UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi guys

I have a single tenant renting a property from me (now in statutary period phase),

He has asked to move his girlfriend in.  Which is kind of good of him, since I doubt I would be able to stop him in practise, even if I wanted to anyway.

The question is whether I should then consider them as joint tenants or just stick with things as they are with a single tenant,

If I was to add a tenant, how would a change to contract which already in force be done?

If I am going that route I should really vet the 2nd tenant, & credit check them.  I can see it all getting very messy if the second tenant fails the vetting.

If they are not signed up as a tenant, and the real tenant buggers off leaving someone who is not under contract living in the, doesnt that leave me in the shit ?

What is the best approach to this, which must be a very common scenario.

Many thanks, as ever.

A guest does not need to be contractually covered.

A new permanent resident does.

Yes, you should reference and credit check them - you would have done that if they were applying jointly at the beginning.

Changing the AST can be simple... echoed writing, signed and dated by all parties, across both copies would even work.

Some Landlords even have the cheek to ask for more rent when this happens, citing increased wear-and-tear as reason.

HG - many thanks.

I have a bad feeling about this prospective additional tennant.

Would like to follow due process rather than refuse on a whim though.

Can anyone recommend steps needed for a throrough vetting process.

I was going to start with

6 months of bank statements checking for income and regular payment of rent
References from previous landlord(s)
Reference from employer
Usual CCJ credit checks (available online at places like experion)
Prrof of right to be in the UK

Anything I have missed.
Thanks

Hand the job to a service, get them to pay for it.