‘If I try to enter my own house, they’ll call the police’: Family forced to live in an Airbnb with their newborn baby as nightmare tenants REFUSE to leave their home

A mother has revealed how she’s been stuck living in an Airbnb for five months with her young family after nightmare tenants refused to move out of her family home.

Nadia Aziz and her husband Irfan Aziz, from Manchester, had been travelling the world with their four-year-old son Zakariya, when they made the decision to move back to the Tameside area of the city in June to prepare for life as a family-of-four.

Instead, Nadia, 36, who was days from giving birth found herself caught in a legal battle that would go on for months.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Nadia claims she gave the tenants three months notice in March, asking them to leave by June, more than the standard two months required by law.

However, the long-term tenants, who’d lived in the property for five years, refused to vacate the property, she says, until they were allocated a council house to move into.

Nadia and her husband began legal proceedings to regain possession of the property and a court granted her a possession order in August – but the tenants were ‘advised not to leave’ on this date by Ashton-under-Lyne Council.

In a email, the council advised, Nadia explains, that she would subsequently need to ‘go to court for an eviction order’. If the tenants left when they received the order, they would be classed as ‘voluntary [/news/homelessness/index.html]homeless’ and they would lose their rights to rehousing.

Heavily pregnant and homeless, Nadia and her family were forced to rent an Airbnb in High Wycombe, close to Irfan’s family – and Nadia gave birth on October 21st.

‘It’s been incredibly stressful,’ she says. ‘I was heavily pregnant and dealing with constant paperwork and court emails instead of focusing on my health and preparing for our daughter.

When Nadia and her husband Irfan Aziz landed back in the UK after years of travelling the world with their now four-year-old son Zakariya, they expected to return to the familiarity of their own home to welcome their second child

‘Even though the property is legally ours, if we changed the locks or tried to enter the tenants could call the police and they would be let back in.’

Nadia and Irfan, 41, who works remotely as an IT programme manager, bought the property back in 2018, and it’s been rented out ever since while they were travelling and creating family-travel content for their 66,000 TikTok followers and 138,000 Instagram @azizfamilyofficial followers. 

Shortly after they got married in 2019, Nadia and Irfan decided to quit their jobs, sell all of their belongings and backpack around Southeast Asia and South America for eight months. 

They returned home to the UK just before Covid gripped the world and they were offered their jobs in IT back, but they realised they had caught the travel bug and were itching to get back on the road as soon as the borders reopened. 

Even when Nadia, who was working as a programme manager but is now a full time content creator, found out she was pregnant in 2021, they knew that wouldn’t stop them continuing to explore the world, however this time they left the UK as three. 

Nadia explained: ‘We initially left the UK because we felt there was more to life and we’ve always had a passion for travel. We’ve visited 30 countries so far and started when our son was just four months old in March 2022.

‘As we started travelling we started to meet like minded people and so many other families who were doing the same thing. We fell in love with travel. We travelled across Thailand, Indonesia, across Europe, Bosnia and the Middle East.’

The couple explain that their son’s schooling so far has taken place through their travels around the world, learning from diverse cultures and experiences. When he turns five, they plan to resume their adventures while homeschooling him on the road. 

Shortly after they got married in 2019, Nadia and Irfan decided to quit their jobs, sell all of their belongings and backpack around Southeast Asia and South America for eight months

On returning back to the UK Nadia, 36, found herself caught in a months-long legal battle with her tenants, who have lived in the Tameside, Manchester property for five years and now refuse to leave

When Nadia became pregnant with their second child while traveling, the couple knew they wanted to return to the UK to have their baby girl, so they could have the support of family and friends during those first difficult newborn months

‘There have been times were we put him in daycare when we lived in Bali for a few months, we also had a nanny that took him out sometimes.’ 

When Nadia became pregnant with their second child while traveling, the couple knew they wanted to return to the UK to have their baby girl, so they could have the support of family and friends during those first difficult newborn months.    

‘We were planning to finally settle back in our home to prepare for the arrival of our new baby and start this next chapter as a family of four.’

Before returning to Manchester, where Nadia is from, to settle back into some sort of normality, they gave the tenants an extra months notice then is legally required ‘in good faith’ that they would have enough time to find another property. 

Nadia purchased the property in 2018, but after marrying and relocating to High Wycombe, she rented it to a family for two years before the current tenants took over in 2020.

