UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hey all, I've just stumbled onto this forum and was looking for some free advice / guidance.

I own my property, it is a studio apartment in a block of flats. My wife and I are taking a sabbatical from work for 12 months, and are wondering what our options are for the property.

I have an interested party willing to sign up for a 12 month tenancy agreement. We've met in person and I'm confident they will be OK.

However, my main concern is I want to continue to use my home as my 'primary residence' whilst travelling.

Is there some way I can enable this? What should I consider beforehand? Is it possible to regard the interested party as a 'lodger' in my studio, even though I am not planning to live there for some time?

Thanks all!

In what way do you want to "continue to use my home as my 'primary residence' whilst travelling"?

The occupant can't be a lodger if you're not actually living there. And there's nothing to stop them not moving out after 12 months.

Hey jpkeates,

Thanks for the response!

In the event of any visas I may need to apply for, or any postal details I need to provide, I want to continue to use my residence address.

I understand there are strict rules and laws protecting tenants (a good thing if not abused!), but in the event that my travels don't go as planned, and I want to come back, how may I best enable that option as well?

Thanks!

You would probably need a mail redirect to sort any post being delivered. If you let the property, you can't just ask someone to go round and collect the post.

You can't have any kind of tenancy that you can end quickly if your plans change (you can't even reliably end a tenancy after a fixed term of any kind). You're totally in the hands of the tenant living in the property.