UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi everyone, I  have a potential new tenant who wants to rent the house but  in her compnay name, rather than her own name.  I have checked on line and it seems there are limitations as to occupancy etc.
I just wondered if anyone had done this, and what  you thought wre the benefits/problems of doing so?
Am guessing for tax reasons but they would put anyone in?
best wishes, Angi

There are good and bad sides renting to a company. There are times you can negotiate a slightly higher rent rate.  Also if the tenant moves out sometimes the company will want to retain the property for their next employee resulting in less gap periods for tenancies.

I would advise you have a good conversation with the company and their expectations though. As a property manager I have dealt with companies thinking the rent is more of a service than a rented property and expect repairs done quickly, even if a tenant responsibility repair.  Best to ensure both parties have a good understanding.

From memory you can't protect the deposit through one of the schemes.

You don't have to protect the Deposit... but you can.

It's a non-Housing Acts agreement.

I've done it once... I probably wouldn't do it again. The payment of rent was good. The place wasn't especially well looked-after. I took most of the Deposit I'd asked for and there were no complaints at the end - the aspect to be aware of, I think, is that you can probably charge more, and if payments are really, actually made by a company, then they just pay out... that's for me - it was a proper company (well, a football club) and that might not be the true case for you.

I would probably be asking the prospective Tenant why they want to approach it this way... see if transparency bears fruit.

If the company was a large well established business, that would be one thing, renting to a small company run by the occupant is completely different.

The tenancy wouldn't be an Assured Tenancy, so no s21 or s8 notices, the agreement would have to be quite specialised and, if the company would be liable for rent and damage, and, if it had no money (or was dissolved) there would be no claim against the occupant.

It's quite possible that the prospective tenant doesn't realise that what they're proposing is probably a bad idea for the landlord.

The most common reason for someone to want to rent through the books of their own company is because the rent can be treated as a business expense. Which often means that the business will be run from the property.