UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello everyone, bit of advice please. I rented a 3 bedroom house out to my niece and a work mate I put them both on the tenancy, they didn't get on so she left but still paying her part of the rent this runs until febuary.
my tennant now wants his brother and brothers girlfriend to move into one of the bigger rooms and also the 3rd bedroom he wants to put a lodger in, so would be two brothers and two others living in a 3 bedroom house im not sure but would this be classed as an hmo?  what would be the best way to do this for my security and of course theres, i can put the two brothers on a new agreement and let them have lodgers,or give them seperate agreements,any advice about what to do would be much appreciated.

Advice?

Refuse any such changes. Wait until you can evict everyone and start again properly? I'd do that.

I can see a whole world of pain opening up here for you.It may well be classed as hmo,with all the implications,but there are other possible problems.I allowed a couple to move another couple in as house-share some years ago.Agent checked them out,and next thing I am being threatened with legal action by the council.The place had turned into a dosshouse,at least nine people in a 2 up /2 down,neighbours calling the police etc. This might be an extreme example, but your niece must have some good reasons for moving out. 

If you dont take the advice already offered and find yourself going down the route of adding tenants like this, first of all I would stay away from HMO.  Secondly dont forget to do proper vetting checks.   Dont assume that because the lead tenant has OK'd them they are OK.

I recently had a tenant whose girlfriend wanted to move in.  It was a delicate matter and I did not want to refuse outright necessarily.

So I asked her for 6 months of bank statements to evidence the fact that she had regular income and that she had been paying her rent on time.

She obviously had something she did not want to share, and declined, and they both eventually moved elsewhere.

A great result for me.

hi everyone, thanks for your advice, its a hard one for me, I spoke to the tenant and he would like to stay there, he does pay on time, my niece just didn't like the way he lived haha, I told him I would ask your advice again about weather its ok for him to be named tenant and have just his brother lodge and his brothers girlfriend so there would be just 3 living there. or would it be a better idea for my tenant and his brother both to be on a new tenancy with his girlfriend just as a lodger, or all 3 on an agreement. guess im trying to cover myself within the law.
thanks again everyone

This is what we often term - trying too hard to please. Or - having an inability to say "no".

Sometimes it's OK to say "no"... sometimes it's OK to look after your own interests rather than bend over backwards for others... others who are asking you to do stuff you feel you probably don't want to, or things you're not sure about.

So what if the Tenant would like to stay there? That would be my question, you see the difference? You appear to have a three bedroom house with no special HMO type modifications going on... so why not just rent it out to a family unit? Is there a reason?

As for the question - get as many names on an AST as you can - then they will all be said to be "jointly and severally" liable for rent and the cost of any damages etc. - and reference them all.

Tenants having Lodgers... whatever next? Just kidding...

Thanks again, but your right, told them it's a no no, and that he's moving out in February, and I will probably give that house to an estate agent to look after, unless I can find a family to live there, so stress free again lol, I knew deep down I should of done this in the first place
But always better to hear from people it's the right thing to do, why stress over HMOs that I no nothing about when there was a simple solution
Thanks again

If in doubt, kick the buggers out...

First time I've ever heard anyone suggest dealing with a Letting Agent will be stress-free.

Quote from: luci081171 on November 07, 2018, 09:13:02 PM
Thanks again, but your right, told them it's a no no, and that he's moving out in February, and I will probably give that house to an estate agent to look after, unless I can find a family to live there, so stress free again lol, I knew deep down I should of done this in the first place
But always better to hear from people it's the right thing to do, why stress over HMOs that I no nothing about when there was a simple solution
Thanks again

If you are delegating this to an agent, I suggest you ensure you remain in full control of lodging the deposit.  If the shit hits the fan and it is not done properly, can you guess who is liable? (hint, not the agent).

Re.hiring an agent-the overcrowded dosshouse I refer to above was "fully-managed",with 3 annual checks,agent just a short walk from the house.Neighbours,before contacting the council, phoned the agents several times.I was not contacted.The agent was one of a well-respected franchise.A lovely little house was ruined.