Apologies for the long post , but would be so grateful for any advice!
Myself and my wife have been renting my fathers property since June 2018, with the intention of purchasing it by June 2021. Due to the effects of Covid 19 , we were honest and advised my father we didn’t think we would be able to purchase the property in that time frame, due to financial restraints.
The original agreement was thrashed out on email and it’s quite clear we were renting the property from him , and he had one condition, that he could come and stay in the box room temporarily if him and his lady friend ever split up.
The staying in the box room became more and mor3 frequent. We continued to pay all of the bills, council tax and rent. We also replaced a faulty boiler and a fitted oven and hob.
Since we have advised him we cannot purchase the house at this stage, he has been saying we are ‘lodgers’ and he will change the locks and turf us out if he sees fit. He has invited other family members to stay at the property, despite us paying all bills , council tax and rent !
My wife and I have found a new property to move to , but it could be 4x weeks before it’s ready. In the meantime he has told us to leave ASAP , threatened to change the locks and made completely unfounded allegations against my wife to which he has said if he feels the need to stay the property (he comes and goes) then we need to stay elsewhere!
We are both scared of the lack of tenancy agreement and are unsure of what protections we have.