UK Landlord Forum / Life

Our excellent tenant has moved in her husband or ex-husband. We don't know if they are still married or not but he moved in without authorisation from us. We have known however for the last few months that he has been living there and as all has remained as before we have not been unduly concerned. However, this month the rent came through from his bank account and not our tenants. Should we be concerned that he is trying to build a relationship with us and somehow have rights to the property? We are not inclined to get a new joint tenancy agreement as his history is very colourful! We would appreciate your thoughts.

If you have a good tenant,and the rent is getting paid on time,I would not be looking to complicate matters.It is the name on the contract that matters,not who pays the rent.The only thing that would bother me would be if his colourful history could cause you future problems.Maybe he's a reformed character and they are trying to make a fresh start.

A payment of rent by a tenant's spouse is legally considered the same as payment by the tenant, i.e. it discharges the relevant liability to pay rent by the tenant. You'll only potentially have a problem if he is an ex- husband rather than the husband.