UK Landlord Forum / Life

I haven't researched this yet but thought I could get some pointers....


Brand new flat rented to a mother and adult son.
All paperwork in order ie everything served per regs.
Tenants covered also on a landlord's rent insured scheme
Rent all paid up / property well maintained... touch wood so far as perfect as tenancy could be.
Mother richer than Croseus has effectively bankrolled the son, they both pay half the rent but she seldom (if ever) stays in the property.

She has asked (nice) whether her other adult son can stay for a few weeks in her place while he finds somewhere to live.  I have agreed (given I can't actually object to a guest anyway) until the end of the fixed period in April.

OK this is where it gets a bit tricky.
Her second adult son would be a guest
I know the legislation is weak on defining when a guest becomes a tenant so am not keen on a long term guest.

The fixed period of the tenancy is due to end in April and almost certainly they will want to continue but I'm sure they will want to have the second son stay on (whilst the mother lives elsewhere).

Any thoughts on how best to paper this up?

New tenancy with second son on the tenancy? All the regs paperwork reissued and second son then added to the rent guaranteee scheme?
Return the deposit and ask for a new one (don't like that bit).
Mother is a guarantor (or a tenant)?

Or just amend the current tenancy agreement by adding in the new tenant and amending the DPS information?

Have any of you ever come across this situation or similar?

Any thoughts appreciated ... I can go off do some research.  Thank you in advance for your time.

Quote from: theangrylandlord on March 04, 2025, 08:20:07 PMI know the legislation is weak on defining when a guest becomes a tenant so am not keen on a long term guest.

This isn't true.
There is no such legislation.

A guest can't "become" a tenant.

Just leave things the way they are. Once the tenancy has become periodic, don't renew it.

JP
Thank you for that.

Makes much more sense to me than the various websites claiming a tenant that stays 14 days in a 6 week period gets tenant rights... was afraid I had missed something.

If I could trouble you for some more advice...

I have checked and received confirmation in writing the tenants (son1 and mother) are not subletting nor intend to sublet to son2 (subletting is precluded in the tenancy agreement anyway).

I have gotten son2 passport copy because I think the Right to Rent legislation refers to "occupier" not tenant so wanted to cover myself

I have checked my insurance doesn't prevent a guest or limit their stay.

Anything else you can think of I should check?

If in the unlikely event I need to evict the tenants via s21/s8 is there anything additional I would need to serve on son2?
If he refuses to leave with the tenants would I need to go back to court to remove a "trespasser" then? Am just wondering if safer to sweep them up into a new tenancy .... Although I appreciate (and much prefer to follow) your advice in the previous post.

Thank you again.

You're right to be careful about the Right to Rent. In this case, you're probably best to tell the tenants that a guest isn't something that they need to ask you about. It's nice that they're telling you so you know, but, as you say, it's not something you can really do much about anyway. That way, you're not giving the 2nd son permission to live in the property, they are.

If you get to the point of evicting the tenants, bailiffs will remove the tenants and any other occupants at the same time. There's a particular part of the repossession process where they have to write to the tenants and tell them when they're going to attend to remove them and they write in parallel to any occupants of the property who may not be tenants.

In theory, the worst case is that the mother and son #1 move out and leave son #2 in place. But that risk exists with any guest or lodger (whether you know about them or not), and the process of removing a trespasser is there if you need to use it. And it doesn't seem that likely, really.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.  Much appreciated.

The non-tenant son doesn't have any rights to occupy the property other than those granted by a tenant, so if the tenants gave notice and he refused to move, my understanding is that you could just change the locks whilst he's out.