a friend has a house and has a room let out to a tennant for the last 5 yrs, no rent book was issued,,the friend wants to sell but the tennent does not want to move out, what legal grounds does the tennent have?
Not much - where the landlord lives in the property, the Residential Tenancies Act doesn't apply. In any event, selling the property is one of the reasons a landlord can evict a tenant who has the protections of the Act.
Does your friend own the house and currently lives there? If so then this sounds like the room has been rented out under the rent a room scheme.
In this case the person renting the room isn't even a tenant and the rent a room scheme is just an informal arrangement. The "tenant" has no rights whatsoever and can be asked to leave at any stage with reasonable notice.
I am not an expert in this area but thats my understanding and I am very sure it is correct.
I dont think there is a minimum notice if you havn't already agreed one. But out of fairness 4 weeks sounds reasonable. But if the "tenant" has been unreasonable then give them a lot less notice and tell them to hit the road.
Bottom line is that the person has no rights to stay.