Rob has moved to Ambridge to take a job as manager with Berrow Farm, a mega dairy. Helen has a long back story that I won’t go into here as this article concentrates on the letting of their home, Blossom Hill Cottage. We are now at the point in the story where Rob’s abuse of Helen has boiled over into a stabbing incident, interpreted by the police as attempted murder. In a plot twist, it’s Helen that stabs Rob, not the other way round. Helen is in jail and Rob in hospital. Rob’s mother has taken it on herself to move into Blossom Hill Cottage.
A lot of Twerps are objecting to this… Ursula has a cheek! and worse, what if she interferes with evidence that could help Helen’s case? Can she do this? Can anything be done to stop her???? Yes. I’ve had the misfortune to be landlord to an abusive joint tenant on two occasions and I’ve had
to find out what I could do to help. I’ll tell you what I think Usha should do, but first:
Here's a bit of background.
When Rob came to the village, his wife, Jess, didn’t join him immediately – she was looking after her elderly father. Rob was the sole tenant of Blossom Hill Cottage, owned by Usha Franks (nee Gupta), married to the vicar; having moved to the vicarage she lets out her former home. She’s likely to have agreed an initial period of 6 or 12 months for this tenancy.
Rob started an affair with Helen Archer, of Bridge Farm, pretty soon after moving to Ambridge. Jess joined Rob around 6 months later. At this point Usha would have added her to the tenancy, making both adult occupiers ‘jointly and severally’ liable to pay rent and put right any damages. This is normal practice to protect the landlord’s property and Usha, a solicitor, will almost certainly have done this. As a landlord, in case you’re unlucky enough to need a court order to regain possession of your property, it’s important to have all adult occupiers named on the tenancy agreement.
About that time, Rob told Helen that he wouldn’t leave his wife, and broke off their relationship. Helen was devastated, and was comforted by her friend, Kirstie. After a few months of this, Rob changed his mind about staying with his wife; she left the matrimonial home (and the village) and Helen surprised friends and family by announcing she would move in with him. Oh, and by the way, Helen has a child, Henry, conceived by artificial insemination; naturally she took Henry with her to Blossom Hill Cottage.
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll notice that this action, if Usha found out about it, would trigger another change of tenancy, with Jess off the agreement and Helen onto it. This is a village, Usha is the vicar’s wife, and yes it’s a certainty that she would know. It’s likely that this would result in another fixed term tenancy of 6 or 12 months. This is important, as during the fixed term, the landlord’s options are limited. Importantly the landlord cannot ask the tenants to leave before the end of that fixed term.
Whether 6 or 12 months, Helen has been living with Rob for about a year, so it’s likely that now (April) the fixed term is over. Unless Rob or Helen asked Usha to give them another fixed term, (unlikely given that tenants don’t generally think to do this) the letting agreement is now a periodic tenancy. Both parties can give notice to leave at any time, giving (usually) one month’s notice from the tenant or two months’ from the landlord. I’ll explain how this helps Helen in the next installment.