Letting to lodger: what Agreement form/wording?

[El Landlordio]

Hello there,

I am new here, I am hoping someone could have some good advice for me?

As the owner/occupier of my property, I rent out a room to a lodger. This lodger has signed a contract, (produced by this website actually) and the rent is due on 1st of every month, and a set sum is also due to cover all bills inc. council tax, TV licence etc, on the same day.

I have a deposit from this person which is the same amount as one month's rent, but not including bills. They have refused to pay the rent, saying I can keep the deposit, won't give the keys back, and refuse to pay the bills, saying they won't be there. They have given me a piece of paper they want me to sign which I obviously haven't, giving 4 weeks' notice from the 31st Jan. It also states this person will move out with immediate effect and give the keys to the property. Contradictory. The notice required in the contract from her is four weeks.

What are my rights/what should I do re: rent owed, bills money, keys, deposit etc and should I tell the council that they have moved out?

I am sorry to be so unknowledgeable, I had naively assumed the contract and deposit would cover me for all eventualities. I will be seeing the CAB tomorrow but hoped someone here could help?

Many thanks

[Jennifer_M]

I'm not sure but I think as a lodger he doesn't have to give notice to leave at any time he wants.
Not sure if an agreement makes a difference.

No doubt an expert will correct me if I'm wrong.

[PaulF]

Jennifer is perfectly correct. This person is a lodger and as such has no security of occupation. There is no period of notice required but if you have drawn up an agreement then common law rules apply as to what you have "agreed".

[red40]

Letting to lodger: what Agreement form/wording?

Between a lodger and a house share?

[lawstudent]

In a house share people live on equal terms as co-tenants. A lodger is not a tenant but is given the use of part of a property belonging to (or leased by) a resident landlord.

[andrewm]

Letting to lodger: what Agreement form/wording?

I'm staying in my parents' flat, and taking on a short term lodger for a period of 8 weeks.

What is the best way to draw up the contract protecting my parents' rights? Should it be between myself and the lodger, or my parents and the lodger? If it's between my parents and the lodger, am I authorised to sign on their behalf?

To complicate things further, I don't have any formal tenancy agreement with my parents, and I could or could not be deemed a 'tenant' as I have sent them various amounts of money over the past few weeks.

I've searched for a while on the net and can't find any samples of a short term lodger's tenancy agreement, can anyone please point me to a sample or email one to me if you have one? I just want something stating the terms of the lease (payment), and deposit for breakages etc...

rgds

- andrew

[Patois]

search

Go to the landlordzone home page and search - the answer is there

[PaulF]

The answer is you don't need any written agreement as a lodger has no status. It's nothing to do with landlord & tenant law and any lodger has no statutory right of occupation, so you can ask them to leave when you want without giving any notice. You might want to make clear your expectaitons of the lodger's financial committment but you need nothing more. Read up on rent-a-room relief which you will find on the HMRC website, as you don't have to declare the income under a certain (generous) amount.

[pseudonym]

Agreement with excluded T/occupier/lodger

Does anyone have a copy of an excluded tenancy agreement for me to look at? Thanks in advance.

[VIPER]

Resident landlord - how much notice to lodger is required?

Hello

I have a lodger renting a room, I am wondering how long is the minimum notice i should give him?

[jeffrey]

Hello

I have a lodger renting a room, I am wondering how long is the minimum notice i should give him?

No minimum (or maximum) length is prescribed by law- but the contract into which you and lodger entered binds both of you legally, so what was agreed? Is there a written Tenant Agreement, for instance?

[MDM]

Tenants taking in a lodger to make up a rent shortfall

As LL I had 4 house sharers on a joint 6 month AST
One of them left after two months

Now with two months left on the AST, one of the remaining 3 has found a friend who would like to take on the room, but only for about 5 months.

The legalities of pasting her into the existing AST seem a bit complex - from what I have heard on earlier threads. Also the new person doesn't want the room long enough to start another AST with all four of them.

I haven't been demanding the shortfall in the rent so far from the remaining three because they can't afford it.

I would like

1. the remaining three to take her in as a lodger (with my permission).
2. her to ideally pay her rent directly to me, or possibly pay it to the other tenants who would then pass it on to me to make up the full rent they owe on the house.
3. the tenancy to continue as a periodic tenancy once the AST expires, with the lodger still in place.


My questions are
1. Can anyone see any problems in that arrangement ?
2. Is there anything I should do to protect myself particularly ? (for example do I need to explicitly state that her lodging cannot continue beyond the end of their tenancy)
3. What kind of agreement should she sign as a lodger - in particular how would any deposit she paid be handled ?

Your advice in this would be greatly appreciated.

[Surrey]

As LL I had 4 house sharers on a joint 6 month AST
One of them left after two months

Now with two months left on the AST, one of the remaining 3 has found a friend who would like to take on the room, but only for about 5 months.

The legalities of pasting her into the existing AST seem a bit complex - from what I have heard on earlier threads. Also the new person doesn't want the room long enough to start another AST with all four of them.

I haven't been demanding the shortfall in the rent so far from the remaining three because they can't afford it.

I would like

1. the remaining three to take her in as a lodger (with my permission).
2. her to ideally pay her rent directly to me, or possibly pay it to the other tenants who would then pass it on to me to make up the full rent they owe on the house.
3. the tenancy to continue as a periodic tenancy once the AST expires, with the lodger still in place.


My questions are
1. Can anyone see any problems in that arrangement ?
2. Is there anything I should do to protect myself particularly ? (for example do I need to explicitly state that her lodging cannot continue beyond the end of their tenancy)
3. What kind of agreement should she sign as a lodger - in particular how would any deposit she paid be handled ?

Your advice in this would be greatly appreciated.

You might find it neater to do a "deed of assignment", which will put the new person on the tenancy agreement which would then continue with its original terms and duration.

I'm pretty sure there's a link somewhere on this site but can't find it right now, but in short what you are doing is swapping the old person who's left for the new person who's coming in. ALL interested parties need to sign it to say they agree (outgoing tenant, incoming tenant, remaining tenants and landlord), and then that document forms an addendum to the existing tenancy agreement. You'd have to agree how the deposit and inventory are handled before you go down that road, but a bit of a google for deed of assignment should be worthwhile, and I suspect will be a lot less messy than having a sub-tenant (as I've found out myself recently!)

[Murdoch]

A simpler route may be to just issue a 5 month AST to the new tenant.

[Bel]

If there is already a joint AST you cannot issue a single AST to a new person; because the original tenants hold all of the property and it is up to them who they live with.

You should not accept rent directly from the "lodger" in case this upgrades their status to tenant in the eyes of the law..and it may be harder to evict them later.

Either: Make the remaining tenants know that you hold them responsible for paying all the rent;and you allow them to take a lodger. They are responsible for any damage the lodger causes. When they give notice, they will be responsible for paying all the rent until they give you vacant possession; ie the lodger must be gone when they leave or they pay all the rent. It is easy for them to evict their own lodger before they leave, but it is very hard for you to evict if the lodger stays.

OR; do a deed of assignment, with the original tenants permission, so the lodger becomes a jointly responsible tenant and liable to jointly and severally pay all the rent.