Regaining your own home

[WendyS]

What sensible advice can I offer to a friend who temporarily vacated her home to live with somebody else,and offered the use of her home to her daughter & two young children who were in between house moves. The friend has now returned home, finds the daughter has acquired a live-in boyfriend. Family relationships have totally disintegrated and the daughter has now effectively locked the mother out of her house. The mother obviously want to regain sole occupancy of her home as soon as possible. What is her legal position and does her resident daughter have any rights? The daughter is staying there rent free and has the cash from a previous house sale so is not without financial means.

[Emma-J]

If the 'tenancy agreement' or 'deeds' for the house are in your friends name, then her daughter has no ground to stand on, it is legally her property, but she could claim 'squatters rights' in which case she could have a legal matter on her hands.

Its a shame that they can't come to some arrangement, say the mother lets her stay until they find somewhere else to live?

I often wonder about people who do this to their own family.

I'm no solicitor though, perhaps your friend could go and chat to citizens advice or speak to a solicitor on the phone?

Good luck!

[MrPahoehoe]

I'm pretty sure that last year or the year before squatters rights ceased to exist in any legal sense. Maybe post in the Money & Finance section too since all the legal whizzkids seem to hang out there. Although I'm not sure if your friend is desperate enough to go this far.

I would definitely check with a professional if that is the avenue she wishes to go down. But in my 'completely untrained' opinion, for what its worth, i'm sure your friends daughter has no legal or even moral rights.

Probably already tried it, but why not just get your friend to meet with her daughter face to face: without antagonists like her new boyfriend. Get them to have a heart to heart, but also have your friend turn it on a bit if that doesn't work: try a bit of guilt trip. I know thats easier said than done, but if you go down the legal route then relationships will be far more damaged unfortunately.