However, reclaiming her property proved more difficult than she anticipated, with endless red tape and unexpected court costs along the way.

‘In June they told me they weren’t moving out, they told me they wanted a council house and had no plans to leave.’ 

What followed was a bureaucratic nightmare: applying for a High Court eviction order, waiting on correspondence, paying more fees, and watching deadlines slip away. 

‘It’s been months of legal back-and-forth, delays, and costs just to regain access to our own home,’ Nadia said. 

Nadia and Irfan, 41, who works remotely as an IT programme manager, bought the property back in 2018, and it’s been rented out ever since while they were travelling and creating family-travel content for their 66,000 TikTok followers @azizfamilyofficial and 44,000 YouTube subscribers

Before returning to the UK to settle back into some sort of normality, Nadia gave the tenants an extra months notice then is legally required ‘in good faith’ that they would have enough time to find another property

The ordeal has already cost the family around £2,500 in legal fees, court applications, and enforcement costs and they have had to cancel planned renovation work on the property three times. 

‘It’s been exhausting, both emotionally and financially.’ 

‘What’s even more frustrating is that I had a hearing on 9th of October, which happened to be my due date and had to pay an additional £350 just to have it moved from face-to-face to video, It felt quite unreasonable given the circumstances, especially as I’d clearly mentioned my situation in the application form.’ 

While they wait for enforcement officers to act, which they said could take up to five or six weeks, the family has been staying in an Airbnb. 

‘It has been really expensive, especially with a newborn and a young child. We didn’t want to commit to another long-term tenancy ourselves in the hope that we’d get our property back soon but it’s been months now. It’s difficult not having stability.’

For Nadia, the experience has exposed how little protection homeowners have when trying to reclaim their own property. 

‘You assume that as a homeowner you’ll have the right to live in your own house when you need to. 

‘I had no idea it could take months and thousands of pounds to get your own property back, even after a court has ruled in your favour. It’s been a huge eye-opener.’

Heavily pregnant and homeless, the family were forced to rent an Airbnb , in High Wycombe, close to Irfan’s family- and despite the stressful situation Nadia delivered their baby girl on 21 October

The ordeal has already cost the family around £2,500 in legal fees, court applications, and enforcement costs and they have had to cancel planned renovation work on the property three times

Nadia believes her story reflects a broader issue with how the system treats small landlords, particularly those renting out their own homes temporarily- calling it ‘unbalanced’.

‘Homeowners, especially families like ours who aren’t big landlords are left without protection. 

‘There needs to be a faster process for genuine homeowners trying to return to their own property. 

‘It shouldn’t take months of bureaucracy and huge expense to simply go home.’

She has warned other families to ‘be careful’ they are thinking of renting out their homes to another family. 

‘We did everything properly, tenancy agreements, fair notice, following every legal step and still ended up in this situation. 

‘Unless you’re ready for months of potential stress and financial loss, I’d strongly advise against it.  What should have been a straightforward process has turned into a complete nightmare’, she explained. 

‘There needs to be a clear distinction between families renting out their own homes and professional landlords with portfolios. 

‘The process for homeowners reclaiming their own property should be much faster and more straightforward. The system needs to recognise that people like us aren’t investors, we’re just families trying to go back to our own homes.’

As of now, the family are still waiting for enforcement officers from DCBL (the High Court enforcement firm) to act. 

‘The bailiffs have advised it could take another five to six weeks at least, that’s the best case scenario. 

‘The council have apparently advised the tenants to wait for that stage, which is prolonging everything further. 

As the family wait, they remain in temporary accommodation, hoping each update might finally bring them one step closer to returning home.

‘This was supposed to be an exciting new chapter for us,’ Nadia said. ‘Instead, it’s turned into a legal nightmare. We just want to go home.’

A Tameside Council Spokesperson told The Daily Mail: ‘All applicants are given advice relating to their individual circumstances which includes ensuring they know all options available to them. 

‘The team use housing legislation and refer to the Homelessness code of guidance to provide a comprehensive response to all households facing homelessness to enable them to make informed decisions on their personal situations.’

They do hope to start travelling again as a family of four but for now they are staying put to try and regain access to their home and a planned kitchen renovation which was supposed to happen this week has been postponed until after Christmas.

Although Nadia said they are now apprehensive about renting out the property again so they are considering putting it up for sale or maybe using a management agency.