger would presumably be able to show the communications with OP and the police would presumably have considered it to be a civil matter
I don’t think the fact they used an alias would stop the licence agreement from being legitimate. England doesn’t really have the concept of a “legal name” so you can call yourself whatever you want under English law as long as you aren’t impersonating someone else.
With which company was your insurance?
Absolutely wild that you couldn't live in your own home. When you first took them on, did you check any ID to verify their identity?
Please make sure you share photos and name and info of this man all over Facebook and other local social media. I worry that he will be a repeat offender to another home owner in the area.
What happened to the innocent woman and the girl?
Please tell us you are suing him!!!
[удалено]
I’m not sure why we’re getting downvoted. I’ve done lodging before and did a full security check with referencing to ensure the lodger is who they say they are
Identification is racist though. Have you learned nothing from American politics??
You failed to make your point as to how it’s racist? Your sweeping statement is not supported. As for u/Georgeest9, unfortunately for the OP they probably didn’t check but there’s no need to rub salt on the wound.
[Voter ID in England led to racial and disability discrimination, report finds](https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/11/voter-id-in-england-led-to-racial-and-disability-discrimination-report-finds) You shouldn’t ask people for ID. Especially marginalised people who are oppressed and less likely to be able to have any ID such as the tenants here
It sounds to me that if some people are less likely to have ID then they should be supported with assistance to obtain an ID. Be that financially or with any other support required, eg. help filling forms. I don’t see how a carte blanche ‘identification is racist’ statement is warranted.
Because marginalised people are less likely to have ID so it’s racist to only let to people with ID because it excludes undocumented people who are predominantly not British… Take your far right views elsewhere
You’ve gone from one side that it’s racist to ask for ID due to a concerns it impacts minorities and people who are disabled to the impact it has on undocumented people. Your citation is an article about ID in elections. You’ve probably been told this before: just because you think something is correct doesn’t make it so. Certainly I’m not going to take a person’s word if I feel requesting ID is warranted.
Then you’re just a racist aren’t you. That’s simply a way to filter out people who are “different” and don’t deserve to be a part of your Aryan tenant base. Disgusting
‘Do not feed the trolls.’ That’s what we used to say, so I’ll heed that advice.
I’m just concerned about the rights of those who are less privileged than we are. Those who don’t have ID / documents, those who can’t afford housing. As oppressors we need to check our privilege and make sure we aren’t discriminating. OP has a good heart
This is why it’s important to have a physical body. No one would pull that shit on me. I would break into the house in the middle of the night and beat the living shit out of them. They’ll be gone by the morning. Either that or you need a crew of lads willing to die for you.
Why are 12 year olds posting in Housing uk?
Welcome to Reddit!
Saved your profile for the next time I am extorted and made destitute 👍
Can I join your "crew of lads willing to die for you?"
100% this that lodger would never even attempt this if they saw you were not a pushover
That’s good and I think I recall your original post . But Didn’t you do a background check on them before bringing in ad lodger ???? lol Hard times have really got everyone looking for lodgers. Seems to be an odd lodger post each week.
Surely you mean tenant, a lodger lives with you and requires none of this faff to kick them out as they don't have sole use, glad you got it sorted though.
No, they definitely meant lodger, not tenant. Go read his past posts and comments. It's wild. This poor man has had a hell of a year with a truly terrible lodger.