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Tenants have erected a partition wall in living area to make bedroom

Started by CMH, February 07, 2019, 06:48:48 PM

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CMH

Hi - I am not sure if I am over-reacting or not so would like some advice please.

We moved out of our 3 bedroom terraced house in London due to work commitments in the US (temporarily). Currently we are renting to 3 sharers  - they have been renting since June 2018 and have an 18 month lease (with 12 month break clause).

I recently found out via the handyman we employ to maintain the house that the tenants have erected a partition wall in the living area to make an extra bedroom. They were very cagey when he went to repair a radiator and didn't want him to see it - they had the doors closed. But he had to go in to check radiator so saw it.  A few months ago I discovered that they were subletting the bedrooms on AirBnB -  I asked them to stop which they agreed to do.

Obviously the lease has the standard "do not make alternations to the property without permission" and "do not affix items to the walls without permission" clauses. I am annoyed that they didn't ask me and I suspect they are probably still subletting - why else would they need another bedroom. My husband says we need to tell them to take it down as it violates the lease and they didn't ask permission. I want to be reasonable but equally don't want to be taken advantage of.

Anyone else have anything similar? Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

KTC

Serve notice of inspection and then check for yourself.

Check sites such as AirBnB to see if they are still subletting. (I am assuming there's a no subletting without permission clause in the tenancy.) Also you may want to double check how many people there are in total with the extra bedroom. 5 in more than one household would make it a Large HMO which would requires mandatory licencing.

If you receive any pushback on inspection, or you do inspection and they're obviously still in breach, serve relevant section 8 notice (ground 12?). Do another inspection after notice expiry to confirm they've taken it down.

Ideally you wouldn't actually want to go to court, as ground 12 is discretionary.

CMH

Thanks for the info.

I currently live in the US and can't get back to the UK until July to do an inspection myself. I guess I will just tell them I know about it and ask them to take it down and then go and inspect myself when I am back there. The break clause could get me out of the contract in June. You are right, I definitely do not want to go to court!

Thanks!