Family member tenant eviction

[JvK]

Hi, I’m in a really sticky situation where I used to have my detached annex as holiday let but my daughter got pregnant and her relationship broke down so had to move back. She moved into that annex. No rent paid and no contracts but she agreed to pay the electric bill. That didn’t last long and we can’t afford to be paying both electric bill. 
 

It will sound harsh but how do we get her out of our property? She has been abusive to me and my husband. She punched my husband and have elbowed me and have been coercive in her behaviour. Its now at a point that we are both depressed, really run down and at breaking point. We love having our granddaughter but she uses her to control us. She is very manipulative  and to the outside world she is an angel who manages well with her dog and young child unbeknownst to everyone the dog gets shut in the bathroom most days and I still have to do their laundry. When she is told something she doesn’t like, she’ll respond with violence and uses her daughter as a shield and stop us seeing her but still ask to pick up clean laundry from us.
 

We are more than happy to have our granddaughter staying with us but we need distance from her mother. We want to offer her the choice of letting the granddaughter stay if and when she moves out as we do not want to make our granddaughter homeless but we can’t live in close proximity to the abusive daughter. There is of course more to the story but please take my word that she is a toxic person. 
 

Please any advice on routes we can use to move her out would be greatly appreciated. 

[Richlist]

I think in your shoes I'd employ the services of a professional. Presumably a lot of corners have been cut, documents dispensed with and legal requirements ignored as it's a family member. A professional will have the knowledge & experience to deal with this and may well have handled similar situations before. I usually point people towards a company called 'Landlord Action'. They are easy to find online with their prices. Good luck.

[Grampa]

Tricky one. If you force your daughter out  it may mean she will restrict future access to your grandchild.

However, my thoughts are that if rent has never been paid there is no tenancy in place as no "consideration" (payment) https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/4-107-6271?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true#:~:text=A basic binding contract must,intent to create legal relations.

So I guess techically you could just change the locks (maybe give one months notice to vacate in writing). However, that will likely encourage her to get the council to try to argue there is a tenancy in place. So to pre- argue the council or citizens advice view (who will argue there is a tenancy) maybe getting a letter from a solitor to your daughter explaining there is no tenancy in place due to housing law xyz and she needs to vacate by xx/xx/xx and for her to take the letter to the council so she can be re-housed or put in emergency accomadation. 

What ever you do dont take any rent payments as that will create a tenancy. 

[Melboy]

Everything that Grampa and Richlist has written in their replies.  Funny enough before I read Grampa's reply I thought the same "Tricky one" this comment to answer on. It is always difficult when it comes to family member disputes like this. So I would recommend following Grampa's advice and a solicitor's letter and their advice is advisable imo.