Property law/ criminal law query/ possible violence

SwordofLight

Hi all, I'd appreciate some advice on this - a friend of mine has been unemployed for the past year and been through a lot of depression which basically led to divorce etc. He took on the letting of a house a few years ago and then began to struggle financially and began letting out the place as a houseshare type thing. He had a few bad experiences with that (I think he's a bit of a soft touch) and then looked into using lodger agreements with the people moving in. He let the rooms out for more than the cumulative total rent which left him with a profit (about 30% on the total) - to be honest he has been coming out to activities and getting back into the swing of life again and I put that directly down to the extra money he has per month.
The problem is that the lodgers are now saying that he has committed a criminal offence in not letting the rooms at standard proportionate rents, that their contracts are worthless, and have made it a living hell for him in the house, banging on his door five times a day shouting at him that he's a criminal and he owes them lots of money etc. I am worried this will turn to violence. He showed me a text message from one of them saying that if he didn't pay them cash immediately at such a time that they would do this and that - I think they committed a crime there - They stopped paying their rent and phoned the letting agency saying they will not be paying rent to him and the only way they will pay is if he is evicted and a new lease is signed with them. He rang the agency who say it's his problem.
I have advised him as best I can as I used to work in property but I am unsure. I told him to stand his ground and get legal support but he seems to be in a depressive stupor where he just wants to run away from it. I would presume he has no permission from the actual landlord to use lodger agreements. I should mention he says he never received a lease from the letting agency so I'm guessing he has not signed anything with them, but I really doubt any lease wouldn't have the prohibited subletting clause on it. A part of me thinks it's probably best for him to move into a houseshare somewhere affordable and leave them to sort it out with the agency, and if they come after him retrospectively for monies then get a solicitor.
Any thoughts?

Fian

There is nothing criminal or illegal in him setting a rent for the licencees (lodgers) at any rent he chooses and they agree to. He had no obligation to divide the head rent equally between them or to charge less than the total rent. He should ask the lodgers to leave and should replace them. That might work better from a legal perspective than in reality though.

whether he was entitled to take in licencees under his lease with the landlord is a separate question.

nuac

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Closed, solicitor time